Spring Break
Croom's time has come
Abstract:
The Mississippi State football program needs a new direction. MSU is on the verge of yet another losing season. Barring a massive upset in Tuscaloosa over current No. 1 Alabama, ending a nine game losing streak against Arkansas, and retaining the Egg Bowl for the first time since 1999, State will miss the postseason for the seventh time since 2001....
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C.J. LeMaster
posted 11/07/08 @ 10:29 AM CST
The last time we won against Ole Miss in Oxford was actually 1998, not 1999.
And the headline of this article is misleading. He says the program needs to be taken in a different direction, but at no point in the article does Kimbrough assert directly that Croom should be fired. Yet, the tease on the front page says "Fire Croom" and the article's very headline says "Croom's time has come."
Obviously, Croom can go in a different direction by firing his offensive coordinator...and still keep his job. Kimbrough's article is vague enough on that front to accept either possibility: fire McCorvey or step down as head coach.
And while I don't think the student section shouldn't be listened to here, there are people with much louder voices who fund projects at this university and who donate much more than four years' worth of tuition. Alums have just as much if not more weight than fairweather fans that sit in the endzone.
Bottom line: buying out Croom's contract and subsequently initiating a nationwide search for another head coach will cost this school millions. And our coffers are getting pretty empty since investing in the SEC's biggest HD video board.
And the headline of this article is misleading. He says the program needs to be taken in a different direction, but at no point in the article does Kimbrough assert directly that Croom should be fired. Yet, the tease on the front page says "Fire Croom" and the article's very headline says "Croom's time has come."
Obviously, Croom can go in a different direction by firing his offensive coordinator...and still keep his job. Kimbrough's article is vague enough on that front to accept either possibility: fire McCorvey or step down as head coach.
And while I don't think the student section shouldn't be listened to here, there are people with much louder voices who fund projects at this university and who donate much more than four years' worth of tuition. Alums have just as much if not more weight than fairweather fans that sit in the endzone.
Bottom line: buying out Croom's contract and subsequently initiating a nationwide search for another head coach will cost this school millions. And our coffers are getting pretty empty since investing in the SEC's biggest HD video board.
Mike Bedgood
posted 11/07/08 @ 1:15 PM CST
Originally posted byC.J. LeMaster
The last time we won against Ole Miss in Oxford was actually 1998, not 1999.
And the headline of this article is misleading. He says the program needs to be taken in a different direction, but at no point in the article does Kimbrough assert directly that Croom should be fired. Yet, the tease on the front page says "Fire Croom" and the article's very headline says "Croom's time has come."
Obviously, Croom can go in a different direction by firing his offensive coordinator...and still keep his job. Kimbrough's article is vague enough on that front to accept either possibility: fire McCorvey or step down as head coach.
And while I don't think the student section shouldn't be listened to here, there are people with much louder voices who fund projects at this university and who donate much more than four years' worth of tuition. Alums have just as much if not more weight than fairweather fans that sit in the endzone.
Bottom line: buying out Croom's contract and subsequently initiating a nationwide search for another head coach will cost this school millions. And our coffers are getting pretty empty since investing in the SEC's biggest HD video board.
The article did not say the last time State won in Oxford was 1999, it said the last time State won a second Egg Bowl in a row was 1999, meaning a win in 1998 and the second was 1999. Come on people.
C.J. LeMaster
posted 11/07/08 @ 3:59 PM CST
Well then, I misunderstood, Mr. Bedgood. My apologies.
Melissa Swan, MSU Alumni and Proud Croom Supporter
posted 11/07/08 @ 10:52 AM CST
I am writing in response to the article in 11/07/08's opinion column about the advocated firing of Coach Croom. Coach Sylvester Croom happens to be the greatest Man and Coach in the SEC!! He cares about his players ON and OFF the football field!! Yes, he wants them to win games, but he also wants them to be winners after college football!! When Croom wins games, everyone seems loves him, but the minute the team loses, he is the most hated man on the MSU campus!! Not only is Coach Croom concerned what plays are made on the field, he is also concerned with what decisions the players make in life!! I am honored and humbled to have him as our Head Coach and I think that the players will agree with me!! Coach Croom, thank you for your genuine concern about our players!! I have the greatest respect for you and will continue to support the MSU Football Team!!
