Croom is front-runner for MSU job

By By Austin Bishop / EMG regional sports director
Nov. 30, 2003
If you believe what you read and hear, Sylvester Croom will soon become the head football coach at Mississippi State University. Perhaps as soon as Monday.
Perhaps.
But that leaves many MSU fans and college football followers alike wondering just who is this Sylvester Croom and what has he done to earn the opportunity to be a head football coach in the Southeastern Conference?
Croom, who would become the first African-American head football coach in the SEC, is one of Bear Bryant's boys. He was the starting center for the University of Alabama in 1973 and 1974, before returning as a graduate assistant in 1976.
He went on to coach linebackers for the Tide from 1977 to 1986 before spending the last 17 seasons coaching in the NFL. Fourteen of those, including the last three with the Green Bay Packers, have been as a running backs coach. The other four (1997-2000) he served as the offensive coordinator for the Detroit Lions, including the 1997 season which saw Barry Sanders rush for 2,053 yards and Johnnie Morton and Herman Moore pick up more than 1,000 yards each receiving.
Croom jumped to the top of the list to replace retiring MSU Head Coach Jackie Sherrill, when LSU offensive coordinator Jimbo Fisher pulled himself out of consideration hours before the Bulldogs' 31-0 Egg Bowl loss to Ole Miss on Thursday.
According to Rob Demovsky of PackersNews.com, Croom has been offered the job and is deciding whether or not to accept it.
The only other name to be consistently floated around the rumor mills is that of Clemson head coach Tommy Bowden. But his team's wins over Florida State and South Carolina have apparently secured his future as the head coach of the Tigers.
Croom could not be reached for comment, but in an article that appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel earlier this season, he expressed the desire to become a head coach on some level.
Croom was considered to be a finalist for the Alabama job last year when Mike Price was ousted before he ever coached a game at the Capstone. But the Tide went with Mike Shula, causing a short-lived uproar among some minorities.
The 49-year-old Croom took the disappointment in stride and returned to his post at Green Bay, where the Packers are among the best rushing teams in the NFL.
According to the Journal Sentinel article, Croom said he knows the importance of succeeding when he gets the chance to become his own boss.
MSU Athletic Director Larry Templeton has been saying since Sherrill's retirement announcement on Oct. 17 that a decision would be made soon after the Egg Bowl.
Mike Nemeth, MSU's associate athletic director for media and public relations, has said that no press conferences were scheduled for the weekend. Mississippi State does host McNeese State in men's basketball on Monday, setting up a time earlier that day as a prime time for a press conference, since a large portion of the state's major print media will already be in Starkville to cover that game.
The Bulldogs finished 2-10 this football season and have gone 8-27 over the past three, including a 3-21 mark in SEC play.