The outfits of the pop squad girls and the big hair. Can definitely tell that was around the late 80's.
That middle girl is a babe for the ages...
(Doing the math....she could be someone's mom on here!)
Talk to me about Jim Walden
- Thread starter JM4CY
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That middle girl is a babe for the ages...
(Doing the math....she could be someone's mom on here!)
I always remember the Bartles & Jaymes take-off the two did, but I can't find video of it (maybe those were print-only) .. But here's a promo video montage I don't think I've seen until now (multiple segments)--- super-cheesy but nostalgically endearing. (Sorta
Hell, I think it’s sort of catchy
it does show that both were great sports.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't a player get injured on one of the fan plays once?
It might as well have been AstroConcrete. And the heat from that surface on a sunny day... hoo boy.
God I miss Pete Taylor, he was a treasure and was taken from us way to soon. My favorite set of uniforms, the yellow and red.
Thanks for the memories.
I just remember 0-10-1, the worst season in Iowa State history. That’s when I was introduced to ISU football. Then McCarney and the Davis years made it interesting.
Calvin Branch was a pretty good returning running back that played in the NFL as a DB for the Raiders.
What I remember was an offense that could score on most teams and special teams that were top notch. But, the defense was really, really bad. He had almost no university support and his facilities consisted of the Olsen Building. No Jake, no IPF. I do think that he got some good players out of FL and Louisiana and he had a decent pipeline in Omaha.
The Nebraska thing is interesting. It jives with some of the stuff I heard from players when he was coaching. When he first came in, he took a few chances on players from California that may not have been great characters or students, much like Nebraska. However, ISU is not Nebraska and the administration was not going to allow the coach to cover up all the trouble that the players were getting in to (this is a good thing). I know there was some resentment from the Midwest players because he seemed to show favoritism towards these California guys.The only two coaches I've talked with at official functions that didn't acted somewhat annoyed to be talking to some "commoner" alumni were Jim Walden and Paul Rhoads.
Somehow got on the subject of the 23-23 tie with Nebraska back when from when I was in school. Turned out Walden was an assistant for Nebraska at that time so that connected. Thought it was funny when he said "we" meaning Nebraska when we talked about that game, perfectly logical of course but still remember that for some reason. BTW, Johnny was hunkered down at the bar knocking down cocktails, didn't get a chance to chat with him at all.
This being said, Jim Walden seemed like a pretty good guy to me. It was an interesting thing when you would go to a game and be excited for special teams plays.
I worked at McGees and Got to know Walden and his family. His wife, Janice, was the kindest person. His staff was at McGees a lot!
I think the problem with not playing Troy was two fold. He was recruited by Arny Romero (sp?) and he was a character who liked to push the boundaries when it came to recruiting. He wanted to give the kids money for air fare home - just one example. It may have nothing to do with it, but there may have been hesitation because of the link - only speculating. That guy was the best though. Man he had a million great stories!
Also, Troy didn’t really grasp the system quickly. It just took him a while to get used to Ames and football.
Had a good start. Some really good players in the late '80s. Administration didn't support him on one of the really good players, Steve Lester, so JW decided to switch to a triple option around 1991 or 92. This was perplexing given the offense wasn't what was stopping ISU generally up to that point.
It wasn't all JW's fault either. ISU really stopped supporting the program during his tenure. Took quite a while to get to where we are today with support from the University and even the fanbase. Of course, hardly ever being on TV didn't help things in those days either...
I got to ice fish with him while McCarney was still coaching and I was a college student. We went to Whiskey River I think after getting off the ice. Very fun night.
His number one complaint was the lack of facilities and support. But you have to cut him slack as he only had 57 scholarship players his first season, then 61, 63, and 67, but only had 47 scholarship players when playing at Nebraska in '89.
Interesting that we hired him from Washington St where he was for 9 years. He had 3 winning seasons, but he had 7, 6, 4, and 3 wins in his last four before coming here. Interesting that we hired him. But I'm guessing not many wanted this job after Criner, and he was a helluva a salesman.
I think this pretty much sums up Walden, from Wikipedia:
After starting the 1994 campaign 0-2, many fans began to criticize his coaching ability. He began his weekly press conference by handing out the past records of Dennis Erickson, Johnny Majors, and Earle Bruce while they were at Washington State and Iowa State. He then handed out Iowa State's overall record in football since fielding its first team in 1892, which, at the time, was 423-461-45---a .480 percentage, and compared his record to that one. Walden claimed that he was as good a coach or better than Erickson, Majors, and Bruce. The difference was, according to Walden, they left for better schools while he stayed at Iowa State.
On Thursday, November 3, 1994, after starting the season 0-7-1, Walden informed his team that he would resign at season's end. He was allowed to coach his final three games by the university, but banned from coaching his last game at Colorado because of criticizing the officials after the Kansas State game. Kansas State's Nyle Wiren had body-slammed Walden's quarterback Todd Doxzon into the turf head first. Nothing was called and Walden, with nothing to lose, went off on the officiating after the game:
"I've kept quiet too long, but since I'm leaving there's nothing they can do about me. I think the refereeing in this league is atrocious. . . What do you do with bad officials? Do they get fired? You fire bad players and bad coaches. Bad officials get a raise and go fishing."
...
The Cyclones finished with a winless 0–10–1 record in 1994. Walden ranks sixth at Iowa State in total wins and 22nd winning percentage.
Walden made an ominous statement about coaches who stay at Iowa State:
"If you stay [at Iowa State], you're going to lose and you're going to get fired. That's very evident."
I always remember the Bartles & Jaymes take-off the two did, but I can't find video of it (maybe those were print-only) .. But here's a promo video montage I don't think I've seen until now (multiple segments)--- super-cheesy but nostalgically endearing. (Sorta
I have the cassette tape of their songs, plus an autographed poster by both of them. Johnny and Jim could have been a stand up comedy act. Very funny. When they spoke at our old cyclone club outings they had the place in stitches.
The funny thing looking back. If Walden would've had today's administrative support and facilities at the same time we had Orr there would probably be a statue of Walden somewhere around Jack Trice. The two men were very similar, both had big wins, Orr just had a bit better luck with players.
