Wally Burnham Has Seen it All

AMES, Iowa -- Iowa State defensive coordinator Wally Burnham has been coaching football for more than 40 years. There isn't much Burnham hasn't seen. The native of Pell City, Ala., played for Paul “Bear” Bryant at Alabama the late 1960s. He coached under Bobby Bowden at Florida State (1985-93), winning a national championship in 1993. A former assistant head coach and defensive coordinator at South Carolina (1994-98), he was the architect of the South Florida defenses (2000-2008) that spurred the Bulls' rise to national prominence in the last decade.

Burnham coached son Shane at South Carolina. But Iowa State head coach Paul Rhoads made a dream come true when he hired the younger Burnham as defensive tackles coach at ISU to join his father, who is the Cyclone defensive coordinator and linebackers coach. The older Burnham says the pair has settled in at Iowa State.

“It is very special,” Wally Burnham said. “But when we are in the defensive staff room we are just coaches working with everyone else.”

Both Wally and Shane actually carry the legal name of Ron Burnham. Ron Sr. became Wally as a youth in Pell City.

“There was a new radio station broadcasting in town,” Wally Burnham said. “The station was broadcasting that if anyone came to the station, they would announce their name on the radio. We drove over there. We got back in the car and while we were driving the disc jockey came on and said ?and we had a visit from Wally Burnham.' My friends thought this was funny and starting calling me Wally. It just stuck.”

With more than four decades of coaching experience, Burnham has seen the evolution of college football recruiting.

“There was a time when you almost had no limits,” Burnham said. “You could see somebody every day if you wanted. Over time, a few coaches would bend the rules to their advantage. The NCAA would then make new rules to restrain those coaches from doing certain things. The NCAA did this in part to keep parity among the schools and to keep the game from getting out of control economically.”

Today's recruiting web sites and increased media coverage has changed recruiting across the country.

“Today, everyone knows what everyone else is doing,” Burnham said. “With email and the internet there are few secrets about anything anymore.”

Burnham says the increased recruiting scrutiny has spurred the growth of camps, where individuals can sign up or be invited to participate in a school's camp.

“It is an opportunity for young men to demonstrate their talents and refine those talents,” Burnham said. “We had a record number of athletes participate in camps here at Iowa State in just our first year here. That says a lot about Iowa State and (ISU head) coach (Paul) Rhoads.”

With the spotlight on recruiting 12 months a year, there is really no time off like there used to be. There is talk of instituting an early signing period for football, which Burnham says will up the ante.

“Right now we are watching a lot of film and working out game plans for our first few games of the season,” Burnham said. “But if we go to an early signing period you will spend this time almost exclusively on recruiting.”

If there is work to do, be assured that the Wally and Shane Burnham will do it as a team.

Iowa State University Athletics

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