Croom

[SteelCurtain74]

is on the ballot for the 2022 SEC Hall of Fame as a player for Alabama. Any chance he would be inducted as a coach due to him being the first African American head coach in the conference?

 

[ZombieKissinger]

I bet his coaching will be a footnote to his player induction. If he went in as a coach, they'd have to, you know, acknowledge his record

 

[jethreauxdawg]

Is the Pope Catholic?

Any chance he would be inducted as a coach due to him being the first African American head coach in the conference?

This is a guarantee

 

[karlchilders.sixpack]

I'd rather go to the dentist,

than watch a Croom coached game.

But, he is a good man. IMO

 

[ZombieKissinger]

Croom seems like an OK guy overall. My memory may be a bit different than some, but here's what I remember:

He inherited a complete **** show with lots of off the field issues. Off the field issues didn't really decrease much while he was here, and some of that was his own guys. It can take time for a culture to shift, but it seemed to take a while with him. The thing that bothered me the most was that he would go into every press conference and talk about how all the coaches knew exactly what was going to happen every play, and they'd practiced the perfect game plan all week long, and the players just didn't execute. And we're all watching him run the ball up the middle three times in a row with Arnil Stallworth. He also threw some specific players under the bus from time to time. The discipline issues were better by the time he left, but we were still a bad team when Mullen took over. He seemed to have this mindset that Mississippi State was incredibly lucky to have him, and he's overplayed some of the aspects that made the job hard. Didn't seem to be able to take responsibility.

Edit: and to prove I was a fan back then, here's a preview of our team from Sixpack Remembers that I posted back in 2007 when I was still human. It was funny because the UT fan asking for a rundown on our team actually posted it on his blog as a serious preview. There are a bunch of inside jokes that I don't understand anymore

 

[garddog]

He wasn't an OK guy or a nice guy. He refused to take responsibility for the team, never his fault, never Woody's fault. His misuse of players was just horrible. If they didn't fit his West Coast timing offense, he wouldn't adjust. He told a few players they were running too fast, not hitting his ideal spot.

MSU should refuse to support anything HOF for his coaching.

 

[HumpDawgy]

He also put too many miles on that golf cart.

 

[Xenomorph]

When I was 16 I took a summer job at a local chain pharmacy stocking shelves. I didn’t want it but my parents talked me into it. All I wanted to do was go fishing every morning before baseball practice or a game that afternoon.

It resulted in me being a terrible employee. I was continually late. I misplaced things on shelves and I probably wasn’t very helpful to the customers.

One day the manager told me it was obvious I didn’t want to be there so she fired me. I got to batting practice an hour early that day and I’d never been so happy.

I’ve always equated that summer in 1989 to Croom’s time at MSU.

 

[1msucub]

"The loss of sturdy quarterback Michael Henig, who leads the Bulldogs in both passing yards and tackles per game..."

Bahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!

 

[thatsbaseball]

Ditto

 

[dawgstudent]

Disagree. If it puts MSU in a good light - I'm all for supporting him. He sucked as head coach for MSU but it would be stupid to ignore what we did as a university with the first black head football coach in the SEC.

 

[dorndawg]

When I was 16 I took a summer job at a local chain pharmacy stocking shelves. I didn’t want it but my parents talked me into it. All I wanted to do was go fishing every morning before baseball practice or a game that afternoon.

It resulted in me being a terrible employee. I was continually late. I misplaced things on shelves and I probably wasn’t very helpful to the customers.

One day the manager told me it was obvious I didn’t want to be there so she fired me. I got to batting practice an hour early that day and I’d never been so happy.

I’ve always equated that summer in 1989 to Croom’s time at MSU.

Entitled Gen Xer**

 

[Russ Wheeler]

When I was 16 I took a summer job at a local chain pharmacy stocking shelves. I didn’t want it but my parents talked me into it. All I wanted to do was go fishing every morning before baseball practice or a game that afternoon.

It resulted in me being a terrible employee. I was continually late. I misplaced things on shelves and I probably wasn’t very helpful to the customers.

One day the manager told me it was obvious I didn’t want to be there so she fired me. I got to batting practice an hour early that day and I’d never been so happy.

