When Iowa State kicks off the season Sept. 5 at home against Southeast Missouri, it will bring back a familiar kind of coaching story in Ames: a head coach arriving from Washington State with a roster that needs serious work.
That was Jim Walden nearly 40 years ago, and now it’s Jimmy Rogers.
Walden made the trip from Pullman to replace Jim Criner before the 1987 season. Rogers came out of Pullman to take over for Matt Campbell this year. Different eras, same basic path - and more than a few shared traits once you look past the calendar.
Both men were known for giving memorable, entertaining comments. Both inherited programs that were in rough shape, though for different reasons. And both had to go straight to work rebuilding from the ground up.
Walden once joked before the 2018 Alamo Bowl, when his former schools met, “Only guy crazy enough to coach at both schools,” a line he delivered with the kind of grin that made clear he wasn’t taking himself too seriously.
He also understood the uphill climb that comes with trying to sell Iowa State. In a quote to the Spokane Spokesman-Review, he said, “When you call a recruit and say you’re from Iowa State or Washington State, he doesn’t exactly jump for joy,” he once told the Spokane Spokesman-Review newspaper.
“You have to get used to that. You set it aside, and you plead your case.”
That recruiting battle is part of the thread connecting the two coaches. Walden’s first job in Ames was restoring a roster hit hard after the NCAA put Criner’s program on two years of probation for violations. Iowa State also lost a number of scholarships, and by the time Walden got to work, he had 60 scholarship players and 40 walk-ons.
“The biggest problem was getting your foot in the door - getting a kid on campus,” Walden said. “Once you got them on campus, you probably had them, but just getting them to Ames - that wasn’t easy back then.”
Rogers is dealing with a modern version of that same headache. Iowa State’s roster changed dramatically after a wave of departures when Campbell left for Penn State, and Rogers and his staff had to spend heavily on the recruiting trail.
The result was 80-some newcomers, plus whatever holdovers remained. In Saturday’s opener, as many as 17 or so, possibly more, offensive and defensive starters will have played somewhere else in 2025.
Walden’s first Iowa State team took its lumps early. It dropped its first four games, starting with a loss at Tulane in his debut and then falling to Iowa, Wyoming and Oklahoma.
The breakthrough finally came against Northern Iowa, and it was a nail-biter: a 39-38 win on Jeff Shudak’s 28-yard field goal with a little more than a minute left.
“I’m not real sure the best team won, but a team that needed to win, won,” Walden said afterward.
That team finished 3-8 overall and 2-5 in the Big Eight, adding wins over Kansas and Kansas State. Given the circumstances, Walden didn’t sugarcoat it. After the season-ending loss at Oklahoma State, he said, “Given our circumstances and how far we came,” Walden said after a season-ending loss at Oklahoma State, “yeah, we had a heck of a season.”
The obvious question hanging over Rogers’ first Iowa State team is whether three wins would count the same way. That answer, as the piece of history suggests, depends on who’s doing the judging.
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Iowa State Freshman Faces Tough Climb In Key Early Position Battle
Iowa States reset under new head coach Jimmy Rogers has opened the door for just about every spot on the roster, and that includes the backfield. With no returning starters in the program, the early months of camp have taken on added meaning, especially for young players trying to carve out a role behind more established options. Freshman running back Caleb Francois is one of the names to watch, but his path figures to be a patient one as the Cyclones sort through their depth.
Francois is expected to develop over the course of the season while Aiden Flora, Cameron Pettaway and Arnold Barnes III sit ahead of him on the depth chart. There is also the possibility of another late-season wrinkle, since Ryver Peppers is working back from a season-ending injury and could re-enter the mix down the line. For Francois, the challenge is less about forcing the issue right away and more about staying ready for the chance that comes when the backfield picture inevitably shifts. [Read more 🡒]
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Iowa States season opener against SEMO arrives with the kind of first-week intrigue that can shape an entire fall, and the Cyclones have already offered a glimpse of how the Jimmy Rogers era may look. The depth chart is out, and it includes several familiar names alongside a few less-expected ones, with Caden Maas, Trevor Bindel, Willie Breland III and Brody Miller all earning starting spots as the new staff begins to put its stamp on the roster.
For a team trying to establish a new identity quickly, those choices matter because they hint at both opportunity and trust. The mix of backgrounds among those players gives Iowa State some interesting options heading into the opener, and the early lineup decisions suggest the Cyclones are willing to reward different paths to playing time right away. [Read more 🡒]
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As Iowa State gets ready to open the 2026 season against SEMO, the biggest early story in Ames is less about the opponent and more about how first-year coach Jimmy Rogers has tried to speed up the learning curve. His staff spent camp on a double repping approach, giving players extra work in practice in hopes of sharpening their grasp of new schemes before the games start to count.
The most visible test of that philosophy comes at quarterback, where Jaylen Raynor is set to lead the offense and Connor Moberly appears positioned as the primary backup. If the Cyclones look organized early and the offense handles the opening week cleanly, it will be a sign the new camp method stuck. If not, the questions about how quickly Rogers can get everyone on the same page will only get louder. [Read more 🡒]