Without Sylvester Croom

Croom's hard-headedness didn't sit well with the short-memory crowd at Starkville.
His West Coast spread whatever wasn't working, and his offensive coordinator was not too innovative.
An Alabama fan told me once, "When we heard yall'd hired Woody McCorvey we all shouted for joy!"

State, it says, has hired "Neinas Consulting - an NCAA powerbroker" to lead its search.
I hate hearing this.
I want State to go out and find someone on their own.
To me, "NCAA powerbroker = In cahoots with NCAA"

 

Have you heard any rumors about a certain calorie-challenged ex (as of this morning) SEC coach swapping orange for maroon?

 

Those rumors have been circulating on some websites, but no solid information just yet.

 

As a reporter, I liked dealing with Croom. He seemed honest and straightforward, and didn't sugarcoat it when his team wasn't playing up to snuff. That might have been part of the reason he's gone.
Now, as a football fan, I have to say there wasn't much progress being made in Starkville. Last year's success was an aberration. They won a bunch of close games, often with defensive touchdowns. When they lost a few key players on defense this season, those weren't coming and the team got embarrassed. It wasn't even like his first couple years, where you could see incremental progress. They definitely took a step backward this year, and for a team that was already in the bottom third of the SEC to begin with, you've got to do something.

 

It's funnny, I remember when a national title pretty much guaranteed a lifetime contract, but Carr and now Fulmer, it seems it might give you a 10-year exemption.

 

Part of me fears that Willingham and Croom are pigeon-holed. I'll admit it is an awfully small sample size, but at ND, UW and MSU, it followed the same script. Program is hit with ethical scandal, Ty/Sy come in and restore pride/dignity. But since the rebuilding situation is so tough, they don't make progress on the football field (and 75% of coaches, regardless of skin color would fail in that situation) and the AD has no choice but to sack them. I don't think that pattern is very healthy for the chances of black coaches.

 

Carr retiring had nothing to do with his national championship "exemption" expiring. He went to the Rose Bowl three of his last five seasons. Nothing wrong with that.

 

Is Boise's coach said to be "happy for life" in Boise?
I think he deserves at least to be "felt-out" by the State crowd to see if he'd be interested in even talking.
9 bowls in 10 years? Sheesh.

 

I'm not sure how much "pride" Ty Willingham instilled in Washington this season.
I get your point about it being a loser deal a lot of black coaches are thrown into, but the truth is that any coach would struggle at some of these programs. Color has nothing to do with it. When you're going to a program, like Mississippi State, that treats an 8- or 9-win season as one of the best in its history, there's generally an underlying reason or three why they suck.

 

3 out of 119 is utterly appalling and inexcusable.

And to try to count Joker Phillips as a head coach in waiting is sorry as well. From what I've heard Rich Brooks isn't close to even thinking about retirement.

 

Funny thing about "doesn't interview well" - they said that for years about Tony Dungy.
There are plenty of black football coaches out there, I don't expect a big name program to hand the job to them, but there are plenty of schools (The MAC, the WAC, Conference USA, the Big East) that could probably get a better coach for the money they're offering by going after an African-American.

 

He won't leave Boise unless it's for one of the Oregon schools, and even then I don't think he'd do it until his kids are through high school.