Burnham, Cyclones Blow Away Past

Iowa State defensive coordinator Wally Burnham glanced at the Memorial Stadium scoreboard Saturday afternoon.

HUSKERS 7 CYCLONES 9.

His 68-year old eyes were witnessing history, but there was still 4:03 remaining. Nebraska had the ball and he knew this was far from over.

Four plays later, Iowa State's Michael O'Connell intercepted Nebraska's Zac Lee. It was the seventh turnover forced by Burnham's over-achieving defense. The Cyclones' sideline went nuts.

There was still 2:51 remaining.

"I'm thinking 'Dang, if the offense makes two first downs we can win this thing,' " Burnham told FanHouse.

Four plays later, however, Nebraska forced a punt and Iowa State's defense trotted back on the field needing to make one more stop.

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For Burnham, it all started in Pell City, Ala. He grew up in a square house -- as he says "on the wrong side of the tracks" -- with two fireplaces that burned coal to keep the house warm. It was in Pell City, a small town located about 30 miles west of Birmingham, where Burnham learned the importance of hard work at the age of 16 while working two eight-hour shifts a day inside a cotton mill.

That lesson still remains with him today.

"That taught me work ethic and there are certain things you have to do in life to make it," Burnham said.

In the 1950s, Alabama state laws prohibited children from working in the mill until they were 16. But on the first Saturday after Burnham's 16th birthday in 1957, Burnham headed to the mill. It's something he'll never forget.

"I'd have a football game Friday night, then work at the cotton mill from 6AM. Saturday to 2PM," Burnham said. "Then we were required by state law to take eight hours off. I'd return Saturday night at 10 and work until 6AM Sunday then take eight hours off and go back Sunday at 2PM until 10 or 11 at night.

"We'd clean the entire mill, the floors, machines, get the lint off everything, if something needed painting. Whatever they wanted us to do, we did it. It's something I would never chance. It was quite an experience."

Nothing like the experience of playing for Bear Bryant.

"It was kind of like being a Marine," Burnham said.

Before Burnham played two years for the Bear at Alabama, he was one of the state's top -- and toughest -- linebackers, said his high school coach Will Glover.

"I just had to try to get him from tackling out of bounds," Glover said laughing.

Glover, now 86 and living in Jackson, Miss., fondly remembers Burnham's final high school game: Pell City at Talladega for the mythical state championship.

In the fourth quarter, Talladega pulled within one on a touchdown and lined up for the game-tying extra point.

"Wally rushed through and blocked the extra point and then ran into the kicker," Glover said. "Even though it's not supposed to be a penalty because he blocked the kick, they called him for roughing the kicker. Boy was he mad."

Burnham then blocked Talladega's next attempt.

"This time he really ran over the kicker," Glover said. "He knocked him unconscious."

Burnham was ejected, by "the hometown referees" Glover said, and Pell City eventually lost.

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Losing was an epidemic at Iowa State before Burnham joined new Iowa State coach Paul Rhoads this year. The Cyclones had lost 19 of their last 24 games and lost 14 consecutive Big 12 road games. Yet here were the nearly three-TD underdogs, playing without the Big 12's leading rusher and their starting quarterback in Lincoln, Neb., less than two minutes from knocking off Goliath.

Iowa State didn't get the couple of first downs Burnham wanted so badly, giving Nebraska the ball back at its 18. The Cornhuskers only needed a field goal for the victory.

Burnham paced the sidelines. This is his 44th year coaching and he's been on both ends of every comeback known to man. His defense, the same defense that last year was the nation's 10th-worst scoring defense, had to come up big one last time.

"A program that hasn't won in a while, sometimes it gets used to losing," Burnham said. "I could see 10-9 on the scoreboard. That would have been the most devastating thing."

Nebraska threw three consecutive incomplete passes. Then on fourth-and-10, Lee flung it downfield, but Iowa State's Jesse Smith was there for the game-clinching interception. Burnham immediately started bear-hugging anything that moved on the sidelines as the Cyclones celebrated one of college football's biggest upsets of the year.

