Post #4000.........MSU at Media Day
Posted: Fri Jul 29, 2005 9:53 am
July 29, 2005
Croom happy to be out of spotlight
By Rick Cleveland
rcleveland@clarionledger.com
HOOVER, Ala. — For Sly Croom, what a difference — what a welcomed difference — a year has made.
This time last year at SEC Media Days, Croom was THE STORY. Everyone wanted to know how Croom felt about making history as the first you-know-what in the you-know-where. Nobody asked him about his Mississippi State players, much less about X's and O's. Everyone wanted his life story. Everyone wanted him to talk about his historical significance.
Here Thursday, he was asked about much more mundane matters, such as, well, football.
Croom loved it.
"I get to talk about football instead of myself," Croom said. "That's very exciting."
It is also somewhat sobering, especially when Croom looks ahead to the first six weeks of the season, which include games against heavyweights Auburn, Georgia, LSU and Florida.
Me? If I were facing that stretch, I'd much rather talk about historical significance.
Not Croom.
"I'm ready to go," he said, just before going to the podium. "Yeah, I know the schedule's tough, but this is the SEC. Nobody's going to feel sorry for us, so let's go. Let's get it on."
New attitude
Later, during his Q-and-A session, Croom admitted that he had underestimated just how difficult this job of rebuilding a program in shambles was going to be.
"Oh yeah, it's harder than I thought it was going to be," Croom said. "You go in with rose-colored glasses. ... It's tougher because changing attitudes, changing peoples' hearts, getting people to be unselfish, getting people to sacrifice for others, for a common goal, I think is the most difficult thing you can do."
Croom knew when he took the State job that the talent level was down. Had to be. The previous three Bulldog teams had won a total of eight games. What he didn't know — and couldn't have known — was just how sorely the Bulldogs lacked discipline and just how low the players' morale had sunk. The Bulldogs he inherited had an attitude about them and that attitude was decidedly defeatist.
"You could see by the way they sat in their seats, they were defeated," Croom said.
If nothing else, Croom says he has changed that.
"There are stages, stages where you hope you can win, you think you can win, you believe you can win and you expect to win," Croom said. "Last year we didn't even think we could win. ...
"We're not the most talented team in the world now, but we're going to win some games because we think we can win."
Croom calls his system "the Bulldog way." He says he has recruited players who will buy into the Bulldog way. He says the players he inherited who remain have bought into it. Others have left in droves — 16 in all.
Addition by subtraction?
Said star running back Jerious Norwood, "Some people thought they could do things their own way. As you can see, they're gone."
Those who have stayed are a much closer group because of what they have been through together, senior center Chris McNeil said.
"I guarantee you nobody in the SEC has been through what we've been through," McNeil said. "It's been hard."
Because of the dismissals and defections, State enters the 2005 season short in numbers with about 75 players. Freshmen not only must play, they must contribute. Last year, they were playing against other 17- and 18-year-olds on Friday nights. Ten weeks from now, they will have faced Auburn, Georgia, LSU and Florida on Saturdays. It's a lot to ask, no matter how talented they are.
No short-term solution
So, the question fans will have is this: How will all this translate into victories and defeats?
Part of being treated like just another football coach — instead of like a history-maker — is that fans will want results. Fans, short for fanatics, will be unreasonable. Many will expect more than Croom possibly can deliver.
State fans hunger more than most for some success. They haven't been to a bowl game since the last day of 2000. Since then, they have watched the Bulldogs win only 11 games, while losing 35. In the SEC, State has won only five of its last 34 games.
So can this State team possibly pull enough upsets to win six games and go to a bowl?
Nothing's impossible, but that's surely not likely. The overall talent, the depth, the numbers, especially up front, just aren't there.
Croom has taken steps forward — big strides, actually — but there was no short-term solution to what Croom faced at State.
To do it the right way — which is how he's doing it — will take some time.
Croom happy to be out of spotlight
By Rick Cleveland
rcleveland@clarionledger.com
HOOVER, Ala. — For Sly Croom, what a difference — what a welcomed difference — a year has made.
This time last year at SEC Media Days, Croom was THE STORY. Everyone wanted to know how Croom felt about making history as the first you-know-what in the you-know-where. Nobody asked him about his Mississippi State players, much less about X's and O's. Everyone wanted his life story. Everyone wanted him to talk about his historical significance.
Here Thursday, he was asked about much more mundane matters, such as, well, football.
Croom loved it.
"I get to talk about football instead of myself," Croom said. "That's very exciting."
It is also somewhat sobering, especially when Croom looks ahead to the first six weeks of the season, which include games against heavyweights Auburn, Georgia, LSU and Florida.
Me? If I were facing that stretch, I'd much rather talk about historical significance.
Not Croom.
"I'm ready to go," he said, just before going to the podium. "Yeah, I know the schedule's tough, but this is the SEC. Nobody's going to feel sorry for us, so let's go. Let's get it on."
New attitude
Later, during his Q-and-A session, Croom admitted that he had underestimated just how difficult this job of rebuilding a program in shambles was going to be.
"Oh yeah, it's harder than I thought it was going to be," Croom said. "You go in with rose-colored glasses. ... It's tougher because changing attitudes, changing peoples' hearts, getting people to be unselfish, getting people to sacrifice for others, for a common goal, I think is the most difficult thing you can do."
Croom knew when he took the State job that the talent level was down. Had to be. The previous three Bulldog teams had won a total of eight games. What he didn't know — and couldn't have known — was just how sorely the Bulldogs lacked discipline and just how low the players' morale had sunk. The Bulldogs he inherited had an attitude about them and that attitude was decidedly defeatist.
"You could see by the way they sat in their seats, they were defeated," Croom said.
If nothing else, Croom says he has changed that.
"There are stages, stages where you hope you can win, you think you can win, you believe you can win and you expect to win," Croom said. "Last year we didn't even think we could win. ...
"We're not the most talented team in the world now, but we're going to win some games because we think we can win."
Croom calls his system "the Bulldog way." He says he has recruited players who will buy into the Bulldog way. He says the players he inherited who remain have bought into it. Others have left in droves — 16 in all.
Addition by subtraction?
Said star running back Jerious Norwood, "Some people thought they could do things their own way. As you can see, they're gone."
Those who have stayed are a much closer group because of what they have been through together, senior center Chris McNeil said.
"I guarantee you nobody in the SEC has been through what we've been through," McNeil said. "It's been hard."
Because of the dismissals and defections, State enters the 2005 season short in numbers with about 75 players. Freshmen not only must play, they must contribute. Last year, they were playing against other 17- and 18-year-olds on Friday nights. Ten weeks from now, they will have faced Auburn, Georgia, LSU and Florida on Saturdays. It's a lot to ask, no matter how talented they are.
No short-term solution
So, the question fans will have is this: How will all this translate into victories and defeats?
Part of being treated like just another football coach — instead of like a history-maker — is that fans will want results. Fans, short for fanatics, will be unreasonable. Many will expect more than Croom possibly can deliver.
State fans hunger more than most for some success. They haven't been to a bowl game since the last day of 2000. Since then, they have watched the Bulldogs win only 11 games, while losing 35. In the SEC, State has won only five of its last 34 games.
So can this State team possibly pull enough upsets to win six games and go to a bowl?
Nothing's impossible, but that's surely not likely. The overall talent, the depth, the numbers, especially up front, just aren't there.
Croom has taken steps forward — big strides, actually — but there was no short-term solution to what Croom faced at State.
To do it the right way — which is how he's doing it — will take some time.