For those who think it was a lazy hire

[CougEd]

Give me 4.5 to 6.25 coaches who you believe are almost a slam dunk hire that can produce better results . I have seen one person over the course of 40 years who fits that description and it was Leach. He had proven that despite his short falls in recruiting he can duct tape a roster together to get to 7-5 and 9-3

 

[chugspig]

He’ll be a good leader. The most crucial step is the way he builds his offense and hires assistants to recruit. We go cheap and lazy there, we will be f***ed. Make a few good hire there, and I think they can connect with recruits and do some damage.

 

[FnuLnu]

Give me 4.5 to 6.25 coaches who you believe are almost a slam dunk hire that can produce better results . I have seen one person over the course of 40 years who fits that description and it was Leach. He had proven that despite his short falls in recruiting he can duct tape a roster together to get to 7-5 and 9-3

When a quick hire of an assistant without doing a search is defended this strongly, it is the best sign that WSU athletics has "regained its innocence"

The only direct hire of an assistant at WSU that worked out categorically was the only one that was planned out in advance - "Tony" for "Dick".

Let's see how the assistant hires work out, what system is being ran, or if bringing back the King Co and GSL All Stars will be the recruiting emphasis.

He did campaign for the job but pretty low key which is good to see.

 

[WillieThePimp]

When a quick hire of an assistant without doing a search is defended this strongly, it is the best sign that WSU athletics has "regained its innocence"

The only direct hire of an assistant at WSU that worked out categorically was the only one that was planned out in advance - "Tony" for "Dick".

Really? Who is Jim Walden?

 

[FnuLnu]

Really? Who is Jim Walden?

A shitty football coach

 

[WillieThePimp]

A shitty football coach

Neat. How did I know exactly what you were going to post.

Walden’s 7-4 1983 team was >> then any team Leach ever fielded.

 

[CougEd]

A shitty football coach

I agree … I think third year head coaches who play for the Rose Bowl and play in the first bowl game in 50 plus year is “crappy”. I think Millard, Williams, Howard, Mayes, Rypien, Rosie , Utley, Dyko, Broussard and others pretty much suck . I agree . Good grief .

 

[FnuLnu]

Neat. How did I know exactly what you were going to post.

Walden’s 7-4 1983 team was >> then any team Leach ever fielded.

It wasn't.

Beating 5 crappy teams Montana State, UNLV, the two 1983 Toilet Bowl teams (UO, OSU), and Joe Kapp's Cal isn't beating quality competition.

The best football coach in the Palouse was coaching 8 miles to the East as it was for 5 of his 9 years in Pullman.

Until Len Stevens took over for George, Walden was by far the worst of the 4 major men's sports coaches: Raveling, Chaplin, Brayton

 

[BSpike76]

And beatDon James 3 out 4 years. Should have been 4 for 4 but one of our d linemen let a husky in his head for one dumb play in ‘84.

 

[FnuLnu]

I agree … I think third year head coaches who play for the Rose Bowl and play in the first bowl game in 50 plus year is “crappy”. I think Millard, Williams, Howard, Mayes, Rypien, Rosie , Utley, Dyko, Broussard and others pretty much suck . I agree . Good grief .

Actually 1981 was Year 4.

He has a worse W-L as a college football coach of any WSU head coach.

Demographics from the population boom into this state (parents arriving decades before for federal projects mostly plus whites and blacks fleeing the south) produced that bounty you list. Not an undisciplined position coach from Nebraska.

Just think if WSU had money to spend to retain decent coaching after Sweeney left?

Walden is entertaining but wasn't a good football coach.

 

[FnuLnu]

And beatDon James 3 out 4 years. Should have been 4 for 4 but one of our d linemen let a husky in his head for one dumb play in ‘84.

It was Rypien throwing an INT with a 10 point lead to a horrific human being and future murderer Reggie Rogers.

Rypien had terrible coaching at WSU.

Quit the team during that run of patsies in early November 1983. For his benefit (and especially now) he probably should have left.

