Question for longtime fans:
How much did Walden's negativity about the program contribute to the "we're Iowa State, we can never be good" mentality that our can base is finally starting to break out of?
I'm happy Walden is enjoying our success and I know he dealt with a lot of crap from an administration that didn't adequately support the football program, but I'll be honest, it pisses me off to read his comments about how little he thought of ISU.
The Cyclones were going to bowl games and competing for conference titles with Earle Bruce just a decade before Walden took over. Even Duncan in the early 80s was getting into the rankings and drawing a lot of fans to games before his teams would collapse down the stretch. Criner cheated and hurt the program, but when Walden took over, ISU wasn't all that far removed from a time period where they were relatively successful. Did the "we're Iowa State" mentality exist back then?
Walden is a huge ISU fan to this day. His comments are directed at Martin Jischke and the complete lack of support for the football program in any way imo.
How much did Walden's negativity about the program contribute to the "we're Iowa State, we can never be good" mentality that our can base is finally starting to break out of?
Well said. 1989 was my first year at Iowa State! It was a really fun team to watch.The fact that he had the team 6-5 in year 3 after what Criner left was nothing short of a miracle. The '89 team had some dudes -- Oberg, Blaise, Gene Williams, Keith Sims, Mike Busch, Steve Lester, and Marcus Robertson. Had Shudak not gotten himself suspended for the OU game, that's a 7-4 team with a bowl bid in hand -- and had that happened, things would have been different from that point forward.
1990 was set up for a good run. Then the Lester thing happened, and Pedersen and Blaise both got hurt in the Minnesota game (4-point loss) and missed the Iowa game (10-point loss). The KU tie in week 5 was another winnable game (led with 5:00 to play). So what could have been a 4-1 start was instead 2-2-1.
The negativity started in 1991 after Walden finally had enough with the university administration. Then the option offense emerged.
Well said. 1989 was my first year at Iowa State! It was a really fun team to watch.
FWIW, From 1989-through the UNLV game in 1995 (I moved out of state the day after that game), I only missed one home game during that tough stretch of Cyclone Football, and that was the 1990 tie with Kansas (I was at the Florida State @ Miami (Fla.) game with my brother that day).
It was a day game and hotter than Hell. My Brother (FSU grad) was grumpy because the Seminoles lost (with Brad Johnson @ QB), and I was grumpy as the last KU-ISU score I saw on the Orange Bowl scoreboard was 34-31 KU with minutes left in the game.
After we ate dinner in Little Havana, had a few drinks, smoked a good cigar to calm down the nerves, we got back to our hotel, turned on the TV-*, I found out ISU kicked a tieing FG. So, that was actually a happy tie for me!
*-For the youngsters, that was before instant access on smart phones.
Unpopular opinion, I think they should bring back ties...and when ties were still a thing.
The fact that he had the team 6-5 in year 3 after what Criner left was nothing short of a miracle. The '89 team had some dudes -- Oberg, Blaise, Gene Williams, Keith Sims, Mike Busch, Steve Lester, and Marcus Robertson. Had Shudak not gotten himself suspended for the OU game, that's a 7-4 team with a bowl bid in hand -- and had that happened, things would have been different from that point forward.
1990 was set up for a good run. Then the Lester thing happened, and Pedersen and Blaise both got hurt in the Minnesota game (4-point loss) and missed the Iowa game (10-point loss). The KU tie in week 5 was another winnable game (led with 5:00 to play). So what could have been a 4-1 start was instead 2-2-1.
The negativity started in 1991 after Walden finally had enough with the university administration. Then the option offense emerged.
Did you really have to bring up the OU game that Shudak was suspended for? That still hurts, and I can still see the OU player returning the on-side kick for a TD.
Unpopular opinion, I think they should bring back ties
I agree. Still keep overtime, but if four overtimes have concluded and there still is no winner, that seems to me that on the day of that game, the teams are "even," so a tie seems right.Unpopular opinion, I think they should bring back ties
The only thing worse is the Pro OT format.Totally agree, but I think I'm the only person on here who believes the college OT format is garbage.
It's basically like a shootout in hockey. A skills competition.
Bring back the tie!
Question for longtime fans:
How much did Walden's negativity about the program contribute to the "we're Iowa State, we can never be good" mentality that our can base is finally starting to break out of?
I'm happy Walden is enjoying our success and I know he dealt with a lot of crap from an administration that didn't adequately support the football program, but I'll be honest, it pisses me off to read his comments about how little he thought of ISU.
The Cyclones were going to bowl games and competing for conference titles with Earle Bruce just a decade before Walden took over. Even Duncan in the early 80s was getting into the rankings and drawing a lot of fans to games before his teams would collapse down the stretch. Criner cheated and hurt the program, but when Walden took over, ISU wasn't all that far removed from a time period where they were relatively successful. Did the "we're Iowa State" mentality exist back then?
I could have brought up the 10-point Minnesota game where ISU was -5 in turnovers, not including the other 5 fumbles of their own that they recovered.
Or the Iowa game where ISU got outscored 17-0 in the second half and lost by 10.
But the 3-point OU game had at least 11 easy points left on the field because there was no backup kicker.
Winning any one of those three would have basically assured a bowl bid.
Don't forget that we got passed over for the Independence Bowl in favor of 6-5 Tulsa with TJ Rubley at QB