 Wacker,c. 1977 | |
| Biographical details | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1937-04-29)April 29, 1937 Detroit, Michigan, U.S. |
| Died | August 26, 2003(2003-08-26) (aged 66) San Marcos, Texas, U.S. |
| Playing career | |
| 1957–1959 | Valparaiso |
| Position | Tackle |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| 1960–1963 | Concordia HS (OR) (assistant) |
| 1964–1969 | Concordia (NE) (assistant) |
| 1970 | Augustana (SD) (assistant) |
| 1971–1975 | Texas Lutheran |
| 1976–1978 | North Dakota State |
| 1979–1982 | Southwest Texas State |
| 1983–1991 | TCU |
| 1992–1996 | Minnesota |
| Administrative career (AD unless noted) | |
| 1998–2001 | Southwest Texas State |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 159–131–3 |
| Bowls | 0–1 |
| Tournaments | 4–0 (NAIA D-II playoffs) 8–2 (NCAA D-II playoffs) |
| Accomplishments and honors | |
| Championships | |
| 2NAIA Division II (1974–1975) 2NCAA Division II (1981–1982) 2NCC (1976–1977) 3LSC (1980–1982) | |
| Awards | |
| AFCA College Division Coach of the Year (1982) Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Award (1984) Sporting News College Football COY (1984) 2×LSC Coach of the Year (1980, 1982) | |
James Herbert Wacker (April 28, 1937 – August 26, 2003) was an Americanfootball coach and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach atTexas Lutheran University (1971–1975),North Dakota State University (1976–1978), Southwest Texas State University—nowTexas State University (1979–1982),Texas Christian University (1983–1991), and theUniversity of Minnesota (1992–1996), compiling a careercollege football record of 159–131–3. Wacker won twoNAIA Division II National Championships with Texas Lutheran in 1974 and 1975, and twoNCAA Division II Football Championships with Southwest Texas State, in 1981 and 1982.
The son of aLutheran minister, Wacker was born and raised inDetroit. He graduated from Lutheran-affiliatedValparaiso University in 1960 and went on to further studies atWayne State University.
In the early phase of his coaching career, Wacker coached atTexas Lutheran University (1971–1975),North Dakota State University (1976–1978), andSouthwest Texas State University (1979–1982). He won four national championships, two at Texas Lutheran and two at Southwest Texas State.
Wacker became head football coach ofTexas Christian University after the 1982 season. He had early success at TCU. In 1984, his team was ranked as high as #12, theTCU Frogs' highest ranking since 1960, and was invited to theBluebonnet Bowl after an 8–3 record in the regular season, their first bowl appearance in 20 years. The #12-ranked Frogs lost a showdown for theSouthwest Conference title with the #10-rankedTexas Longhorns on November 10 in what remains the third best-attended game in the history ofAmon G. Carter Stadium. TCU finished in a three-way tie for third in the 1984 SWC standings with Arkansas and Texas one game behind co-champions SMU and Houston. After the season, Wacker was named as National Coach of the Year byESPN, theUPI, andThe Sporting News. He was awarded the 1984Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Award.
There was much hype surrounding the Frogs going into the 1985 season, and Wacker appeared on the cover ofDave Campbell's Texas Football alongside hisAll-Americanrunning back,Kenneth Davis, a finalist for theHeisman Trophy in 1984 and a leading candidate for the award in 1985. After the first game of the season, Wacker discovered that several players, including Davis, had been benefiting from a payment plan in violation ofNCAA rules. Wacker promptly kicked the players off the team and self-reported the infractions to the NCAA, cementing his reputation as a man of integrity. For all intents and purposes, this ended the Frogs' season; they finished 3-8, including a winless SWC slate.
In 1986, the NCAA slapped TCU with three years' probation and a ban on postseason play in the 1986 season. The most severe penalty in the long run, however, was a reduction to only 25 scholarships in 1987 and 1988. To this day, Horned Frog fans remain bitter that the NCAA imposed such a severe penalty given that the violations were voluntarily reported.[1] As heavy-handed as this penalty was, the NCAA seriously considered banning the Horned Frogs from bowl games and live television for three years and no new scholarships in 1987 or 1988. However, it praised Wacker for taking swift corrective action once the violations came to light, including kicking the players off the team when he was well aware that it would cripple the team for the upcoming season.[2] As it turned out, TCU would need the rest of the decade and much of the next to recover; they would have only two more winning records until 1997.
Wacker brought the team back to success in 1990, when the 5–1 Frogs returned to the top 25 for the first time since 1984, before slumping after a season-ending injury to their starting quarterback. In 1991, TCU finished 7–4 for their first winning season since 1984. However, blowout losses to Texas and Texas A&M kept the Horned Frogs out of a bowl. This was one of only three winning seasons TCU had from 1985 to 1997.
Wacker served as head coach at theUniversity of Minnesota from 1992 to 1996. Although he had a disappointing won-lost record (16–39) at Minnesota, for three years his teams led the conference with academic all-conference honors.
Wacker was anannouncer onCBS Radio for two years and then returned to Southwest Texas State University in 1998 to serve asathletic director until 2001. He died after a long battle withcancer inSan Marcos, Texas on August 26, 2003. In November 2003, Southwest Texas State named its football field atBobcat Stadium "Jim Wacker Field" in his honor.[3]
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