Iowa State allowed seven points, forced eight Nebraska turnovers and scored nine points: 7-8-9, the winning combination in the Cyclones' first victory in Lincoln since 1977.

"As a coach, you want to say you can coach in a game like that, that means this much," Burnham said. "It's big when you go beat an Alabama or Penn State. It's the same kind of deal in the Midwest against Nebraska. I wanted this for the kids, especially the seniors, who are on their third head coach. They've been through so much the last five years.

"This was something they could take from the program. We told them if you do this, this will be something you remember the rest of your lives."

The Cyclones are 5-3 and only one win from becoming bowl eligible. They actually could be 7-1. They lost to Kansas State 24-23 on a missed extra point and at No. 16 Kansas 41-36. The other loss was to undefeated Iowa. Jayhawks safety Darrell Stuckey has noticed a big difference in the Cyclones this season.

"The team is very disciplined," Stuckey said. "They're buying into the new coaches' philosophy. They're doing a phenomenal job. They're a threat in the Big 12. They play hard and never give up."

Never give up. That's always been a trait of Burnham and his defenses. He's been coaching longer than six of Iowa State's other eight assistants have been alive.

Burnham began coaching in 1965 as a graduate assistant at Livingston College (now the University of West Alabama). Shortly afterward, Burnham got married -- he and his wife, Barbara, will celebrate their 44th wedding anniversary Dec. 4 -- and had to take a high school job "to keep from going broke."

He planned to coach a few years than become an administrator. Forty-four years later, he's coached numerous NFL linebackers in college such as Derrick Brooks, Marvin Jones, Kawika Mitchell, Jesse Solomon and Stephen Nicholas, and worked at places such as Memphis State, the USFL's Arizona Wranglers, Florida State, South Carolina (the only place he got fired) and South Florida.



Burnham is still going strong.

"On the sideline during the game, he's the most fired up person out there," said USF defensive end George Selvie, who Burnham coached the past four seasons. "He's on the sideline with us talking trash. You'd think he'd be a calm dude, but he has that fire in him."

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In February, Burnham left USF after nine seasons. Under Burnham, USF ranked in the top 30 in total defense in six of the past seven seasons. One reason he left Tampa, Fla., for Ames, Iowa, was the chance to coach with his son, Shane, also in his first season as ISU's defensive tackles coach. Burnham prefers to keep the other reasons private.

"This is a new challenge for him," Shane Burnham said. "He's re-energized and revitalized. He's working for a new head ball coach. He's ramped up that way to build something again."

That building project got a huge boost with the win at Nebraska.

"Dad was so thrilled," Shane Burnham said. "Our feet didn't touch the ground until Sunday morning. It was unbelievable. I think he would rank it up there with some of the program building wins with USF, winning at Auburn, and at Florida State, when they beat Nebraska and Michigan. Big-time wins that helped build those programs."

Last season, Iowa State surrendered 35.8 points and 453 yards per game. This year under Burnham, ISU is allowing only 19.8 points and 383.6 yards per game. The Cyclones also are second in the nation in takeaways (24) and lead the Big 12 in turnover margin (+9).

Wally Burnham said when he got to ISU one thing stood out: "we weren't a very good tackling team." That has changed.

"When you go into a program like this that was down, you realize a lot of minds that are not going to be sold on the coaching staff, especially the older guys," Burnham said.

"From an athletic standpoint, you could see we had some deficiencies in speed, quickness and size. The only way to [overcome] that was to work hard, teach them the concepts you want to use. The kids have always tried hard and put a lot of effort into it. We haven't gotten much faster or much bigger, but they understand our concepts."

Burnham, who has worked under 12 head coaches, said Rhoads is as good as there is.

"He's never too high, too low and doesn't panic," Burnham said. "He gives the players tough love. You couldn't ask for anyone any better.

"Thank God he's a defensive coach and understands what we're going through. He never interferes with the defense. We sit down talk and share ideas. It helps me. It's been great so far -- knock on wood. He's a great leader. He does as good a job after a game as anyone I've been around."