Talk to me about Jim Walden

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Gossamer

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Apr 10, 2014
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Jim was/is a great guy. When I was younger, I lived by and was a regular at a bar called Tradewinds in the old main district...this is where a lot of the coaches would go to "hide" from the general populous...and Jim was one of them.

On more than one occasion I shared a pitcher of beer with Jim and his wife and we talked football. I did as him one day why we never seemed to move forward as a program...his answer will stick with me forever and I've used it in my work as a philosophy...

Not exactly verbatim but very close..."it's simple, until we can recruit the best players INSIDE the state of Iowa at the same level as the U of I, Iowa State will never be able to recruit great players from other states. Until you have talent, you're not going to win regularly."
 

jbhtexas

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Oct 20, 2006
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When you guys say Walden didn’t have the support, I’m assuming you mean fiscally correct? I mean the scholarship this is huge in and of itself.

I started grad school in the fall of 1987, and was at ISU for most of Walden's tenure.

Fiscal support was not good. There wasn't big TV money to fund things. The practice field served as a parking lot on gameday. Barry Switzer, on several occasions during interviews, made swipes at ISU's poor facilities. Jack Trice was in a state of disrepair.

The administration at the time didn't see the value of a strong football program. My observation was that the establishment academics disliked Walden's personality, and were quite open about it. From about 1990 forward, that relationship seemed quite toxic.

In retrospect, after the Steve Lester thing, JW should have probably found some way to move on, but I understand that it is nearly impossible to walk away from a contract.
 

theshadow

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Apr 19, 2006
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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.

And that was in the era when I-A/FBS football had 95 scholarships (as opposed to 85).

For comparison, FCS teams today get 63 scholarships.
 

ScottyP

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Jan 24, 2007
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In those early years, what were his scholarship limitations for Walden? Were they not able to fill all of the scholarships they had?
 

JM4CY

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I started grad school in the fall of 1987, and was at ISU for most of Walden's tenure.

Fiscal support was not good. There wasn't big TV money to fund things. The practice field served as a parking lot on gameday. Barry Switzer, on several occasions during interviews, made swipes at ISU's poor facilities. Jack Trice was in a state of disrepair.

The administration at the time didn't see the value of a strong football program. My observation was that the establishment academics disliked Walden's personality, and were quite open about it. From about 1990 forward, that relationship seemed quite toxic.

In retrospect, after the Steve Lester thing, JW should have probably found some way to move on, but I understand that it is nearly impossible to walk away from a contract.
Define Steve Lester thing...
 

Joe4Cy

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I started ISU in F86. There was a lot of buzz and excitement when Walden was hired. The commercials with JO were hilarious. IIRC, they made four different versions of the poster. I had a full set in Friley and at home. As the seasons passed and the lack of support took its toll, we turned on Walden. I recall reviving a "cheer" from my freshman year: "Criner Sucks!" ...and "Up the middle, up the middle, up the middle, punt."

I believe he would have had better success had the circumstances been different. He used to have a radio show with Jim Zabel called "Two Guys Named Jim" where they would analyze the week's games. JW was down to earth and also extremely knowledgeable. One year, he was the sole vote for one of the Florida schools to win the NC early in the season. The media had a field day with that. 13 games later, he was proven correct.
 
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LindenCy

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I started ISU in F86. There was a lot of buzz and excitement when Walden was hired. The commercials with JO were hilarious. IIRC, they made four different versions of the poster. I had a full set in Friley and at home. As the seasons passed and the lack of support took its toll, we turned on Walden. I recall reviving a "cheer" from my freshman year: "Criner Sucks!" ...and "Up the middle, up the middle, up the middle, punt."

I believe he would have had better success had the circumstances been different. He used to have a radio show with Jim Zabel called "Two Guys Named Jim" where they would analyze the week's games. JW was down to earth and also extremely knowledgeable. One year, he was the sole vote for one of the Florida schools to win the NC early in the season. The media had a field day with that. 13 games later, he was proven correct.

If I remember right (and maybe we are both right), he was the only person to give Florida the #1 ranking before their bowl game against an undefeated team and FU ended up winning.
 

