Elven Walker IV joined the Red Flash football program in April 2021 as the team's secondary coach and added special teams coach to his title prior to the 2022 season.
During his first season with the Red Flash, Walker helped guide Gregory Reddick to HERO Sports Freshman All-America NEC Defensive Rookie of the Year. He also assisted Martin Foray, Jr. to an All-NEC First Team selection. He helped guide a Red Flash defense that gave up 19.1 points per game and 182.3 passing yards per game, both top-four in the NEC.
He arrived in Loretto after spending the last two seasons at Coe College, where he worked as linebackers coach, special teams coordinator, and in other off-the-field roles that included the program's social media coordinator. Walker coached ARC Defensive Player of the Year and AFCA All-American Logan Rickard at the linebacker position and special teams All-American in A.J. Christensen. Coe led Division III in blocked punts returned for touchdowns in 2019.
Prior to his time at Coe, Walker worked as the defensive backs coach and punt return coordinator at Carroll University for the 2018 season. The punt return unit posted its best numbers in the program's history and Walker helped lead safety Billy Krawczyk to All-CCIW honors. Walker began his college coaching career at his alma mater, Eastern Illinois, as a defensive quality control coach and earned high school coaching experience at Lincoln-Way Central HS in Illinois.
Walker, a native of Wheaton, Illinois, was a two-sport student-athlete at Eastern Illinois in football and track, and graduated in 2017 with a degree in Kinesiology/Sport Management. He appeared in 38 career games with 52 total tackles, including 37 in his senior year. The Panthers qualified for the FCS playoffs twice in his tenure. On the track, Walker was a hurdler who scored in multiple OVC Championship meets and helped the Panthers to indoor championships in 2016 and 2017.
