Bob has spoken

[beachbumdawg]

<h4><span><span>Sorry for the length but, I have a lot of pent up "splainin to do". Why do we INSIST on making the same mistake over and over again? Except for JWS who is a story unto himself, and is a subject for another long post, we have hired coaches IMHO only to fire them just as they are about to succeed . Its as if we fear success!</span></span></h4> <div>

Case in point, Coach Sylvester Croom. Hired in December after recruiting was basically over, under scholly limiting probation from day one. Following 3 very bad seasons from JWS, where we not only lost on the field, we misbehaved off it and worst of all, WE QUIT whenever we got behind! Enter Coach Croom into the best conference in America, with the smallest budget in the conference and the lowest population base in a 150 mile radius to recruit from in the conference. Add to that the fact that no matter how well prepared he is (and he was the best prepared applicant we had) he still has to go through the learning curve required to become a head coach in the SEC. Add to that, the fact that no matter how much we love MSU, many outstanding high school football players do not hold our university in a very high regard. In other words, just because a coach arrives at MSU does NOT mean he will be able to recruit on an equal footing with the Florida's, LSU's, Alabama's, Tennessee's and Georgia's of this world right away. It is a daunting task to say the least. But, it is a task Coach Croom and his staff seem to be mastering.
Now a few, loud, persistent, and completely confident in their own opinion, MSU "fans" (and believe me I use the word loosely) are screaming for his dismissal so we can start all over…again.</p>

Here are 3 basic complaints I hear from those whose primary desire seems to be "change". BTW all change is not progress. Sometimes progress does not look like progress when it is occurring.</p>

1) The offense. Yes I agree it is a major disappointment. I asked a friend (who was a good football player himself) this question; what is the difference in our offense and Alabama's? After considerable thought, he answered, "players". Exactly. Tell me, all you would be offensive coordinators, what is the basic difference in MSU's "West Coast" offense and the offenses of Alabama, Georgia or LSU? Truth is, very little. They have better players, right now. Our best athletes are generally on defense. Why? Any coach will tell you the answer to that one if you really don't know. At the present we don't have enough top athletes to go around, at least not enough seasoned ones. We were counting on 3 RS Freshmen to give some much needed speed to our offense, and lost all 3 to season ending injuries (Green, Elliot and Wilder). We lost our best OL to a bad decision. Sat we started a Jr, 2 Sophs and 2 RS Fr on the OL against the #1 team in America. We could not run the ball, we had trouble pass blocking, we dropped 10 catchable passes. NONE of that was play calling. None. It was players. Plain and simple.</p>

So you want to tell us the solution is to fire the coach, who BTW just completed the best signing class of his tenure and is NOW in process of recruiting a top 25 recruiting class which includes possibly the best QB and RB we have recruited in years. We signed and red shirted 3 outstanding Oline prospects last year and have committed 2 more in this class thus far. Read their reasons for committing to MSU and you will quickly see it is not our facilities or our fans, it is our Coach and his staff. Mom's and Dad's love him, and you would too if you had a son you were sending away for the next 4-5 years. We compete every week against teams who put together their team from, in most cases, five good recruiting classes. Give us a chance to match up with their players, then you will see who can coach and who cannot. If it turns out Coach Croom is not the coach we need, then it will be much easier to hire a coach when we have a roster full of SEC caliber players.</p>

2) Coaching. Maybe coaching changes need to be made. Coach Croom knows much more about what is needed than you and I. Before we get into any public forum we can find, screaming for a Coaches head, keep in mind they are hard working men with families who do not need to constantly read and hear what a bad job they are doing by a bunch of ungrateful people who really know very little of what they are speaking about.</p>

3)We don't understand. Sorry, but I am sick to death of hearing from the whiners how nobody understands but them how bad things are, and how we are all willing to settle for less than we should. Excuse me, but that is pure baloney. I understand Winning. I coached kids for over 20 years. I never coached a losing team, not once. Winning is a habit, winning is a way of thinking, winners never blame, they take responsibility. I raised three kids of my own. All three played on State Championship teams. All three are good, born-again young people. None of that, my friends, is an accident. If you want to know why we don't already have a winning team at MSU maybe you should go to the nearest mirror, and ask that guy! If he makes excuses or blames everyone else, you should have your answer.</p>

Are you building, are you recruiting, are you supporting, or are you tearing down? Put your ego aside, put your school first and let's build a winner. We have tried running off every coach before he can become successful. It hasn't worked. Why don't we really get behind one, and see what happens.</p> </div>

from GP

 

