Overview
- Iowa State announced Thursday, July 2, 2026, that Jim Walden had died at age 88.
- Walden led the Cyclones from 1987 to 1994 and finished with a 28-57-3 record while stabilizing a program hit by scholarship reductions.
- His teams posted a breakthrough 6-5 season in 1989 with roughly 50 scholarship players available and later upset higher-ranked programs including Oklahoma in 1990, Nebraska in 1992, and Kansas State in 1993.
- Walden coached five All-Americans at Iowa State and helped develop future NFL All-Pros such as Keith Sims and Marcus Robertson.
- Before Ames he rebuilt Washington State into an eight-win, bowl team and won Pac-10 Coach of the Year twice, and he was later honored in the Washington State and Wyoming athletics halls of fame; current coverage is retrospective remembrances with no new developments reported.