Sounds too like he's half admitting that he blew the
interview.
Or the capstone is fulla racists. < I added that when
Jesse Jackson called and aksed me to.
--- Rick McMahan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
---------------------------------
Sure the dude coaches the bulldogs, but youcan tell
he bleeds Crimson. Nice article ... enjoy!
Rick
Croom On Planning
Mississippi State Coach Sylvester Croom
By KirkMcNair
Date: Jul 28, 2005
In the spring of 2003, Alabama AthleticsDirector
Mal Moore had to find a new head football coach for
theCrimson Tide. He interviewed three former Bama
football players. LaterMoore said the hardest thing he
ever had to do was tell two of them hewas not going to
hire them.
In May, 2003, Mike Shula was introduced as head
football coachat Alabama.Athletics Director Mal Moore
had selected Shula over two other formerTide players
wholike Shulawere also assistant coaches in the
NationalFootball League. They were Richard Williamson
of the Carolina Panthers,who had been a teammate and
coaching associate with Moore at Bama, andSylvester
Croom, who had played center for Bama when Moore was
theoffensive coordinator and who had later coached
with Moore for theTide.
On Thursday, at Southeastern Conference Media Days
inBirmingham, Croomwho is beginning his second season
as head coach at Mississippi Statewasasked what
advice he would give to new coaches. Croom, a native
ofTuscaloosa who had been running backs coach at Green
Bay when he wastapped for his first job as a head
coach, had a surprising answer.
Any young coach who aspires to be a head coach, as
he goesthrough the developmental process, should put
on paper what he believesin and whatever his plan for
being a head coach is. I think that iscritical. That
way he will be prepared when the job interview
comes.That way hes prepared the first day he walks
into the job and lets hisstaff and his players and the
administration know exactly what hebelieves in. And I
think he can better articulate his plan if he
hasalready done that.
Croom learned that lesson through experience.
He told reporters gathered to hear SEC coaches and
playerstalkabout the upcoming season, I havent told
a lot of people this. Ithink whats happened in my
life as far as career and what has happenedin the
careers of a lot of coaches, very little is planned.
My first opportunity to become a head coach came at
anunexpected time. My interview with The University of
Alabama came at anunexpected time.
For years I had known exactly what I wanted to do
when I gotto be a head coach. But when that interview
came, it was not on paper.It was not on paper. The
night before I went for the interview, MikeSherman
(head coach at Green Bay) and the guys at Green Bay
did a greatjob of helping me as I scrambled to get
some things on paper.
As it turned out, I didnt really need it at that
interview.But after that interview and when I didnt
get the job, I thought Imight never get another chance
to be a head coach. But I decided thatif I did get
another chance, I was not going to be caught short.
So that summer I spent my entire vacation putting
down onpaper everything I believed in, everything I
expected the coaches todo, what kind of uniforms we
were going to have, everything. All of itwas done the
summer I didnt get the Alabama job. Thats what I did
onmy summer vacation the summer before I went to
Mississippi State. Itwas all on paper.
There was no hesitation about what we were going to
do. Noneat all.
So thats my advice to young coaches. When you
become a headcoach you had better believe, you had
better have a plan, you hadbetter totally believe in
your plan.
And thats why we wont ever deviate from the plan.
We haveto win, because I believe in it.
Croom had some other references to Alabama. He noted
that hehadrecently had a conversation with another
coach regarding players. Croomsaid the coach was
talking about the players on Alabamas 1992
nationalchampionship team. He said that Alabama had
about 10 players startingthat his school had not offer
scholarships to. The point he was makingis that you
dont always have to have the great blue chip
prospects.Find your kind of guys, find the guys that
want to be in your program.Find the guys who believe
in doing things the way you want to do them,coach them
up, get them ready to play and then go out there and
winfootball games.
That's what we want to do. We're going to find
MississippiState type people. We're going to find guys
who believe in doing thingsthe Bulldog way. Our way is
not the only way. Our way may not be theright way, but
it's our way. And anybody who doesn't believe it
needsto be somewhere elsecoaches, players, anybody.
But the guys we put outthere, they are going to
believe. They are going to go out and fightfor it
every time they go out there.
Croom was asked about the national championship teams
heplayedon at Alabama, and beyond the quality of
personnel what intangiblesthose teams had that he
wants in his Mississippi State teams.
Croom said, When I played at Alabama, you never
thought aboutlosing. You expected to win. There are
stages: you hope you can win,you think you can win,
you believe you can win, and you expect to win.Last
year we didn't even think we could win.
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