[beachbumdawg]

<h4><span><span>Sorry for the length but, I have a lot of pent up "splainin to do". Why do we INSIST on making the same mistake over and over again? Except for JWS who is a story unto himself, and is a subject for another long post, we have hired coaches IMHO only to fire them just as they are about to succeed . Its as if we fear success!</span></span></h4> <div>

Case in point, Coach Sylvester Croom. Hired in December after recruiting was basically over, under scholly limiting probation from day one. Following 3 very bad seasons from JWS, where we not only lost on the field, we misbehaved off it and worst of all, WE QUIT whenever we got behind! Enter Coach Croom into the best conference in America, with the smallest budget in the conference and the lowest population base in a 150 mile radius to recruit from in the conference. Add to that the fact that no matter how well prepared he is (and he was the best prepared applicant we had) he still has to go through the learning curve required to become a head coach in the SEC. Add to that, the fact that no matter how much we love MSU, many outstanding high school football players do not hold our university in a very high regard. In other words, just because a coach arrives at MSU does NOT mean he will be able to recruit on an equal footing with the Florida's, LSU's, Alabama's, Tennessee's and Georgia's of this world right away. It is a daunting task to say the least. But, it is a task Coach Croom and his staff seem to be mastering.
Now a few, loud, persistent, and completely confident in their own opinion, MSU "fans" (and believe me I use the word loosely) are screaming for his dismissal so we can start all over…again.</p>

Here are 3 basic complaints I hear from those whose primary desire seems to be "change". BTW all change is not progress. Sometimes progress does not look like progress when it is occurring.</p>

1) The offense. Yes I agree it is a major disappointment. I asked a friend (who was a good football player himself) this question; what is the difference in our offense and Alabama's? After considerable thought, he answered, "players". Exactly. Tell me, all you would be offensive coordinators, what is the basic difference in MSU's "West Coast" offense and the offenses of Alabama, Georgia or LSU? Truth is, very little. They have better players, right now. Our best athletes are generally on defense. Why? Any coach will tell you the answer to that one if you really don't know. At the present we don't have enough top athletes to go around, at least not enough seasoned ones. We were counting on 3 RS Freshmen to give some much needed speed to our offense, and lost all 3 to season ending injuries (Green, Elliot and Wilder). We lost our best OL to a bad decision. Sat we started a Jr, 2 Sophs and 2 RS Fr on the OL against the #1 team in America. We could not run the ball, we had trouble pass blocking, we dropped 10 catchable passes. NONE of that was play calling. None. It was players. Plain and simple.</p>

So you want to tell us the solution is to fire the coach, who BTW just completed the best signing class of his tenure and is NOW in process of recruiting a top 25 recruiting class which includes possibly the best QB and RB we have recruited in years. We signed and red shirted 3 outstanding Oline prospects last year and have committed 2 more in this class thus far. Read their reasons for committing to MSU and you will quickly see it is not our facilities or our fans, it is our Coach and his staff. Mom's and Dad's love him, and you would too if you had a son you were sending away for the next 4-5 years. We compete every week against teams who put together their team from, in most cases, five good recruiting classes. Give us a chance to match up with their players, then you will see who can coach and who cannot. If it turns out Coach Croom is not the coach we need, then it will be much easier to hire a coach when we have a roster full of SEC caliber players.</p>

2) Coaching. Maybe coaching changes need to be made. Coach Croom knows much more about what is needed than you and I. Before we get into any public forum we can find, screaming for a Coaches head, keep in mind they are hard working men with families who do not need to constantly read and hear what a bad job they are doing by a bunch of ungrateful people who really know very little of what they are speaking about.</p>

3)We don't understand. Sorry, but I am sick to death of hearing from the whiners how nobody understands but them how bad things are, and how we are all willing to settle for less than we should. Excuse me, but that is pure baloney. I understand Winning. I coached kids for over 20 years. I never coached a losing team, not once. Winning is a habit, winning is a way of thinking, winners never blame, they take responsibility. I raised three kids of my own. All three played on State Championship teams. All three are good, born-again young people. None of that, my friends, is an accident. If you want to know why we don't already have a winning team at MSU maybe you should go to the nearest mirror, and ask that guy! If he makes excuses or blames everyone else, you should have your answer.</p>

Are you building, are you recruiting, are you supporting, or are you tearing down? Put your ego aside, put your school first and let's build a winner. We have tried running off every coach before he can become successful. It hasn't worked. Why don't we really get behind one, and see what happens.</p> </div>

from GP

 

[gtowndawg]

I wish I hadn't read it. It makes me hate our own fans.