Jimmy
posted 11/07/08 @ 12:51 PM CST
Originally posted byMelissa Swan, MSU Alumni and Proud Croom Supporter
I am writing in response to the article in 11/07/08's opinion column about the advocated firing of Coach Croom. Coach Sylvester Croom happens to be the greatest Man and Coach in the SEC!! He cares about his players ON and OFF the football field!! Yes, he wants them to win games, but he also wants them to be winners after college football!! When Croom wins games, everyone seems loves him, but the minute the team loses, he is the most hated man on the MSU campus!! Not only is Coach Croom concerned what plays are made on the field, he is also concerned with what decisions the players make in life!! I am honored and humbled to have him as our Head Coach and I think that the players will agree with me!! Coach Croom, thank you for your genuine concern about our players!! I have the greatest respect for you and will continue to support the MSU Football Team!!
Please use more EXCLAMATION POINTS!!!!!!!!!! They are awesome! They show that you are excited about this coaching staff! Go Croom Go!
Hurley
posted 11/07/08 @ 1:06 PM CST
I agree. I'm not even a football fan, but I'm a Croom fan. I like it that he places more value on the players as students and people than he does as just pawns in a game. He holds them accountable for their actions and doesn't try to cover up bad behavior, as some of our previous coaches have. If a player does something wrong, then they're in trouble with Croom. This kind of coaching will do something more important than build a good team; it'll build good character in the players, and good citizens. On top of that, he's had some great success with the team, giving us some impressive wins. I definitely wouldn't get rid of Croom; that's a crazy idea.
Originally posted byMelissa Swan, MSU Alumni and Proud Croom Supporter
I am writing in response to the article in 11/07/08's opinion column about the advocated firing of Coach Croom. Coach Sylvester Croom happens to be the greatest Man and Coach in the SEC!! He cares about his players ON and OFF the football field!! Yes, he wants them to win games, but he also wants them to be winners after college football!! When Croom wins games, everyone seems loves him, but the minute the team loses, he is the most hated man on the MSU campus!! Not only is Coach Croom concerned what plays are made on the field, he is also concerned with what decisions the players make in life!! I am honored and humbled to have him as our Head Coach and I think that the players will agree with me!! Coach Croom, thank you for your genuine concern about our players!! I have the greatest respect for you and will continue to support the MSU Football Team!!
Rebinbama
posted 11/07/08 @ 2:00 PM CST
Originally posted byYou people are hilarious. What a load of crap, I truly feel sorry for the real football fans at State. This great man you brag about who cares so much for his players on and off the field has had more players with off the field issues than Tennessee since he's been there. So keep thinking he's such a wonderful disciplinarian....remember who his mentor was! Truth is he is as bad at that as he is coaching. Like I said I feel sorry for the real State fans that have to listen to moronic crap like this (my best friend and his father live and breath State and have been season ticket holders for 25 years up until 2 years ago and swore off going to any game but the Egg Bowl until that joke of a coach is gone). If State wants a chance at winning they need to fire Croom and find one of these up and comers from a smaller school. If they want to live under the delusion he is the most disciplined coach in the SEC...well fine with us Rebs, but you will keep losing with thugs that beat up security guards. Sorry usually wouldn't post in Miss State world but this was the most asinine thing I've read in a while, and made me feel sorry for the fans who know the truth.Melissa Swan, MSU Alumni and Proud Croom Supporter
I am writing in response to the article in 11/07/08's opinion column about the advocated firing of Coach Croom. Coach Sylvester Croom happens to be the greatest Man and Coach in the SEC!! He cares about his players ON and OFF the football field!! Yes, he wants them to win games, but he also wants them to be winners after college football!! When Croom wins games, everyone seems loves him, but the minute the team loses, he is the most hated man on the MSU campus!! Not only is Coach Croom concerned what plays are made on the field, he is also concerned with what decisions the players make in life!! I am honored and humbled to have him as our Head Coach and I think that the players will agree with me!! Coach Croom, thank you for your genuine concern about our players!! I have the greatest respect for you and will continue to support the MSU Football Team!!
G. Smith
posted 11/07/08 @ 8:06 PM CST
How about if Sly lets the young men take responsibility for themselves (I did when at State) and he start coaching football if he knows how - I'm still not convinced after 5 LONG years? I would kill to come to college and have a person take my responsibility from me by trying to raise me......
