Tales from the Washington State Cougars Sideline - Hardcover

Walden, Jim

4.45

11 ratings by Goodreads

9781582612560: Tales from the Washington State Cougars Sideline

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1582612560 ISBN 13: 9781582612560

Publisher: Sports Publishing LLC, 2004

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Rival coach Don James of the University of Washington once called himself "a 2,000-word underdog to Jim Walden." James may have been underestimating the opinionated Walden, even at those lopsided odds. During an association with the Washington State football program that started in 1977, Jim Walden established a foundation of competitive expectations that helped spur the success of contemporary Cougar teams. Walden's 1981 Cougars broke a 51-year bowl drought, and with victories in three of his last five Apple Cup games against Washington, Walden finally leveled the field with WSU's cross-state rivals. Walden's teams beat every opponent in the Pac-10 Conference at least once, squaring off against powerhouses USC, UCLA, and Washington despite a deficit in resources that he once described as "having to fight battles every Saturday with a really short sword." He kidded and sparred with coaches like James, John Robinson, and Terry Donahuc, while ticking off a few others with his outspokenness. He offered his opinions so frequently and frankly that his university president had "The Walden Release" printed and ready as a disclaimer for the press: "The opinions of Coach Walden do not necessarily reflect the stance of the WSU administration." In Jim Walden's Tales from the Washington State Cougars Sideline, the coach, a Mississippi-born storyteller, looks at coaches from the colorful "Lone Star" Dietz to Bill Doba and gives readers a glimpse at the personalities of Cougar All-Americans as well as the other quirky individuals who made their way onto the WSU sidelines. Walden reveals the effective strategies and the flubs and tells what really happened on the field and in the locker rooms. He alsoshares the ways he was able to coax prospects into coming to remote Pullman and what he was really screaming at officials all those times. Walden tells his stories the way he coached--all out, nothing held back, with wit and humor.

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About the Author:

Jim Walden took a dormant program plagued by coaching turnover and turmoil and helped create the foundation for modern Washington State Football success. Coaching at WSU from 1977 through 1986, he most notably snapped a 51-season bowl drought by leading the Cougars to the 1981 Holiday Bowl. He was unanimously named Pac-10 Coach of the Year in 1981. He later became a color commentator on Cougar radio broadcasts. In college Walden quarterbacked the University of Wyoming and went on to play four years in the Canadian Football League.

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