Is there anything Croom could do to regain your support?

[AzzurriDawg4]

I like Croom. I have since we hired him. I, like many of you, hoped that he would succeed, because he is a good figurehead for the university, is likeable and could be pretty influential with Mississippi's youth (if he ever had sustained success). Now, like many of you, I just can't get behind him anymore. The inconsistency is just too much for me to take. Like many of you, I am an alum who was in school during Jackie's glory years. I used to live and breathe MSU football. That died for a while, and Croom briefly resurrected it last year only to return me to complete apathy once again.

Let's be honest, we weren't too high on Croom (as a coach, not as a person) going into last year, but after one measly bowl game we were, for the most part, drinking the kool aid. Hell, after that "Say it Loud" program on ESPN and our summer's recruiting success, we were pretty much all aboard the Croom bandwagon. My how quickly things can change. This time, however, I think I am officially done. We won last year because of the pick-6, bottom line. There is no excuse for our offense.

That being said, what would it take for him to rebound? If he gets 6 wins this year are you placated?

He would have to beat Vandy, MTSU, Kentucky, Arkansas and Ole Miss. What if he upset LSU? What if he beats Bama, again. (Believe me, I know it's not going to happen - I am just going extreme hypothetical here to illustrate a point). For purposes of this hypothetical, lets just say he wins 6 games, goes to Shereveport or Birmingham, fires Woody in the offseason, hires a new OC and proclaims he is turning the reigns over. Just wanted to see where people are on this deal...I know Croom hate is flowing steady, but after this long stream of crap that I have laid out, if you are being completely honest with yourself after the way you were feeling about Croom after last season and during the recruiting season this year...Could you see yourself getting behind him again, or is it over regardless?

To me, all of those things would have to happen for me to ever support Croom as our HC again. I wish him the best in life, but I am tired of losing. Sorry for the rant.

 

[Croomp]

get us to 5 wins with excellent offense. And in the games we lose still show excellent offense just we lose because both teams grit it out to the end and they are better.</p>Or.... He could pay me at least a fourth of his contract.

 

[dawgstudent]

get to a bowl game.

 

[patdog]

Using your hypothetical situation, if Crxxm gets us to 7-6 and commits to changing the offense (including hiring a real QB coach), I'd be all for letting him stay another year. I doubt that will happen, but if it does I won't be calling for his head come December.</p>

 

[was21]

would support him in any endeavor that had nothing to do with MSU football.

 

[saltybulldog]

I dont really care how we get there. Win 5 more games and I will be happy. The plan you laid out is what I have in mind. Win 6 games, revamp the offense (fire McCorvey and hire an OC to run the show). I said it last week, if Croom would just be the CEO of this thing and let someone else handle the offense, he could be a recruiting machine. Croom knows how to talk and I know that "Momma's" love Croom.

I want the man to win here. I want this to be a success. I have given Croom every opportunity to keep me as a "Croom fan" and he has let me down too much. I am an MSU fan first.

 

[MaxwellSmart]

at Ole Miss then that is something I could support.

edited because yuku sux

 

[UpTheMiddlex3Punt]

As long as its not fluky stuff like most of last year's wins.

 

[Liverdawg]

I will preface this by saying the only reason i am willing to rejoin is because he still has an extra year on his contract, and I think it is unwise for our program in the long run to spend money on buyouts. We already start way behind most of our competitors in the $ department so I think the best scenario for us is to be able to win with what we got. Anyway here are my requirements (if any of these are not met then I take back what i said about the buyout).
1. Beat MTSU and Arkansas
2. Win a game we arent supposed to win (which i guess is all of them, but I mean: LSU, UT, BAMA, UM, Vandy?
3. Field a respectable team against Bama and Ole Miss.
4. After this season find a new OC and publicly AND privately turn over complete operation of our offensive unit INCLUDING play calling!!!! (far better head coaches than Croom have done this)
5. Retain a good recruiting class.
I know this makes me a sheep, but I think the best case scenario for our long term success is to have Croom as the face of our program and a CEO who manages his coordinators but allows them to do their job!!! I also think that this is a bad time to change coaches because it will forfeit any potential advantage we might have over Ole Miss and Arkansas rebuilding.