Ryan
posted 11/07/08 @ 1:15 PM CST
I have deep respect for Croom too, but there comes a time when we have to weigh the pros and cons. There comes a time when fans have had enough mediocrity and west coast offense which does nto seem to work in the SEC. We want a coach with a strong character who cares about our players on and off the field, but we also want a coach that wins. Its time for a new direction. I know for a fact that there are other cfoaches out there with just as much character and class who know how to win. Our fan base is dwendleing and personally as a young adult with not a lot of money, it is getting hard to justify the expenses of a trip to Starkville jsut to see the Dawgs loose.
Five Years
posted 11/07/08 @ 4:04 PM CST
Croom is an absolute joke. He has been here five years and has one winning season (which was a complete fluke i might add.) we got so lucky last year. Yall people who support him bathe in mediocrity. A diciplinarian? are you serious? Our players had the OK Corral on campus weeks before the season. Not to mention we have had many players getting arrested and kicked off the team. Croom is all talk. No other school in the nation puts up with this crap for this long. K-States coach quit after two years and he was only 2 games under .500. He gets paid 1.7 million dollars. Im sure he is a good man but he can go be a good man somewhere else. Go run the local boys and girls club or something. We need a FOOTBALL COACH b/c thats what he gets paid to do. WIN GAMES! This is the SEC and it's for big boys. Youre either getting better or getting worse, and were not getting any better. Look at our seniors were about to lose. We are the laughing stock of the conference and not enough people seem to care.
Rebnstarkvegas
posted 11/07/08 @ 4:23 PM CST
How can anyone want to fire "Bear Jr". This is the greatest coach of all time, in the history of football. We can't fire him, he just needs 5 more years, please god don't fire the Bear Jr.
Adam
posted 11/07/08 @ 10:10 PM CST
I am sick and tired of everyone and their uneducated opinions. How about you do a history check on our program? Apparently you haven't, let me educate you, we are historically, let's just say not one of the winningest teams in SEC history. Coach Croom is a great man and I believe a great coach, we don't have alot to work with and when you have injuries and guys being kicked off the team and out of school, you take what you can get. We are very close to building a consistently good program. Let the guy get some talent here, we will be significantly better next year. Why don't you fairweather fans do some research and then come back. Quit your whining and complaining. Besides after you fire a good man like Croom, who is going to want to come and coach here for minimum wage????
Parker
posted 11/08/08 @ 2:32 PM CST
Originally posted byAdam
I am sick and tired of everyone and their uneducated opinions. How about you do a history check on our program? Apparently you haven't, let me educate you, we are historically, let's just say not one of the winningest teams in SEC history. Coach Croom is a great man and I believe a great coach, we don't have alot to work with and when you have injuries and guys being kicked off the team and out of school, you take what you can get. We are very close to building a consistently good program. Let the guy get some talent here, we will be significantly better next year. Why don't you fairweather fans do some research and then come back. Quit your whining and complaining. Besides after you fire a good man like Croom, who is going to want to come and coach here for minimum wage????
Wow. How do you feel that $1.7 million is top 30 pay in the country for college coaches and it is going to a man who has one winning season in 5 years. Do you enjoy the fact that our money is going to waste to a coach as stubborn as Croom is? We can pay for any coach in the nation to come here. Enough is enough when it comes to losing and like you mentioned, we may not historically be a winning program but we can change that perspective in our life time. Greg Byrne make the right decision, Its Time, Fire Croom.
John
posted 11/07/08 @ 10:29 PM CST
I think Coach Croom is doing a good job. You can always question the play calling, but what it comes down to is execution. Croom is not on the field executing the plays. Everbody was pumped and excited about Croom after he got us a bowl game, but now one bad season again its all the end. This irritates me hearing all this. So many fair weather friends. I hear you all the time complaining and whining saying we suck never being positive. Last year it was "We want Carroll" and now this season it was "We want Lee." Just support your team more and stay with the good and the bad thats what true fans do.
Manny
posted 11/08/08 @ 12:16 AM CST
"Let the guy get some talent here, we will be significantly better next year"
I hear this argument all the time. You are aware that Croom and his staff are directly responsible for the talent, right? Why will next year bring this mysterious talent? Yes, it's harder to recruit to MSU, but it has been done. The lack of talent is Croom's fault not MSU's.
I hear this argument all the time. You are aware that Croom and his staff are directly responsible for the talent, right? Why will next year bring this mysterious talent? Yes, it's harder to recruit to MSU, but it has been done. The lack of talent is Croom's fault not MSU's.
