page_title: Washington State Cougars football
section_title: Jim Walden era (1978–1986)
hierarchical_section_title: Washington State Cougars football / History / Jim Walden era (1978–1986)
caption_attribution_description: English: Dennis Erickson Deutsch: Dennis Erickson im August 2007.
context_page_description: The Washington State Cougars football program is the intercollegiate American football team for Washington State University, located in Pullman, Washington. The team competes at the NCAA Division I level in the FBS and is a member of the North Division of the Pac-12 Conference. Known as the Cougars, the first football team was fielded in 1894.
  The Cougars play home games on campus at Martin Stadium, which opened in 1972; the site dates back to 1892 as Soldier Field and was renamed Rogers Field ten years later. Its present seating capacity is 33,522. Their main rivals are the Washington Huskies; the teams historically end the regular season with the Apple Cup rivalry game in late November.
context_section_description: Jim Walden was promoted to head coach following the departure of Powers. In nine seasons, Walden led the Cougars to one bowl appearance, the Holiday Bowl in 1981, a memorable loss to BYU. It was Washington State's first bowl in 51 years, since the 1931 Rose Bowl. (The Pac-8 did not allow a second bowl team until 1975.) Walden won Pacific-10 Coach of the Year honors in 1981 and 1983. Walden's final record at Washington State was 44–52–4. Players coached by Walden at WSU include Jack Thompson, Kerry Porter, Rueben Mayes, Ricky Turner, Ricky Reynolds, Paul Sorensen, Brian Forde, Lee Blakeney, Mark Rypien, Dan Lynch, Pat Beach, Keith Millard, Erik Howard, and Cedrick Brown. Walden left after the 1986 season for Iowa State in the Big Eight.
caption: Dennis Erickson in 2007
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