Walden quoted in NY times article

[jbhtexas]

But Mac had much more energy, and put in many more hours in the job than Walden. He just worked harder. Maybe that had something to do with getting more support?

Ahhh yes...the "make DMac look good by trashing Walden" beast rears its ugly head once again.

Despite having university support, better facilities, and a full compliment of scholarships, DMac somehow couldn't amass a better conference winning percentage than that old slacker Jimbo Walden.

Jim Walden .335 overall .313 conference over 8 years
Dan McCarney .397 overall .284 conference over 12 years

And to be fair, we should also mentioned that DMac's better overall record is partly assisted by the addition of another pre-conference cupcake when the schedule went to 12 games.

Walden pulled a miracle in his third season, going 6-5 without a full compliment of scholarships. I'd be surprised if one could pull that off without working hard.

What Walden should be faulted for was that when Eaton pulled the rug out from under him on the Lester deal, he should have resigned instead of went on "paid vacation" for 3+ years (as someone else put it). If he was convinced that the situation at ISU wasn't going to improve, he should have left.

[Frak]

I think that Walden was a decent coach. He knew how to put points on the board and his special teams were usually outstanding. But, defensively, they were about as bad as you could get. They had zero depth and I agree that Walden seemed to quit trying his last few years. He did get some decent players out of FL and LA, but could never build the depth necessary to compete.

With the scholarship limits (reduction) and the fact that facilities were beyond poor (no Jacobson Building, just Olsen...the weightroom was smaller than most 1A HS's these days), it's surprising that he won ANY games. By the end, what the program needed was an influx of energy, which is exactly what McCarney was.

[Go2Guy]

Jim Walden .335 overall .313 conference over 8 years
Dan McCarney .397 overall .284 conference over 12 years
~~~~~~~~
That puts things into perspective. Our most winning coach in history was about as good as Walden

Walden had a good offensive scheme and some cool gadget plays.

[Tornado man]

Jim Walden .335 overall .313 conference over 8 years
Dan McCarney .397 overall .284 conference over 12 years
~~~~~~~~
That puts things into perspective. Our most winning coach in history was about as good as Walden

Walden had a good offensive scheme and some cool gadget plays.

All the Mac haters like to trot out the records of both coaches, and it means nothing.

1. Jim Walden's "best" years (if you could call them that) were with Criner's players. When he had to play his own recruits, the program went south.
2. Mac inherited a much worse situation, had to clean up the mess that Walden left him with, and that took time.

I had season tix during both coaching regimes. Under Walden, I watched us lose to UNI, and watched ISU lose to Iowa every damn year.
Under Mac, I watched us beat Iowa 5 straight times, never lose to UNI, and I got to go to (and watched us win) bowl games.
Yeah, that stuff kinda skews my comparison of the two...

[chadly82]

All the Mac haters like to trot out the records of both coaches, and it means nothing.

1. Jim Walden's "best" years (if you could call them that) were with Criner's players. When he had to play his own recruits, the program went south.
2. Mac inherited a much worse situation, had to clean up the mess that Walden left him with, and that took time.

I had season tix during both coaching regimes. Under Walden, I watched us lose to UNI, and watched ISU lose to Iowa every damn year.
Under Mac, I watched us beat Iowa 5 straight times, never lose to UNI, and I got to go to (and watched us win) bowl games.
Yeah, that stuff kinda skews my comparison of the two...

ABSOLUTELY!!!! But i still get tired of never remembering a time of beating Oklahoma of all the schools in our conference. I have this terrible memory of me as a little kid and the crowd going nuts as we kicked a field goal back when walden was there going against Switzer. Lets keep in mind it was the 4th qtr and our crowd went nuts over the FG that pulled us to within 57 points

[DistrictCyclone]

So he's blaming the NCAA sanctions for attrition, transfers, and graduating seniors??? Sounds like BS to me. Good coaches win, bad coaches lose, and Walden clearly lost a LOT.

Take it from this guy, folks; Cub fans know a lot about losing.

[ruxCYtable]

Walden pulled a miracle in his third season, going 6-5 without a full compliment of scholarships. I'd be surprised if one could pull that off without working hard.

This sort of begs another question. Despite the numbers problem, he DID get through it, going 6-5 in his third season. Why wasn't he able to build on that? The administration should have shown more support at that point as well and committed to facilities improvements. But it was still the Big 8, not the Big XII, and we weren't getting any TV money back then. He had another decent year, I think going 4-6-1 against a murderous schedule before he gave up and mailed it in.