I’ve always equated that summer in 1989 to Croom’s time at MSU.

Great analogy, and I often wonder if Croom is actually proud of what he did at MSU. I don't think I would be. He said himself he only took the job because some preacher or whatever told him to. And then, he was only celebrated for the one reason - which we all know. Then he proved to everyone that he couldn't coach.

I think I'd have stayed in the NFL and made a decent living the rest of my career, and at least lived under the illusion that I was a good coach.

I still, to this day, don't understand how weak LT had to be to hire Croom. If he wanted a black coach, why not go hire Charlie Strong, who had actually proven something?? LT was just doing what the SEC told him to do, and it was just awful all the way around.

 

[The Peeper]

I don't know, I've always thought of a "Hall of Famer" as one that excelled at whatever they did. As a Head Coach he definitely did not meet that criteria. He was as or more hard headed than Moorhead was too. I'll always remember him for hiring and protecting the worst Offensive Coordinator in the history of our school, Woody McCorvey

 

[Russ Wheeler]

Croom seems like an OK guy overall. My memory may be a bit different than some, but here's what I remember:

He inherited a complete **** show with lots of off the field issues. Off the field issues didn't really decrease much while he was here, and some of that was his own guys. It can take time for a culture to shift, but it seemed to take a while with him. The thing that bothered me the most was that he would go into every press conference and talk about how all the coaches knew exactly what was going to happen every play, and they'd practiced the perfect game plan all week long, and the players just didn't execute. And we're all watching him run the ball up the middle three times in a row with Arnil Stallworth. He also threw some specific players under the bus from time to time. The discipline issues were better by the time he left, but we were still a bad team when Mullen took over. He seemed to have this mindset that Mississippi State was incredibly lucky to have him, and he's overplayed some of the aspects that made the job hard. Didn't seem to be able to take responsibility.

Edit: and to prove I was a fan back then, here's a preview of our team from Sixpack Remembers that I posted back in 2007 when I was still human. It was funny because the UT fan asking for a rundown on our team actually posted it on his blog as a serious preview. There are a bunch of inside jokes that I don't understand anymore

Yep, good stuff in there. These young dudes just don't understand how awful it was underneath that clown, it's impossible to know unless you lived it.

 

[Russ Wheeler]

I don't know, I've always thought of a "Hall of Famer" as one that excelled at whatever they did. As a Head Coach he definitely did not meet that criteria. He was as or more hard headed than Moorhead was too. I'll always remember him for hiring and protecting the worst Offensive Coordinator in the history of our school, Woody McCorvey

Woody wasn't as bad as he looked. Croom was the bad one. I remember McCorvey came up with the gameplan for Florida 2004 and Croominator quickly reeled that back in.

He never realized that his strength was speaking/recruiting, not unlike Dabo or Orgeron. He needed to let his coaches coach but instead he wanted to prove his was an offensive wizard and it was just terrible. Plus, his attitude was bad and he never wanted to be here, which was evident because his teams only played 'up' against Alabama.

 

[40 acres and a mule]

He wasn't an OK guy or a nice guy. He refused to take responsibility for the team, never his fault, never Woody's fault. His misuse of players was just horrible. If they didn't fit his West Coast timing offense, he wouldn't adjust. He told a few players they were running too fast, not hitting his ideal spot.

MSU should refuse to support anything HOF for his coaching.

Totally agree. Nothing I could see from the outside makes me think he is a "good guy". All I can see is an arrogant fool.

 

[vhdawg]

I don't know, I've always thought of a "Hall of Famer" as one that excelled at whatever they did. As a Head Coach he definitely did not meet that criteria. He was as or more hard headed than Moorhead was too. I'll always remember him for hiring and protecting the worst Offensive Coordinator in the history of our school, Woody McCorvey

Why is this falsehood that it was all McCorvey's fault so pervasive within our fanbase? That was CROOM's offense, all the day long, and Croom used Woody as a fall guy to take the heat off him for how terrible it was. I know a guy who played at Clemson under McCorvey in the 1980s, and remains friends with him to this day, and the guy told me he once talked to Woody after a particularly bad offensive day at MSU, and told Woody "I know you're a better offensive coach than that". McCorvey's answer was "I run what I am allowed to run." If you're holding ill will toward Woody McCorvey after 18 years, IT. IS. MISDIRECTED.