 

[saltybulldog]

Tell me, all you would be offensive coordinators, what is the basic difference in MSU's "West Coast" offense and the offenses of Alabama, Georgia or LSU?

Here is his problem. What about the Tulane, UAB, Houston, Vandy, Kentucky, Maine, and LA Techs of the world. See, if Croom would have not lost to those teams we may not be as pissed as we are right now. The fact is he did.

ETA:

And another thing...

Except for JWS who is a story unto himself, and is a subject for another long post, we have hired coaches IMHO only to fire them just as they are about to succeed . Its as if we fear success!

Now, I am not the MSU historian alot of you are, but as a recall we have not exactly been the revolving door the other SEC schools have. As a matter of fact, even with the thickest maroon colored glasses I could find name a coach we "fired just as they were about to succeed". Hell, if anything we hang on to them to long.

So, the two immediate signs that show me someone is stupid when talking about MSU...

(1) Croom needed at least 5 years to "clean up this mess of a program"
(2) MSU fires coaches just as they are about to succeed.

 

[Coach34]

"Tell me, all you would be offensive coordinators, what is the basic difference in MSU's "West Coast" offense and the offenses of Alabama, Georgia or LSU?"

ok Bob, since I was an OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR, let me tell you the basic differencees:

1. Imagination- our offense has the imagination of a rock. We dont do anything creative. A trick play for us is a draw, reverse, or a bootleg pass.
2. Ability to put players where they need to be- lets make Omar Conner a 3-step QB, lets dont throw middle screens to our best WR's, lets dont put our best players in space matched up against LB's, we never try to take advantage of matchups than we can exploit
3. Playcalling- A Down's Syndrome person from the group home in West Point could call plays as well as Woody and Crooms do. Our absolute inability to give our ****** system with our average players a chance to be successful with awful playcalling is astounding. You almost have to try to be as bad as we are at playcalling.

Those are huge differences and those arent going away until we get a new staff.

 

[Coach34]

" What about the Tulane, UAB, Houston, Vandy, Kentucky, Maine, and LA Techs of the world. See, if Croom would have not lost to those teams we may not be as pissed as we are right now. The fact is he did. "

good job

 

[Todd4State]

that goes back to Croom NOT recruiting well, and not the right way. Look at how many walk-ons/former walk-ons that we have starting for us. Now compare that to LSU, Georgia, heck compare that to Vanderbilt. You can't win with walk-ons like the Bear did in the 70's- and his walk-ons were not your typical walk-ons. They WANTED to play for Bama if it meant paying their own way. We only have one player even remotely like that- Tyson Lee.

That said- while I don't expect us to clean up with a USC type class of all 5 stars, I wouldn't recruit:

A. A bunch of midgets to play offense like DJ Looney, Brandon Henderson, Quenton Saulsberry, Henig, etc. If we're going to take a chance on someone, take a chance on a guy like O'Neal Wilder, who while he may be raw, at least has NFL size.

B. 42 DE's. Just because a class is deep at one position, it doesn't mean that you sign a plethora of guys at that position. That's stupid. 36 of them (at least) are going to transfer. Especially when you have obvious issues on the offensive side of the ball.

And then you compound our lack of talent and size with horrible play-calling, and you have this cluster<17>.

 

[MSUCostanza]

[No message]

 

[HammerOfTheDogs]

<div>

Here are 3 basic complaints I hear from those whose primary desire seems to be "change".

Is this on par with MThrob's "facts"?</p> </div>

 

[Stormrider81]

":Maybe coaching changes need to be made"

Maybe? Maybe? It's hard to believe someone would question this. OC changes should have been made at least 2 years ago.

"Coach Croom knows much more about what is needed than you and I."

Ah yes, the old "don't think for yourself, trust your leaders" routine. Ever hear of this little phrase: knowledge is power? We were given a mind for a reason, not to just blindly trust someone who claims to know something. I'll also go to the tried and true "I'm not a chef but I can tell when my steak is poorly cooked" line of reasoning.

 

[DerHntr]

If you want to know why we don't already have a winning team at MSU maybe you should go to the nearest mirror, and ask that guy! If he makes excuses or blames everyone else, you should have your answer.

If Croom did this I think the guy who posted this would be in a bit of shock.

 

[Stormrider81]

" Winning is a habit, winning is a way of thinking, winners never blame, they take responsibility"

Well, we agree on one thing - our coach ins't a winner.

