COLUMN: Maroon remains only color on Croom's mind

By By Tony Krausz / assistant sports editor
Sept. 5, 2004
STARKVILLE Sylvester Croom waited 28 years and nine months for Saturday night.
The first African-American head football coach in the Southeastern Conference's history spent the last 28 years as an assistant at the college and professional level, until Mississippi State University hired him last December.
And when his team defeated the Tulane Green Wave 28-7 on Scott Field in Davis Wade Stadium, Croom wanted to make sure everybody enjoyed it.
Following the hiring, the coach and the university were swarmed by questions about the significance of Croom coming to MSU.
At times the scrutiny over the hiring had to be overwhelming, it had to be redundant.
Croom understands his place in history as the first black SEC head football coach. Heck, he was almost the first African-American head coach at his alma mater, Alabama, last year.
The former Crimson Tide All-American center has graciously answered questions about his race, why it took so long for someone like him to get a head coaching job in one of the premier college conferences, and what his feelings were on his place in history.
But Croom has always started any answer to a question about race by saying the most important thing isn't his race, it is the MSU football team.
At his first press conference, Croom told reporters the only color that matters to him is maroon the primary color of the MSU uniform.
The 'only color that matters is maroon' saying caught on enough for MSU to hand out about 50,000 T-shirts with that slogan on it before Saturday night's game.
The breaking down of racial walls talk will slow now that the season is here, but it will never go away this season or in the next few.
Croom can expect to answer at least one question about what his heritage means in this situation or that situation, and he will continue to answer those questions.
He will also continue to tell people the only color on his mind is maroon.
And now with the Bulldogs off to an undefeated start this season, after only winning eight games in the last three, the only column that matters is W, as in more marks under W than under L.
Saturday's game almost swung towards the L column.
In the second quarter with the score tied at 0-0, MSU nearly fell into its old pattern of hanging its head when faced with a difficult situation.
Linebacker Rico Bennett appeared to return a fumble for a touchdown late in the first half to give the Bulldogs a lead, but an inadvertent whistle that signaled an incomplete pass called the scoring run back.
The Bulldogs kept their heads up, and linebacker Clarence McDougal ended Tulane's final drive of the first half by intercepting a pass in the end zone.
MSU opened the second half with another interception, this one by Darren Williams, which led to the Bulldogs first touchdown.
The score was followed by two more MSU touchdowns, and after Tulane posted its lone scoring drive of the night, the Bulldogs went ahead and pushed another drive across the Green Wave's goal line to seal the win.
It wasn't always perfect, but it was a win.
And now that is the only thing that should matter when discussing Croom wins and losses.