Paul, the writer
posted 11/08/08 @ 8:26 AM CST
Wow, thanks for all the interest in my article.
Here is a little more MSU history that I found in doing my research:
State has finished in the top 3 of the SEC only 7 times in 75 years (1940, 1941, 1957, 1980, 1981, 1998, 1999) So its obvious that top tier conference success at MSU is really only a once a generation thing.
Yes, Croom has received commitments from five of the top ten players in MS on the rivals list: http://rivals100.rivals.com/viewrank.asp?ra_key=2200&Year=2009, but recruiting rankings are completely made up. The best WR in the country, Texas Tech receiver Michael Crabtree was a 2 star prospect. Have any of you ever heard of Ernie Sims, Whitney Lewis, or Kyle Wright? They were 3 of the top 5 Rivals prospects in 2003 and they have amounted to nothing.
I grew up in Alabama as a 49ers fan. Croom's mentors Paul Bryant and Bill Walsh are the two greatest coaches in history. I do think Croom can and will succeed somewhere. It is just it takes something special to win at MSU and Sly does not have that.
I have ultimate respect for the man. Working for the Reflector, I have been able to meet him on multiple occasions and he is an outstanding man who obviously knows football and had I turned out to be a football player I would love to play for Croom.
The facts are clear: From 1933 til 2003 MSU won 2.13 SEC games per year, and that includes 14 years with zero wins. In Croom's 5 years he has won 1.8. It is time to accept that Croom just is not the fit for MSU that everyone, including myself, would like him to be.
Here is a little more MSU history that I found in doing my research:
State has finished in the top 3 of the SEC only 7 times in 75 years (1940, 1941, 1957, 1980, 1981, 1998, 1999) So its obvious that top tier conference success at MSU is really only a once a generation thing.
Yes, Croom has received commitments from five of the top ten players in MS on the rivals list: http://rivals100.rivals.com/viewrank.asp?ra_key=2200&Year=2009, but recruiting rankings are completely made up. The best WR in the country, Texas Tech receiver Michael Crabtree was a 2 star prospect. Have any of you ever heard of Ernie Sims, Whitney Lewis, or Kyle Wright? They were 3 of the top 5 Rivals prospects in 2003 and they have amounted to nothing.
I grew up in Alabama as a 49ers fan. Croom's mentors Paul Bryant and Bill Walsh are the two greatest coaches in history. I do think Croom can and will succeed somewhere. It is just it takes something special to win at MSU and Sly does not have that.
I have ultimate respect for the man. Working for the Reflector, I have been able to meet him on multiple occasions and he is an outstanding man who obviously knows football and had I turned out to be a football player I would love to play for Croom.
The facts are clear: From 1933 til 2003 MSU won 2.13 SEC games per year, and that includes 14 years with zero wins. In Croom's 5 years he has won 1.8. It is time to accept that Croom just is not the fit for MSU that everyone, including myself, would like him to be.
Caroline
posted 11/11/08 @ 11:37 PM CST
Although, I have never been a Croom supporter, I am not sure WHO in the world you think is going to come here and take the job. As you posted, look at the stats---STATE has never been that Good...a few decent years and we expect it.......please.
ronnie blansett
posted 11/25/08 @ 11:31 AM CST
i think coach croom may be one of the most outstanding people in america, but let us look at that dismal record he has 20 wins and 8 were in what looks like a fluke season. if he continues to be the coach the offense will still suck, and trying to make first downs and touchdowns will make digging a ditch with a spoon look easy. GO STATE
ronnie blansett
posted 11/26/08 @ 9:49 AM CST
to melissa swan i think character should count but the players do not need a parent or a mentor. we the fans want a football coach, who instructed them in the correct way to play the game of football. look at the special teams,you would think they were coached by a drunk at a bar, the offense is pathetic they look like they have no since of purpose but run the same old plays every game that every-one we play, knows is coming. i understand your admiration of coach croom, but he is out of his league. he is coaching that team like it is still 1975, we need a coach who knows the game played now.
Mike Hawthorne
posted 11/29/08 @ 9:00 AM CST
After the humiliating 45-0 loss against Ole Miss (making matters worse that it was the only shut out of the season), this ought to be the Clarion call for fresh blood to be injected into this football organization.
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Mr. Reb
posted 11/07/08 @ 10:13 AM CST
He's doing a fine job.