 

[Motodawg]

My favorite part is when he threw Mississippi State under the bus in SEC Storied.

 

[$altyDawg]

And then during the documentary Croom stating that his offensive coordinator left when everyone knows it was the defensive coordinator, Ellis Johnson. Then he goes on to say he didn't feel like we supported him enough. 10-30 in the SEC and the taste of losing 45-0 in the Egg Bowl is kinda hard to support.

 

[SteelCurtain74]

I guess the reason for my questioning if he could become a Hall of Fame member as a coach is that if the same conference can celebrate a PR stunt like Vanderbilt pulled off in the fall with the female kicker then certainly they would celebrate another more legitimate barrier breaking individual. I'm still of the opinion Templeton hired him, in part, to lessen the penalties the NCAA was about to hand down to us for the violations under Jackie's tenure.

 

[Joe Schmedlap]

Having never met the man personally, I cannot vouch for his character. He was probably a more than decent guy with faults like everyone else. The constant genuflection at the mention of his character always seemed to me to be a ploy to deflect attention from his abject failure as an SEC head coach.

 

[VegasDawg13]

Totally agree. Nothing I could see from the outside makes me think he is a "good guy". All I can see is an arrogant fool.

He got a lot of "good guy" mileage out of two things: 1) He talked about discipline a lot, though there was little evidence he actually instilled it. 2) He was overtly religious.

 

[WilCoDawg]

Complaining about support and fabricating attacks on his character keep the attention off of his actual performance. It’s a classic deflection used by everyone today.

 

[was21]

think it was his daughter that talked him into it according to him

 

[prdubya]

Woody wasn't as bad as he looked. Croom was the bad one. I remember McCorvey came up with the gameplan for Florida 2004 and Croominator quickly reeled that back in.

He never realized that his strength was speaking/recruiting, not unlike Dabo or Orgeron. He needed to let his coaches coach but instead he wanted to prove his was an offensive wizard and it was just terrible. Plus, his attitude was bad and he never wanted to be here, which was evident because his teams only played 'up' against Alabama.

So, I decided to look, and Russ is spot on here... McCorvey has had success every other stop and has been praised by Dabo for his work helping build the modern Clemson machine... [LINK=] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woody_McCorvey[/LINK]

I do place a lot on Croom’s stubborn attitude. I blank on the year, but we got shut out by an SEC team in week 1 or 2, and the press conference reply was “We will NEVER get shut out in the SEC again.” Got blanked by USCe the next week.

Guide to future Miss. State coaches (learned from Croom and Moorhead): just admit you sucked this week and you’ll work to be better next week. We could accept that answer I think.

 

[FISHDAWG]

Great analogy, and I often wonder if Croom is actually proud of what he did at MSU. I don't think I would be. He said himself he only took the job because some preacher or whatever told him to. And then, he was only celebrated for the one reason - which we all know. Then he proved to everyone that he couldn't coach.

I think I'd have stayed in the NFL and made a decent living the rest of my career, and at least lived under the illusion that I was a good coach.

I still, to this day, don't understand how weak LT had to be to hire Croom. If he wanted a black coach, why not go hire Charlie Strong, who had actually proven something?? LT was just doing what the SEC told him to do, and it was just awful all the way around.

I always suspected it was to soften the potential looming blow that we were waiting on the NCAA to hand down

 

[NOATLDAWG]

wait... You didn't demand $3M on your way out the door even after being a terrible employee?!?!?

 

[IBleedMaroonDawg]

I don't know, I've always thought of a "Hall of Famer" as one that excelled at whatever they did. As a Head Coach he definitely did not meet that criteria. He was as or more hard headed than Moorhead was too. I'll always remember him for hiring and protecting the worst Offensive Coordinator in the history of our school, Woody McCorvey

The way it looked to me he thought because he came from the NFL he was an expert on football. He never saw the difference between college and pro football at that time and was too stubborn to admit maybe he didn't know as much as he thought he did. He would really be screwed if he tried to be a college football coach now.