Still have a Walden- Orr Bartles and James poster. Life was simpler then.
Talk to me about Jim Walden
- Thread starter JM4CY
- Start date
Walden almost beat Iowa in 1993 too. ISU grabbed the momentum in the 4rth q and got rolling. Iowa couldn't stop the triple option. ISU go the ball late in the game and was driving but the ISU QB, Utter I think, fumbled the football in the open field. He wasn't hit or anything, was carrying it with one hand and it fell out. I'm pretty sure they would have scored there if not for the turnover.
I thought they didn't switch to the triple option until 1992?
Can you imagine poor TJ and Matt doing those commercials and/or the country western music video?!?! I don't know either of them, but I'd bet a lot of money that it would be something that they would HATE.
Johnny and Jim were good sports for doing that. Especially Johnny since he had the capital to refuse to do any of that ****.
I thought Walden was a great fit when first hired. He had a fun personality similar to Orr and he was creative on game day. Unfortunately, our talent level wasn’t good enough and we were stuck with gimmicks and trick plays. Not very many wins. That is what I recall.
Recovered an onside kick near midfield with 1:25 left, and then fumbled on the first play.
Triple option was added in spring '91. That and QB draw were in heavy rotation that season.
That was my first ISU football game I attended as an impressionable 12 year old who had recently moved from East coast. It really set the table for me for what to expect as ISU fan for years to come.
demoncore1031
Well-Known Member
Are you talking about the 6-6 tie? If so, I think that was earlier than '94. That was my first ISU game.
The lack of roster numbers was the most obvious factor that limited Walden's success at ISU. At an outing a couple of years into his tenure he talked about another issue that he felt made it hard for him to succeed at ISU. I'm not sure of all of all the details, but he claimed that the NCAA put additional limits on the amount of practice time allowed at the time that he came to Iowa State. He said that much of his success at WSU was due to taking under the radar recruits and developing them into top line players by outworking the competition.
The realization that he had to change his approach was a factor in moving to the triple option. He could not recruit enough elite O-linemen and now could not coach them up as much as he had in the past. He made the same decision that the service academies have made - try to compete with a precision offense built around smaller quicker linemen.
The realization that he had to change his approach was a factor in moving to the triple option. He could not recruit enough elite O-linemen and now could not coach them up as much as he had in the past. He made the same decision that the service academies have made - try to compete with a precision offense built around smaller quicker linemen.
He had no idea what he was getting into restriction - wise when he took the job. I’ll just leave it at that.
Is that artificial turf or concrete they are playing on? It looks like concrete in the picture.
Yes, and from everything I’ve heard there wasn’t much difference between the old Astro-turf and concrete.
