Analogy time: Polk vs Croom

[Todd4State]

Some things that I find eerily similar:

Both had agendas that at times seem to interfere with MSU doing as well as it could- Polk with his Quixotic struggle with the NCAA and now Croom with his AA coach agenda.

Both are stubborn as hell- Polk with his by the book approach and Croom refusing to simplify his offense, among other things.

Both are poor in game coaches- many examples for both.

Both had epic meltdowns at La Tech- Polk by blowing that huge lead with Mike Valentine when his team was #1 in the country and Croom with his La Tech debacle. Interesting fact- both Valentine and Tyson Lee were walk-ons.

Both wanted their teams to be "nice".

Both were known to say controversial, well stupid, things at times to the media. For example Polk telling the media that MSU fans never heckle the opponent after the USM series this year when the LFL is well known for, well heckling.

Both seem to be trying to "teach the fans" about why their way works, but instead their way blows up in their face.

Both likely will have a shitstorm when they leave- well, Polk had his, and Al and Jesse are waiting in the wings with Croom. Also, in both cases the media will likely talk about how MSU made the right choice, as they did with Cohen.

Both have incompetent assistants- McNickle = McCorvey.

Both had seasons that they somehow pulled out of their ***- Polk going to the CWS in 07 and Croom winning the LB in 07.

Finally, both will likely be fired by Greg Byrne and hired with someone competent.

 

[Stansfield]

As much as Polk went apeshit crazy when he left, he was at one time a great coach who did a lot of great things for MSU. Croom has not done one good thing for State except make us look good for hiring a black coach. Your analogy is ridiculous. You make it sound like Polk was never a good coach. Croom has never proven that he is even a mediocre coach.

 

[Todd4State]

Polk II.

 

[DowntownDawg]

...I don't think Croom has a huge agenda to hire AA coaches/coordinators. I think that if he had two candidates, one of which was white and one of which was black, and they were equal in his eyes in terms of experience, he would hire the AA coach. However, I think he realizes that he defeats the purpose of promoting hiring AA coaches if HE fails, and he wouldn't hire a lesser black coach for that reason. He might out of laziness, or a mistaken idea that said coach is the best man for the job, but I don't think he would do it for the express purpose of having a black coordinator. Polk's crusade with the NCAA is on a totally different level. He became crazy and deformed by it. It obviously consumed him. He talked about it every time a mic was stuck in his face. Croom has only mentioned this once or twice to my knowledge, and for better or worse, is more consumed with actual coaching and recruiting responsibilities. Pretty much agree with everything else.

 

[BlindDawg]

I don't see how Croom is trying to promote a AA agenda. Yeah, of course, he wants AA guys to get coordinator positions and ultimately head coaching jobs, but he's not going out of his way to hire obviously unqualified guys to jobs. Harbison was hired to keep continuity in the defense not because he was black. I know McCorvey is obviously in over his head, but he did have some success at other places. The flaw in McCorvey's hiring was him not knowing the WC system and then Croom's obvious unrelenting loyalty to him. If you want to make a claim about an agenda or something having to do with too much loyalty/good-ol-boy stuff holding him back, you're probably onto something, but I'm pretty sure Croom is not trying to promote an agenda to hire AA coaches.

 

[Shmuley]

nm

 

[BlindDawg]

I'm not sure what you are getting at, but if you are trying to tell me I'm wrong, then please provide some evidence. I know Croom has said the only way for AA to get head coaching gigs is for them to start getting hired for coordinator jobs, and I agree with him. No one but MSU is gonna hire a career position coach just cause he is black. Any AD with a brain is gonna hire a top coordinator or a coach at a smaller school. Croom's hiring tendencies may show a severe lack of coaching talent or sound judgment (you'll get no argument from me on that), but I don't think it has shown a biased towards AA candidates.

 

[Shmuley]

and get Ellis Johnson liquored up good, hmm?

 

[BlindDawg]

If that's all you got, fine you win. Since a drunk Ellis Johnson will obviously tell me all about Croom's biased to black coaches. If you can provide more than one-liners as to why you think I'm wrong please do.

 

[Shmuley]

there is anything BUT f'n anecdotal evidence? Give me a f'n break.

Not even Croom is stupid enough to come right out and admit such.

 

[was21]

he is the Ossie Davis of college football, and I started to say Harry Belafonte, but he ain't that attractive (and no, I ain't gay.)

 

[jackstefano]

everyone knows that, you dumb ****.

 

[was21]

1

 

[thatsbaseball]

well it looks to me like someone with Woody`s coaching backround could learn a 17ing offense in 4yrs. Try to cover Woody`s back from another angle the old "he doesn`t know the WCO" wore out long ago. </p>

 

[Croomp]

Fire Woody! the guy is miserable to our offense.

 

[DamnitDog]

Polk II.

Yeah, I agree only with the Polk II argument. What Polk did in the 70's, 80's and early 90's was tremendous. However, he lost his damn mind shortly thereafter the 90's era ended, especially with the NCAA manifesto agenda's.

I was actually thinking about the similarities between Polk II and Croom myself this past weekend after the LA Tech debacle.

I suspect there's a real possibility for us to lose this Saturday and Byrne will have no alternative but to find a loop-hole in Croom's contract for early dismissal. I do find it sad for Croom to be let go if it comes to that, given his character and faith.

However, college FB is first a Business and we are left with no alternative but to find someone with better in-the-game competency and head coaching ability, who demands accountability from all of his coaches and who will have the balls to fire and hire coaches himself without the AD telling him to do so. It will be completely unprofessional of Croom to make Byrne force him to fire Woody and hire a better Offensive Co. The mark of a competent head coach with real back-bone would be to take this initiative himself.

I actually think a better analogy would be the similarities between Cutcliffe (minus Eli) vs. Croom.

 

[Phil Wenneck.sixpack]

For a guy who has been around football at all levels, playing and coaching, how can McCorvey be the best you can find? Does the man not have any contacts at all in the industry? Jury's out on Harbison but based on the early returns, if stopping La Tech's ground game when you know they are running out the clock is that difficult to stop, we're in trouble. And I don't buy Croom's "well, he coached great with the safeties last year" endorsement. Hell, a retarded goose could coach Pegues, Fitzhugh, and Glanton. They're only 3 of the best we've got on the whole team. Sly gave his motives away in his little ESPN publicity stunt that so many sheep thought was God's gift to television.

 

[Indndawg]

Polk has been
Croom never been

Polk writes now outdated book
Croom can't put a cogent sentence together

 

[War Machine Dawg]

Of course, he's also a dumb **** hiring inexperience coordinators on top of promoting his agenda. If he wanted to hire a black DC when Ellis got off the USS Slytanic, why not bring back Brick Haley? Rumor at the time was he was interested and would like to come back to Starkville. And the "keep continuity" answer is ********. He'd worked with most of the current coaches before leaving. Odds are he'd have kept the assistants. The difference is, he's had plenty of experience as a defensive coach and wasn't coaching 17ing WRs as few as 2 years ago. Throw in his NFL experience, and I think he was the best AA candidate for our DC position, not Cheese Harbison.