Sigmapolis

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Walden was before my time. My living memory starts with McCarney.

But when I read the Wikipedia article associated with him...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Walden

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."[19]


That has always pissed me off and made me not like him. I know that came from a place of frustration, but no friend of the university would say such a thing.

Another fun ex-coach anecdote...

Jim Criner was the head coach of the Las Vegas Outlaws.

Yes, the "THIS IS THE XFL!!!" Las Vegas Outlaws...

upload_2020-6-17_11-49-56.png
 

Joe4Cy

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If I remember right (and maybe we are both right), he was the only person to give Florida the #1 ranking before their bowl game against an undefeated team and FU ended up winning.

Yeah, that sounds right. I have trouble remember what I ate for breakfast, more or less sports facts! I have friends that can quote player stats from years ago or specific events in a game that we attended in 2000. I'm all "uh, yeah, I was at that Nebraska game. We tailgated right next to the women's basketball team. We won and stormed the field." ....
 

stateofmind

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Jul 16, 2007
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Jim was/is a great guy. When I was younger, I lived by and was a regular at a bar called Tradewinds in the old main district...this is where a lot of the coaches would go to "hide" from the general populous...and Jim was one of them.

On more than one occasion I shared a pitcher of beer with Jim and his wife and we talked football. I did as him one day why we never seemed to move forward as a program...his answer will stick with me forever and I've used it in my work as a philosophy...

Not exactly verbatim but very close..."it's simple, until we can recruit the best players INSIDE the state of Iowa at the same level as the U of I, Iowa State will never be able to recruit great players from other states. Until you have talent, you're not going to win regularly."
Now that I think about it, Tradewinds is where we went, not Whiskey River. haha... I just remembered a dark old main bar.
Matt Campbell says Hi!
To be fair he wasn't wrong for many years. But look at the facilities improvements since he said that quote. Gene Smith started it, without the financial backing. JP combined VanDeVelde and Smith, balance sheet AND money raiser wrapped up in one. Without JP I think we are still in the muck. Credit to Jishke for caring about sports to start, and then Geoffrey hiring JP.
 

SEIOWA CLONE

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Dec 19, 2018
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The rumor has been around for years that Bill Snyder wanted the job when ISU hired Walden, and ISU refused to even give him an interview. That cemented the course for the hate that Snyder had for ISU from that point on, and when he turned KSU around, he tended to take that lost of opportunity out on ISU every chance he got.
 

Aclone

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Dec 14, 2007
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He was handcuffed from the start with reduced scholarships because of Criner. Also didnt have very good facilities for a Big 8 school. Seemed like a great guy, just didn't really have a chance to succeed, recruiting was shaky too.
This. Well, it’s part of the story, Not only did he have reduced scholarships because of Criner, iirc the NCAA also put limits on scholarships and/or roster size for the first time. A similar, further reduction hit McCarney when he was hired, and I can’t remember which was which.

One of the two was the reduction to 25 scholarships/recruiting class, when the coach thought he was going to be able to bring in about 40 players to replenish the roster right away. Basically the same thing happened to both coaches.

I was acquainted with one of Walden’s staff members, who later told me that Jimmy found out that he had such an uphill battle, that after a while something just “broke inside him”.

Oh—and there was an ongoing “Walden and Orr” promotion based on the Bartles and James commercials of the time that was just awesome!
 

LindenCy

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Yeah, that sounds right. I have trouble remember what I ate for breakfast, more or less sports facts! I have friends that can quote player stats from years ago or specific events in a game that we attended in 2000. I'm all "uh, yeah, I was at that Nebraska game. We tailgated right next to the women's basketball team. We won and stormed the field." ....

I found it:

Here is a story about it: https://www.seattlepi.com/sports/article/BCS-has-to-hope-Walden-s-wrong-about-Florida-1221733.php

Then the box (where they destroyed them): https://www.espn.com/college-football/game?gameId=270080194
 

20eyes

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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 :)).



Do we have a year for this? I'm almost certain the blonde girl on the left is the older sister of a friend of mine.