 

[Todd4State]

never takes responsibilty. Ask Derek Pegues.

 

[patdog]

We definitely have too many fans who are scared shitless of doing what it takes to have any success.

 

[MSUCostanza]

I am embarrassed that this jackass and I both have degrees from the same university.

 

[IBleedMaroonDawg]

<span style="font-style: italic;">Coaching. Maybe coaching changes need to be made. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Coach Croom knows much more about what is needed than you and I.</span></span><span style="text-decoration: underline;">
</span>
Bang up job so far dude!

Forgive me if I can't see how much he has shown that he actually knows more about what is needed at all. I really hate the attitude that someone, anyone cannot be questioned at all in their compentency...especially with a overall record that this one has.<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">
</span></span>

 

[ckDOG]

"Tell me, all you would be offensive coordinators, what is the basic difference in MSU's "West Coast" offense and the offenses of Alabama, Georgia or LSU?"

About 3-4 TD's per game. That's the basic difference.

I can't believe somebody typed that.</p>

 

[Stansfield]

"Mom's and Dad's love him, and you would too if you had a son you were sending away for the next 4-5 years."

Yeah, I am so sure moms and dads love coach Croom for basically ruining their children's career and blaming their children for all of the team's problems. I bet Pegues parents love the fact that their son went from being one of the best players in the state to being blamed for the team's woes by that pillar of virtue called Croom. Croom should be ashamed of himself for what he has done to this team and the players. He should go to each parent's house and beg for their forgiveness.

 

[Sutterkane]

were on the verge of success when they were let go? I had almost forgotten all those games they won after they left MSU.

Someone send this guy the closest cult's newsletter so he can get involved and believe in all their ******** as well.

"THE ALIENS ARE ALMOST HERE I SWEAR!"

keep in mind they are hard working men with families who do not need to constantly read and hear what a bad job they are doing by a bunch of ungrateful people who really know very little of what they are speaking about.

By taking the job and the pay that comes with it, he is automatically in the spotlight, good or bad, whether crooms likes it or not; and if I do a poor job at work I constantly hear about it from everybody and if I do not improve when I am doing so, I am sure my employer would not hesitate to replace me.

 

[patdog]

if he'd been kept on. Jackie stepped into a pretty good situation here and always gave Felker credit for leaving him with a pretty good group of players. That said, no way Felker would have been as successful in the 1990s as Sherrill was.

 

[dogmatic1]

question coaches or coaching decisions, because they all know far more about it than we're capable of understanding.

 

[1msucub]

3. Playcalling- A Down's Syndrome person from the group home in West Point could call plays as well as Woody and Crooms do.

My daughter is thoroughly offended that you equated her with this staff.

I go to comfort her.

 

[MrHooch]

If you want to know why we don't already have a winning team at MSU maybe you should go to the nearest mirror, and ask that guy! If he makes excuses or blames everyone else, you should have your answer.

Sorry bout that...my bad there. I did that. It was all me.

/sarcasm

 

[Indndawg]

YOU ppl who want CHANGE. You know who you are, whiners......................Coach Croom knows what to do.

 

[OEMDawg]

The point is not who we've lost to. Bob's question was, why is our offense different from LSU, Alabama, etc. If the answer is "players" then that should be reason #1 for Crooms's firing. This joke of a coach has had FIVE years, and you mean to tell me he can't get ONE player to contribute and even make his offense mediocre? Look at the top 25 teams in total offense on the year. Tulsa, Houston, USM, Nevada, UL Lafayette, Illinois, Nebraska, Troy, Ball State. These aren't your traditional college football powerhouses, folks. If anything, this should be PRIORITY answer #1 for FIRING Crooms's sorry ***. This NFL guy was hired "supposedly" for the offensive credentials on his resume. He was supposed to come in and relate to the po' ol' Mississippi kids. Yet, here we are 5 years later and his ****** offense has not improved AT ALL. Sorry, Bob, your argument for keeping Crooms just backfired.

 

[Coach34]

I'd feel no worse about what she called on 1st down as opposed to Woody or Crooms...Just blindfold her and let her point to a play on the sheet, it couldnt possibly hurt

 

[ArrowDawg]

....my head hurts from reading crap like that.

My response would be, why do people have the absolutely wrong impression that we don't give our coaches enough time? Hell, we give them more time than most programs do.

 

[nashdog]

Baby Steps to Davis Wade.....Baby Steps to my seat....

</p>