 

[wazzucougs96]

When a quick hire of an assistant without doing a search is defended this strongly, it is the best sign that WSU athletics has "regained its innocence"

The only direct hire of an assistant at WSU that worked out categorically was the only one that was planned out in advance - "Tony" for "Dick".

Let's see how the assistant hires work out, what system is being ran, or if bringing back the King Co and GSL All Stars will be the recruiting emphasis.

He did campaign for the job but pretty low key which is good to see.

The GSL all stars won a basketball game in Pullman last night

 

[FnuLnu]

The GSL all stars won a basketball game in Pullman last night

First EWU win in Pullman since December 1, 1952.

The WSC football coach then was AL Kircher who they promoted as an assistant from Evashevski's staff.

He was fired a few years later while making $12,500. (A lazy hire).

 

[WillieThePimp]

It was Rypien throwing an INT with a 10 point lead to a horrific human being and future murderer Reggie Rogers.

Rypien had terrible coaching at WSU.

Quit the team during that run of patsies in early November 1983. For his benefit (and especially now) he probably should have left.

Just like Leach, Walden was a coach with a system he implemented to compensate for talent discrepancies with the rest of the pac. And like Leach he wasn’t going to change it for 1 guy. If anything you could argue Rypien should have made a better choice when choosing a program.

 

[Glad Cougar]

When a quick hire of an assistant without doing a search is defended this strongly, it is the best sign that WSU athletics has "regained its innocence"

The only direct hire of an assistant at WSU that worked out categorically was the only one that was planned out in advance - "Tony" for "Dick".

Let's see how the assistant hires work out, what system is being ran, or if bringing back the King Co and GSL All Stars will be the recruiting emphasis.

He did campaign for the job but pretty low key which is good to see.

Well, since you brought basketball into this as an example, Kelvin Sampson ended up being a pretty good head coach after being promoted as an assistant. That wasn't a planned promotion either. So maybe lightning strikes more than once?

And I'll have to disagree with you regarding Walden. In today's bowl proliferation, he would've had us in 3 bowl games. That doesn't come close to Leach's tenure, but it's historically better than most WSU coaches.

Glad Cougar

 

[FnuLnu]

Just like Leach, Walden was a coach with a system he implemented to compensate for talent discrepancies with the rest of the pac. And like Leach he wasn’t going to change it for 1 guy. If anything you could argue Rypien should have made a better choice when choosing a program.

Walden was "offensive backfield coach" just once in his life - for Powers who had Jack Thompson as QB.

Switching to a veer offense is what $32k gets you in 1978.

He was a great entertainer definitely not a great offensive mind or a victim's rights advocate.

 

[Cougsocal]

It wasn't.

Beating 5 crappy teams Montana State, UNLV, the two 1983 Toilet Bowl teams (UO, OSU), and Joe Kapp's Cal isn't beating quality competition.

The best football coach in the Palouse was coaching 8 miles to the East as it was for 5 of his 9 years in Pullman.

Until Len Stevens took over for George, Walden was by far the worst of the 4 major men's sports coaches: Raveling, Chaplin, Brayton

But beating ranked ASU and UW, both on the road, the latter to keep the Dawgs out of the Rose Bowl for the second straight year were big big wins. But for Jim Walden, the UW would have gone to 4 straight Rose Bowls or 3 in 4 years. For Coug fans making grown Huskies cry gets bonus points. No Cougar coach has done it since.

Yes, Walden was the lesser of the greatest coaching era at WSU, but that had to do with how good the other three were. 3 winning seasons in 4 years was fantastic when you consider how bad the team was in the 60's and 70's, i.e. 3 winning seasons since 1962.

Trashing WSU at every turn simply because Rolo aligns himself with your anti-science/anti-vax ideology just make you look sad and bitter. You are a Coug or you are not. Move on and rejoin the club!

 

[CougPatrol]

Some of you young pups will never understand just how small time WSU was back in the early 80's. For as rockin' as the home Apple Cups were, the majority of the other games were played in a high school atmosphere. Duffel bags lined up around the stadium, the smallest scoreboard in all of P5 football, team busses that were school busses. Honestly, it's one of the reasons I became such a passionate WSU fan.

