I have a question about you fellas' feelings toward firing Croom

[Harry Truax III.nafoom]

Are you not all all concerned about the recruiting class? I know you can't really put the future of a football program on the shoulders of unproven high
schoolers and JUCOs, but any success we or UMiss has ever had has followed a good recruiting class or two. I mean, we have to get the horses in here one way or
the other.

And just about all of them aren't really shopping around. Yeah we will lose 2 or 3 including Patterson but the majority of them aren't going anywhere
unless we fire Croom. We're talking about a high profile QB, an out of state blue chip RB, 2 big name D Linemen, couple of tall receivers, etc. Very very
solid. Some of the best Mississippi has anyway. And there's always a few like Bumphis who are going to latch onto the big boys anyway, even in the best of
recruiting years.

Just brainstorming out loud.

 

[Harry Truax III.nafoom]

Are you not all all concerned about the recruiting class? I know you can't really put the future of a football program on the shoulders of unproven high
schoolers and JUCOs, but any success we or UMiss has ever had has followed a good recruiting class or two. I mean, we have to get the horses in here one way or
the other.

And just about all of them aren't really shopping around. Yeah we will lose 2 or 3 including Patterson but the majority of them aren't going anywhere
unless we fire Croom. We're talking about a high profile QB, an out of state blue chip RB, 2 big name D Linemen, couple of tall receivers, etc. Very very
solid. Some of the best Mississippi has anyway. And there's always a few like Bumphis who are going to latch onto the big boys anyway, even in the best of
recruiting years.

Just brainstorming out loud.

 

[99jc]

coach in here. At least thats how i feel and depending on whom we can get in here it may not make a difference in most of the class anyway.

 

[patdog]

1. It's not like the new coach wouldn't be able to keep any of the recruits committed to us. Assuming we make a good hire, he'll likely keep most of them. And it's not like Crxxm's not going to lose a few himself (he's already lost at least one).

2. Over time, a good coach will recruit circles around Crxxm.

 

[8dog]

and that recruiting class is going to be awful when it happens. So it has to happen some year.

I realize this is our best class so far, but it wouldn't surprise me to see many jump ship even if Croom stays.

 

[graddawg]

Of course I'm worried about the recruiting class since I want us to get the best players to campus we possibly can, but I don't believe ANY recruiting class should dictate who our coach is. Also, if you believe players like Conner and McPhee are solid despite taking visits just because they've said as much to Rosebowl you might be disappointed come signing day. If we finish 3-9 I look for the class we have committed to fall apart You mentioned Patterson but we could very easily lose Conner, Boyd, and Cox as well.

 

[stevo1a]

We could hand pick any 25 recruits from USC, LSU, Bama, Florida, UGA, OSU, UT etc for five years in a row and we'd still put a .500 product on the field with this staff.

I still don't get why people think this recruiting class is so great. We're still going to finish 6-9th in SEC recruiting rankings (no idea just a guess) and that's if everybody holds to the end.

Lord, please let it end.

 

[benatmsu]

You can have all the talent in the world, but with no one to:

A.) Evaluate and recruit talent (see lack of talent at QB & K positions)
B.) Build on and develop their talents and abilities
-AND-
C.) Make the right in-game decisions/play calling

...then it really doesn't matter. I promise you a good (not great, but good) head coach would have us at the very least 6-3, more than likely 7-2 . It is unacceptable for a coach in his 5th year to have the record that we do, with the schedule that we have this year.

So you can go out and recruit/land all the 3,4,5 stars you want... but if you can't do the above three things, you're worthless as a coach.

 

[Harry Truax III.nafoom]

and the only thing that keeps me guessing is that when you look at this years' team, I see some of our best talent not playing. I don't know, you can really tell when good players are out there, and for us it's basically Pegues, Fitzhugh, OQuinn, Dixon and Sherrod. The rest are really young or just not talented enough.

And **** like dumb holding penalties from Co-Eric and dropping passes in your hands like Ducre can really frustrate the hell out of a coach. Or continuous interceptions? Maybe that led to some dumb decisions and emotional calls?

I don't know, just seems like we're always in between the rock and the hard place. I guess it's a positive either way. Or negative, depending on how you view things.

 

[OrrDawg]

we will retain most if not all the current recruiting class regardless of whether Croom is here next year or not. But, let's say we would lose many of out top recruits from this class if we fired Croom. The positives of signing those players would be cancelled out by the lack of player development and game day decisions that have plagued this program for the past five years. There is no advantage whatsoever to keeping Croom and this coaching staff regardless of what might happen in recruiting this year. A highly qualified coach will not take five years to develop a respectful program at State. That timeframe given Croom was insane from the beginning.