 

[patdog]

than to spend the buyout money (assuming we finish 4-8 as you outline). The mistake that was made was to give him a 2-year extension and such a large raise in the first place. Don't compound that mistake by keeping a coach who's clearly taking us nowhere another year.

 

[Dawg725]

***

 

[Gene Swindoll]

if for the rest of the season, he comes out dressed like kamala the unganda giant........i'd be on board

 

[WPDawg]

It would take wins done with discipline and a business like manner. I also think Croom is a good guy but wished for him to retire two years ago. I thought the same thing after last year and after he decided to stay status quo on the offensive coaching, I figured we would be lucky to win three games. Watch his teams on the sidelines and see how unorganized we seem to be at times coming on and off the field. Include poor use of timeouts, questionable play calling and use of personnel. These are things that good coaches do right more times than not. 2007 was a culmination of some talented players making a coach look good over the long haul of a season. Ole Miss was terrible last year and we came within one bad decision by Orgeron of losing that game. It's crazy that this man makes the money he makes and the people in charge of his current salary and raises should be held accountable. As fans, I believe we should continue to highlight his weaknesses and at least force him to recognize that he is the problem or for him point to deficiencies in the team that are casuing this ineptness. He makes to much money to not be more detailed in what is going wrong. This isnt high school ball, its a business and he needs to start running it like one.

I will still pull for the Dawgs each and every game but I just dont see the long term picture with Coach Crooms in charge.

 

[dogmatic1]

but I don't think it's possible to get to a bowl game at this point, so I'd leave that out of the requirement sheet. I'd think he definitely needs to turn the offense and the play calling over to a proven coordinator. Offensive scheming, play calling and clock management are so fuddled at this point, it seems it'd be simpler to reshuffle the deck than to sort this hand out.

 

[DowntownDawg]

....and I think the part about getting rid of McCorvey is becoming more and more likely. However, there is a big distinction in doing it voluntarily and being forced to do it. Doing it voluntarily increases the likelihood that he, himself would be getting his hands off the offense. Being forced to do it would mean that he might hire an Al Borges and then try to run things with Al. It's imperative that he voluntarily does it. And we as fans may never really know, unless it's announced immediately after the season that WMac is leaving because of health reasons or something like that. If we hear about a meeting with Byrne, and then the next day, WMac is dismissed, we know his hand was forced. Plus, he'll never support it publicly unless he himself decides to do it.

 

[jcblough]

Win 6 games, fire Woody and give the offense over entirely to ANYONE else.

 

[benatmsu]

I would like him to ADMIT that what he's been doing just isn't working. Say something along the lines of "I was confident the WCO would work at Mississippi State. I was obviously wrong, and I'm man enough to when I'm wrong."

Than he would have to commit to bringing in some sort of offensive guru and turning that side of the team completely over to him.

Then I might would be willing to let bygones be bygones.... but we all know that will never happen.

 

[AgDawg]

I think he is a nice guy who is a great character for the University. If he somehow pulls a miracle and gets us to a bowl game and then makes some wholesale changes in the off season I think I could be back. I really want to see him hire someone and give complete control of the offense to them. Much like he did with Ellis Johnson. He needs to hang the wristband up. I just don't think he can stand to let someone else play call. He needs to understand his strengths and use them and quit wasting time on something that seems to be difficult for him to do. There are plenty of potential offensive coordinators out there that know how to practice and can evaluate things better.

 

[Shmuley]

resign from all coaching responsibilities immediately, work out an arrangement with Byrne whereby he takes a position within the athletic department to serve out the remainder of his contract, and become one of the most prominent faces of the athletic department for alumni development.

 

[dawgoneyall]

I will fully support his move.

 

[thunderclap]

and then in the offseason, make a 21st century offensive coordinator/QB coach hire.

Otherwise, don't let the door hit you in the *** on the way out.