Most Cougar football fans were down in the dumps when Jim Walden was chosen as head football coach in 1978. The program has lost two head coaches in the past two season. Actually, three in three seasons counting the departure of Jim Sweeney, who had been with the program for eight seasons.
Sweeney's successors, brought promise but both left after one year at the helm, including Warren Powers, who had promised to see the program through.
Walden, who had followed Powers to Pullman as an assistant from Nebraska, took over the reigns from Powers. He not only stayed until 1986, but took the program, long often dismissed and disrespected, to new heights. He took the team, in 1981, to its first bowl game since 1931.
He also led to Cougar to three Apple Cup victories (games with cross state rival Washington) in four years, something that only happed two other times in history.
Known for his colorful personality and for speaking his mind, Walden later became a commentator on the Cougar football broadcasts.
Jim Walden died yesterday (Thursday, July 2nd, 2026). He was 88.
1 comment:
Great tribute post Mike. Jim Walden was a legendary, charismatic figure who permanently reshaped Washington State University football by breaking a 50-year bowl drought and instilling a lifelong culture of belief in Pullman. Following his passing on July 2, 2026, at the age of 88, his legacy as a Hall of Fame coach, unapologetic "homer" radio analyst, and devoted player's coach is being widely celebrated across Cougar Nation. WSU had cycled through four head coaches in four seasons when Walden took over in 1978. He famously promised the fans he would stay and build a winner, delivering 44 wins over nine seasons. In 1981, he led the Cougars to an 8-3-1 record and a berth in the 1981 Holiday Bowl, the school's first postseason game since the 1931 Rose Bowl. He took home the conference's top coaching honor in both 1981 and 1983, proving he could out-scheme and defeat every single powerhouse program in the league. Walden fiercely and successfully campaigned to move WSU's home Apple Cup games out of Spokane and back to Pullman's campus. The 1982 game was the first played on the Palouse in 28 years. In that historic 1982 home game, Walden’s massive 24-point underdog Cougars pulled off a 24-20 upset that famously knocked the No. 5 Huskies out of the Rose Bowl. He repeated the feat with stunning upsets in 1983 and 1985. Walden openly valued the rivalry above all else, once stating: "Nothing in my job—not the Rose Bowls, not the Holiday Bowls, nothing is more important than beating the University of Washington." After retiring from coaching, Walden spent 11 seasons alongside Bob Robertson as a beloved color commentator for WSU radio. He brought a front-porch, storytelling style to the booth, throwing out classic lines like "Old Jed Collins wants to score a touchdown so bad his teeth ache!" When critics called him out for his incredibly biased broadcasting, Walden proudly leaned into it: "Am I a homer? Yep. Is that a bad thing? I don't know and I don't care." Former players fondly recall that Walden didn't care about recruiting stars; he loved finding "junkyard dogs" and instilling them with the confidence to look Pac-10 heavyweights in the eye and win. Former players like Dan Lynch and Charlie Flager noted that throughout his life, Walden stayed tightly connected to his alumni, routinely meeting them for lunches and fishing trips well into his 80s. He fiercely protected his players, and it was said he never uttered a bad word about any man who suited up for him.
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