Coaches' Win Percentages

Cat Stevens

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Mar 7, 2017
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To this day, I still don't understand why Jim Walden was allowed to have leash that long. The guy sucked.

actually, that was definitely an administration and max urick problem.

they screwed him on Steve Lester. And the facilities bottomed out during his tenure. his recruiting budget was the same his 8th year as it was when he took the job.

They said go be funny, but we’re not going to give you any money. Pete Taylor loved Jim Walden.

they spent more money on football for McCarney to be bad, before he ever coached a game, than they did the last 5 years Walden was at Iowa State.
 

AlaCyclone

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Jun 14, 2007
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Probably because for the first 3-4 years he was coaching a team short on scholarship players due to NCAA sanctions, and because his team practiced on a grass parking lot. He still had a winning record in his third year. It would be interesting to see what would have happened to ISU football if Walden had taken the Arizona job offer after his third year at ISU.

Gene Smith nearly spent the ISU AD into bankruptcy for McCarney, and it took DM six years to get a winning record. Max Urich, the AD while Walden was coaching, was never going to spend like that. ISU baseball (and to a lesser extend, men's gymnastics, and men's tennis) eventually paid the price.

Why is Walden any worse than Rhoads? They have very similar records, and Rhoads had much better facilities and AD to work with.
Your last questions is interesting. They were both bad and both good at the same things. They both could XO a great game plan for a one game situation, but neither one of them saw the big picture about growing a program like Majors, Bruce and Campbell. Mac was more of a program builder but not what I would call an XO guy. BTW, one of the reasons I did not like Paul Rhoads (as a HC not as a man) was that I saw the similarities with Walden from when I was in school.

Meanwhile, Campbell is very similar to Bruce. Bruce built on Majors' foundation, and ISU became a solid program during his tenure. Unfortunately, losing Bruce set ISU back two decades with the multiple bad hires that followed. I sure like where ISU is now, and I believe that Matt Campbell can and will take ISU to places they have not been before (10 wins, Big Xii Championship Game and / or NY6 Bowls). Build it, and they will come! ISU has built it (stadium, facility, etc. upgrades), and they are coming!

Looking forward to Saturday. I have always thought that Homecoming was a hokey event, but after 24 years away and finally back in Iowa, I am taking this Homecoming personally! I've been to all of the home games (even with the bad weather). I mention this, as I became "soft" living in other parts of the country and started avoiding foul weather games. Now, that I am back home in Iowa, I will not miss any games due to weather just like it was when I lived here the first time from 1989-95.

Let's Go State!
 
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laminak

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Jun 13, 2010
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Marion
Probably because for the first 3-4 years he was coaching a team short on scholarship players due to NCAA sanctions, and because his team practiced on a grass parking lot. He still had a winning record in his third year. It would be interesting to see what would have happened to ISU football if Walden had taken the Arizona job offer after his third year at ISU.

Gene Smith nearly spent the ISU AD into bankruptcy for McCarney, and it took DM six years to get a winning record. Max Urich, the AD while Walden was coaching, was never going to spend like that. ISU baseball (and to a lesser extend, men's gymnastics, and men's tennis) eventually paid the price.

Why is Walden any worse than Rhoads? They have very similar records, and Rhoads had much better facilities and AD to work with.

Definitely a perception over stats. While Walden had his upsets, I think many of us thought his losses were blowouts and not competitive, whereas Rhoads had a lot more "moral victories". I don't recall notable players in Walden's era, just Bob Utter getting killed in the triple option. Plus Walden gave us the 0-10-1 season.
 

AlaCyclone

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Jun 14, 2007
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Definitely a perception over stats. While Walden had his upsets, I think many of us thought his losses were blowouts and not competitive, whereas Rhoads had a lot more "moral victories". I don't recall notable players in Walden's era, just Bob Utter getting killed in the triple option. Plus Walden gave us the 0-10-1 season.
Blaise Bryant was really good, and Mike Busch was an All-American in both Football and Baseball. Plus, Walden recruited Troy Davis, but he didn't let him play much as a Freshman "because he didn't know the playbook". When he did play, he was electric. When Mac came in, he told Troy "I'm giving you the ball!" The rest is history. Not a Walden fan, but he had a few notable players.
 

dunar

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Aug 31, 2007
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West Des Moines, IA
Stapleton didn't have a winning record, but went on to be the AD that hired Majors. I also seem to remember that he tried to get Barry Switzer to ISU before he took over as HC at OU.
 
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Cat Stevens

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Mar 7, 2017
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Definitely a perception over stats. While Walden had his upsets, I think many of us thought his losses were blowouts and not competitive, whereas Rhoads had a lot more "moral victories". I don't recall notable players in Walden's era, just Bob Utter getting killed in the triple option. Plus Walden gave us the 0-10-1 season.

there was a whole lot of spin and pr from his successor that led to that perception though.

obviously he had to go, but the idea that he was the pariah the Mac people said he was is part of myth and legend.
 
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coolerifyoudid

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Feb 8, 2013
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Definitely a perception over stats. While Walden had his upsets, I think many of us thought his losses were blowouts and not competitive, whereas Rhoads had a lot more "moral victories". I don't recall notable players in Walden's era, just Bob Utter getting killed in the triple option. Plus Walden gave us the 0-10-1 season.

The only unknown watching the offense during those years was which direction Utter was going to run before being tackled after one or two yards. On the plus side, you could get in free at halftime to watch terrible football.
 

TykeClone

Burgermeister!
Oct 18, 2006
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If you pull out McCarney's first four years (9-35), he has a .450 winning percentage.

They had to basically build from nothing when he started and it was a tough road out of the hole that had been dug since the early 80's.
 

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