Jim Wacker

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Jim Wacker (1937 - August 26, 2003) was an American football college head coach who was known for his enthusiasm and integrity. His career won-lost-tied record was 160-130-3.

Wacker was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan as the son of a Lutheran minister.

In the early phase of his career, he coached at Texas Lutheran University (1971-1975), North Dakota State University (1976-1978), and Southwest Texas State University (1979-1982). He won four national championships during this phase of his career, two at Southwest Texas and two at Texas Lutheran.

1 TCU years
2 Minnesota
3 Return to Texas
4 References

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TCU years

Wacker became head football coach of Texas Christian University (TCU) in 1982. He had early success at TCU - his team was invited to the Bluebonnet Bowl after an 8-3 record in 1984. He was named as National Coach of the Year by ESPN, the UPI, and The Sporting News. In 1985 Wacker discovered that several players had been benefiting from a payment plan in violation of NCAA rules. He dismissed the players and voluntarily reported the infractions to the NCAA who issued stiff recruiting penalties on his team. These actions led to Wacker's reputation as a man of integrity.

After several years of struggling due to the NCAA penalties, Wacker brought the team back to success in 1991.

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Minnesota

Wacker served as head coach of the University of Minnesota from 1992-1996. 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.

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Return to Texas

Wacker was an announcer on CBS radio for a couple of years and then returned to Southwest Texas in 1998 to serve as athletic director.

He died after a long battle with cancer in San Marcos, Texas in 2003. Texas State University named its football stadium to "Jim Wacker Field" in his honor.

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