My Mom worked at the UWMC, so I grew up with UW athletics. I can't properly articulate the have vs. have not disparity that existed back then. It was like Alabama vs. Tennessee Tech today. How Walden managed to get our guys to rise up and beat UW as often as we did is one of the greatest coaching accomplishments in WSU history.

So often we judge coaches by their won/loss record, but that doesn't always reflect how great they were at making chicken salad out of chicken $hit. Jim Walden was a master chef in that regard. I'd argue that there wasn't a Pac-10 coach in the late 70's early 80's who could have done a better job than he did.

 

[FnuLnu]

But beating ranked ASU and UW, both on the road, the latter to keep the Dawgs out of the Rose Bowl for the second straight year were big big wins. But for Jim Walden, the UW would have gone to 4 straight Rose Bowls or 3 in 4 years. For Coug fans making grown Huskies cry gets bonus points. No Cougar coach has done it since.

Yes, Walden was the lesser of the greatest coaching era at WSU, but that had to do with how good the other three were. 3 winning seasons in 4 years was fantastic when you consider how bad the team was in the 60's and 70's, i.e. 3 winning seasons since 1962.

Trashing WSU at every turn simply because Rolo aligns himself with your anti-science/anti-vax ideology just make you look sad and bitter. You are a Coug or you are not. Move on and rejoin the club!

psst Walden is the one who left the program (again)
Maybe some folks actually watched his body of "work" up close?
FTR
Mandate was stupid, put in by a lowly educated jock from Burien and Ingraham HS to try an attract a cabinet post.
Rolo stupid to not figure out a better "out" - he has generational wealth so don't worry
Chun inept in not convincing objectors to just "hold their nose" and do it
Schulz continues to be major embarrassment to school since Robert Barber

 

[FnuLnu]

So often we judge coaches by their won/loss record, but that doesn't always reflect how great they were at making chicken salad out of chicken $hit. Jim Walden was a master chef in that regard. I'd argue that there wasn't a Pac-10 coach in the late 70's early 80's who could have done a better job than he did.

Here are some better coaches from that period in Pac 12 working under similar circumstances

Rich Brooks (pretty close overlap with Walden if you include Kentucky. Never lost Civil War when he was involved (both schools))

Daryl Rogers

Bill Walsh (before he was THE Bill Walsh)

Terry Donahue.

Brooks never coming of course. Next 2 were available at one time or another after Sweeney. Donahue maybe earlier.

Walden was entertaining but was being paid $32k probably before his KXLY coaches show figured in (not much more)

Their "whale" during these recurrent searches was Hugh Campbell the alum who kept winning Grey Cups in Edmonton.
WSU could've gotten him in more stable circumstances.

Biggest and most positive change for WSU was the academic calendar change in 1984.

First Pullman game in 1982 was in October and of course Walden blew the win vs winless Oregon State when he had too many players on field on last second FG by the Beavs.
Re-kick of course was good.

Ever see an opposing team, one of the worst in Pac 8/10/12 history storm your home field to celebrate a tie?

 

[CougPatrol]

Ok, hold up. Did you just say that Terry Donahue and Jim Walden worked under similar circumstances?

 

[FnuLnu]

Ok, hold up. Did you just say that Terry Donahue and Jim Walden worked under similar circumstances?

Meant to say "he was available" just before Sweeney left - was OL coach at Kansas for Pepper Rogers then back to UCLA as line coach during Sweeney area.

Not crazy to get LA assistant coach up north,, OSU got Craig Fertig (who sucked) from USC.

 

[Glad Cougar]

Rich Brooks never lost a Civil War. On the surface, that sounds impressive. But in the 17 years he was head coach at UO, the Oregon State Beavers never had a record better than 4-7....and that was the final two years when Jerry Pettibone was coach. The OSU coaching luminaries during that winning streak of Brooks included Craig Fertig, Joe Avezzano, and Dave Kragthorpe. Avezzano, whose OSU tenure included a record of 6-47-2, is the only Pac-10/12 coach that made Paul Wulff look like a winner.