I heard Hayden Fry once say that Walden was very difficult to prepare for because of his offensive schemes. Going to the triple-option was an ill-advised desperation move and was probably the beginning of the end for JW.

[jbhtexas]

All the Mac haters like to trot out the records of both coaches, and it means nothing.

To sensible people, records do mean something.

2. Mac inherited a much worse situation, had to clean up the mess that Walden left him with, and that took time.

The level of failure that could adequately describe this this statement has not yet been described. Congrats on reaching that milestone.

I had season tix during both coaching regimes. Under Walden, I watched us lose to UNI, and watched ISU lose to Iowa every damn year.
Under Mac, I watched us beat Iowa 5 straight times, never lose to UNI, and I got to go to (and watched us win) bowl games.
Yeah, that stuff kinda skews my comparison of the two...

Under DMac, you also apparently watched quite a few conference losses, but apparently your brain has buried the painful stuff (like the Humanitarian bowl)...

[jbhtexas]

This sort of begs another question. Despite the numbers problem, he DID get through it, going 6-5 in his third season. Why wasn't he able to build on that? The administration should have shown more support at that point as well and committed to facilities improvements. But it was still the Big 8, not the Big XII, and we weren't getting any TV money back then. He had another decent year, I think going 4-6-1 against a murderous schedule before he gave up and mailed it in.

I heard Hayden Fry once say that Walden was very difficult to prepare for because of his offensive schemes. Going to the triple-option was an ill-advised desperation move and was probably the beginning of the end for JW.

The administration fought him on the Steve Lester eligibility, and he gave up. I really don't blame him for that. But he should have moved on if he had no hope at ISU.

On the other hand, I'm not sure who ISU would have gotten for a coach with no facilities and an administration hostile to athletics.

[kingcy]

The administration fought him on the Steve Lester eligibility, and he gave up. I really don't blame him for that. But he should have moved on if he had no hope at ISU.

On the other hand, I'm not sure who ISU would have gotten for a coach with no facilities and an administration hostile to athletics.

You mean it is hard to get a coach to come to a school when their practice field is a parking lot and the turf on the game field had been wore out for 5 years.

[Go2Guy]

All the Mac haters like to trot out the records of both coaches, and it means nothing.

1. Jim Walden's "best" years (if you could call them that) were with Criner's players. When he had to play his own recruits, the program went south.
..

I don't hate either one; I like and respect both. Also, I think the article pretty clearly explains the hole Criner dug for Walden. By the time Smith became AD, the FB program got a lot of upgrades.

[Tornado man]

The administration fought him on the Steve Lester eligibility, and he gave up. I really don't blame him for that. But he should have moved on if he had no hope at ISU.

On the other hand, I'm not sure who ISU would have gotten for a coach with no facilities and an administration hostile to athletics.

And there we have it. The automatic response of the few Walden apologists is always "remember Steve Lester."

Gee, I had a good friend who basically flunked out of ISU, went to a junior college for a year, then re-applied to ISU for admission. ISU said yes, but not as a full-time student, only for 6 hours, until he proved that he could do the work.
This was also the Steve Lester scenario. How exactly is that "hostile" to athletics?

[jbhtexas]

And there we have it. The automatic response of the few Walden apologists is always "remember Steve Lester."

Gee, I had a good friend who basically flunked out of ISU, went to a junior college for a year, then re-applied to ISU for admission. ISU said yes, but not as a full-time student, only for 6 hours, until he proved that he could do the work.
This was also the Steve Lester scenario. How exactly is that "hostile" to athletics?

Actually, the more automatic response from the Walden apologists and bigger indication of administration hostility was the lack of money put towards FB facilities and coaching salaries. But you can't really debate that (without losing total credibility) because it was true. The Lester thing was just the throw-in-towel-point for Walden.

[PlanoClone]

ABSOLUTELY!!!! But i still get tired of never remembering a time of beating Oklahoma of all the schools in our conference. I have this terrible memory of me as a little kid and the crowd going nuts as we kicked a field goal back when walden was there going against Switzer. Lets keep in mind it was the 4th qtr and our crowd went nuts over the FG that pulled us to within 57 points

We actually beat OU under Walden...in Norman and I had the pleasure of being there. Thank you Chris Pedersen!

[Transient]

I have a lot more respect for Jim Walden now.