 

[Optimus Prime 4]

that may be worth keeping a coach. Top 25? No way, that's bottom of the SEC, and you could get that with a new coach. Russell will likely sign with you no matter who the coach is.

 

[DerHntr]

if we get them here and then have a dismal year of losing aGAIN with croom in 2009 then we will likely see shirts being burned at the end of the season like we are now. they will be indoctrinated with this ******** attitude that doing it the right way and losing is OK while we all know that doing it the right way really means doing the way Croom wants to do it regardless of reason and common coaching practices. Also, Russell being coached by the current staff will lead to someone else having to coach him back up for two years to simply get him back to his level of play now in high school. so we would only have him playing really well during his senior year anyways.

i think keeping a crappy coach due to an unsigned and possible recruiting class is akin to buying more stocks in the same company as the bottom falls out. it couldn't get any worse could it? and heck...it could even go up and then you have really made some money. there are way too many coulds in there for me. i guess i am risk averse to croom.

 

[Coach34]

"Are you not all all concerned about the recruiting class?"

Did we sacrifice recruiting when we got rid of Polk and brought in Cohen? How is Alabammers recruiting with bringing Saban in? Did it look like Georgia Tech was struggling with playing young players when we went over there? Petrino is playing lots of freshmen this season, check out the improvement they have made in his first year.

A good coach will get the recruits and possibly bring in some guys we couldnt normally get due to the change of philosophy. Not all coaches wait till January to get started on their new job.

 

[TR.sixpack]

last year OM finished #29, and 7th in the SEC. MSU #44 & 10th. In 2007, OM finished #27 and 8th.

#25 would put MSU in the top half of the SEC and would be a significant improvement.

 

[fishwater99]

"Are you not all all concerned about the recruiting class?"

Not all coaches wait till January to get started on their new job.

That shows how bad Crooms has been.
From day one he has had no %$%%*#% clue...

 

[Coach34]

we just have some short-sighted people willing to grasp at anything cause we have sucked for so long. Hiring Crooms has prolonged the suckage- it didnt have to be this way. And the longer we keep him- the longer we gonna suck

 

[8dog]

then we'll never have a top 20 class aGAIN. This is about as good of class as you can ask for as it stands now.

 

[patdog]

nm</p>

 

[Eureka Dog]

Having done a little coaching, I know that the non-dedicated players can wreak havoc on a team's ability to perform and succeed on a consistent basis. However, the offensive struggles have continued too long and have shown too few signs of improving for anyone to attribute them solely to the players.

One, some, most, or all of the Off. Assistants need to go and/or Croom needs to admit he hasn't done the job and resign. I worry that Sly may not have the eye for identifying quality offensive assistants. If this is the case, a new off. staff of Sly's choosing doesn't necessary herald better offensive production.

Personally, I like Coach Croom and want to see him succeed. I even understand (to a degree) the giant learning curve he faced in his first HC job. However, after witnessing the ongoing offensive woes and in-game decisions, I admit that my doubts have grown to the point that I think he probably gets one more year. But, because you can't say a coach has "turned the program around" based upon one successful season, I won't be surprised if a change is made in less than a month. (NO coach should be given a raise or contract extension based on a single season. I'm a big believer in contracts with a medium base-salary and high $ bonuses for achievements.)</p>

 

[DowntownDawg]

...I just simply believe that the reasons for getting rid of Croom this season outweigh the risks associated with the class. Of course, I'm assuming a 3-9 record. If we do any better than that, even if it's 4-8, there is no chance he gets fired and the speculation is pointless.

 

[MaxwellSmart]

A good coach with our current players > Croom with a top 5 recruiting class. If Croom loses the next 3 games as bad as I think he will we may not have any of those recruits left anyway.</p>

 

[msudawgs1978]

that you can possibly dream of. But without competent coaches the players will just regress and do you no good. To me it seems that the Croom has this "bring them to me and we shall win based on the number of stars Scout gives them, and I won't have to coach too much" mentality. Apparently, he doesn't know how to mature and develop the players to be successful at this level

 

[Optimus Prime 4]

I don't think it's worth keeping Croom by any stretch. You'll only lose one or two, and you'll probably lose that many by keeping him.

 

[Todd4State]

because while we may lose some people, there's also a chance that we'll get some good players that we may not have gotten otherwise.

 

[Todd4State]

because while we may lose some people, there's also a chance that we'll get some good players that we may not have gotten otherwise.

 

[patdog]

I can't imagine that after what we've seen on the field the past 5 years why anyone would want to keep Crxxm for his recruiting (or for his coaching either for that matter).