Jim Walden

Jim Walden
Sport(s)	Football
Biographical details
Born	April 10, 1938 (1938-04-10) Aberdeen, Mississippi
Playing career
1958–1959 1960 1961 1962	Wyoming BC Lions Edmonton Eskimos Calgary Stampeders
Position(s)	Quarterback
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1969–1970 1971–1972 1973–1974 1975–1976 1977 1978–1986 1987–1994	Nebraska (GA) Nebraska (assistant) Miami (FL) (off. backfield) Miami (FL) (DC) Washington State (off. backfield) Washington State Iowa State
Head coaching record
Overall	72–109–7
Bowls	0–1
Statistics College Football Data Warehouse
Accomplishments and honors
Awards 2x Pac-10 Coach of the Year (1981, 1983)

Jim "Jimmy" Walden (born April 10, 1938) is a former American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at Washington State University from 1978 to 1986 and at Iowa State University from 1987 to 1994, compiling a career college football record of 72–109–7.

Playing career

Walden played quarterback at the University of Wyoming under coach Bob Devaney in the late 1950s, and was one of 33 players selected by the Denver Broncos in the first AFL Draft in 1960. He played in the Canadian Football League before starting his coaching career at the high school level in his native Mississippi.

Coaching career

Washington State

Walden began his college coaching career at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln on Devaney's staff, where he assisted on back-to-back national championship teams in 1970 and 1971. He then coached for four seasons at the University of Miami under Pete Elliott and fellow Devaney assistant, Carl Selmer. Walden followed Warren Powers, another Devaney assistant, to Washington State University as offensive backfield coach in 1977 and succeeded Powers as head coach the following season. Walden served as the head coach at Washington State from 1978 to 1986, compiling a 44–52–4 record (.460) and coached some of the greatest players in school history, including Jack Thompson, Rueben Mayes, Kerry Porter, Ricky Reynolds, Paul Sorensen, Pat Beach, Brian Forde, Lee Blakeney, Mark Rypien, Dan Lynch, Keith Millard, and Erik Howard. In his fourth season, Walden coached the 1981 Cougars to the Holiday Bowl, the school's first bowl appearance in 51 years, where their lost a donnybrook to a BYU team quarterbacked by Jim McMahon. That season Walden was selected as the Pac-10 Coach of the Year. In 1985, his WSU team won their third Apple Cup in four seasons, a feat they have accomplished only two other times (in 1954 and 2007).

Prior to the 1985 Apple Cup, in which the Washington Huskies were favored, Husky coach Don James jovially contrasted himself to Walden by quipping, "I'm a 2,000 word underdog."

Iowa State

Following a 3–7–1 season in the 1986 season, Walden left WSU to become the 28th head coach for Iowa State, where he compiled a 28–57–3 (.335). His best record with the Cyclones was 6–5 in 1989. His final team in 1994 went a winless 0–10–1. Walden ranks sixth at Iowa State in total wins and 22nd winning percentage.

Later life

Since retiring from Iowa State, Walden served as a radio color commentator, first for the Iowa Barnstormers of the Arena Football League and later for Washington State football. He still hosts a Sunday evening radio show in Iowa on WHO called "Two Guys Named Jim". In the final regular season Harris Interactive Poll in 2006, he was the only voter to have Florida at #1; the other 112 #1 votes went to Ohio State. Florida handily defeated Ohio State 41–14 in the BCS National Championship Game on January 8, 2007.

Head coaching record

Year	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Bowl/playoffs
Washington State Cougars (Pacific-10 Conference) (1978–1986)
1978	Washington State	4–6–1	2–6	10th
1979	Washington State	5–6	2–6	9th
1980	Washington State	4–7	3–4	T–7th
1981	Washington State	8–3–1	5–2–1	T–4th	L Holiday
1982	Washington State	3–7–1	2–4–1	8th
1983	Washington State	7–4	5–3	3rd
1984	Washington State	6–5	4–3	5th
1985	Washington State	4–7	3–5	T–7th
1986	Washington State	3–7–1	2–6–1	8th
Washington State:		44–52–4	28–39–3
Iowa State Cyclones (Big Eight Conference) (1987–1994)
1987	Iowa State	3–8	2–5	6th
1988	Iowa State	5–6	3–4	5th
1989	Iowa State	6–5	4–3	4th
1990	Iowa State	4–6–1	2–4–1	T–4th
1991	Iowa State	3–7–1	1–5–1	6th
1992	Iowa State	4–7	2–5	T–6th
1993	Iowa State	3–8	2–5	T–6th
1994	Iowa State	0–10–1	0–6–1	T–7th
Iowa State:		28–57–3	16–37–3
Total:		72–109–7

External links

• Jim Walden at the College Football Data Warehouse