Glad Cougar

 

[wazzucougs96]

psst Walden is the one who left the program (again)
Maybe some folks actually watched his body of "work" up close?
FTR
Mandate was stupid, put in by a lowly educated jock from Burien and Ingraham HS to try an attract a cabinet post.
Rolo stupid to not figure out a better "out" - he has generational wealth so don't worry
Chun inept in not convincing objectors to just "hold their nose" and do it
Schulz continues to be major embarrassment to school since Robert Barber

The bitter is strong with you

 

[FnuLnu]

The bitter is strong with you

About Walden? Nah it was an entertaining time. But it wasn't a well coached team.

Inslee? Seeing Len Stevens coach was preparing for this. The "talent" doesn't want to live in Olympia - too isolated, bad weather, no private sector.

 

[HHusky]

It was Rypien throwing an INT with a 10 point lead to a horrific human being and future murderer Reggie Rogers.

Rypien had terrible coaching at WSU.

Quit the team during that run of patsies in early November 1983. For his benefit (and especially now) he probably should have left.

Stop exaggerating. Vehicular homicider.

 

[HHusky]

I was prepared for you to Coug it and hire another "character".

Because I know you've all been asking yourselves what HHusky would think, I think you did the smart thing.

 

[HHusky]

Neat. How did I know exactly what you were going to post.

Walden’s 7-4 1983 team was >> then any team Leach ever fielded.

The '83 Cougs could have at least stayed on the field with, if not beaten anyone in the country by the end of that season.

 

[BSpike76]

The '83 Cougs could have at least stayed on the field with, if not beaten anyone in the country by the end of that season.

And they didn’t go to a bowl because someone had to take a 6-5 ND team. Many said they were the best team in the PAC at the end I’d the season. Just too slow a start.

 

[FnuLnu]

The '83 Cougs could have at least stayed on the field with, if not beaten anyone in the country by the end of that season.

The 1983 Pac 10 was AWFUL.

Entire conference was below .500 in nonconference games even with playing schools who no longer have football.

Only 1 bowl win and that was UCLA who was winless in nonconference until drawing Illinois.

Both Bay Area schools bad, the Civil War was the 0-0 Toilet Bowl, USC with Ted Tollner only had 4 wins (even then they blew out Walden but lost to Kansas).

 

[Glad Cougar]

The 1983 Pac 10 was AWFUL.

Entire conference was below .500 in nonconference games even with playing schools who no longer have football.

Only 1 bowl win and that was UCLA who was winless in nonconference until drawing Illinois.

Both Bay Area schools bad, the Civil War was the 0-0 Toilet Bowl, USC with Ted Tollner only had 4 wins (even then they blew out Walden but lost to Kansas).

In 1983, WSU beat #13 Arizona State in Tempe, beat #15 Washington in Seattle, lost to #7 Arizona (admittedly, Cougs got crushed in that game), lost to #6 Michigan in Ann Arbor by 3 points. Jim Walden was named Pac-10 Coach of the Year.

Glad Cougar

 

[BSpike76]

In 1983, WSU beat #13 Arizona State in Tempe, beat #15 Washington in Seattle, lost to #7 Arizona (admittedly, Cougs got crushed in that game), lost to #6 Michigan in Ann Arbor by 3 points. Jim Walden was named Pac-10 Coach of the Year.

Glad Cougar

Don’t try to mellow fnuu’s harsh.

 

[FnuLnu]

In 1983, WSU beat #13 Arizona State in Tempe, beat #15 Washington in Seattle, lost to #7 Arizona (admittedly, Cougs got crushed in that game), lost to #6 Michigan in Ann Arbor by 3 points. Jim Walden was named Pac-10 Coach of the Year.

Glad Cougar

Walden wasn't a horrible selection for this "atta boy" award, but Terry Donahue was better.

Donahue goes to RB twice in a row (and wins it) and he still hadn't been named coach of the year. Not until 1985

BTW, WSU leads the Pac12 in coaches per year awards. Seven times. But Price did not get it in 2002.

UW hasn't won coach of the year since 1991
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pac-12_Conference_football_individual_awards#Coach_of_the_Year