I think you raise some good points. The truth is Mullen might be the next Urban Meyer, and he might be the next Ron Cooper. In all likelihood, he will be somewhere in the middle. Or hopefully closer to Meyer.
I do think Croom could have worked out. But it didn't- and that's part of it. Most of the reasons he failed were self-inflicted.
First of all, he should have known better than to hire his friends. If you do hire your friends, put them in a job similar to what Felker is doing for us now. The fact of the matter is coordinators change teams like shoes. And if your team is struggling, the coordinators are usually the first scapegoats. Don't make things potentially awkward for yourself by hiring friends. I don't think Mullen has done this. I like what he has done with his staff- hire some guys that are really good coaches and some that are really good recruiters.
As far as the WCO, I don't think Croom himself really understood the offense. He tried to make a pass to set-up the run offense a power running offense. That's not what it was intended to be. I am one of the few (You can rail me later) that do believe that the WCO can work in college. BUT you do have to simplify it so that a college team can effectively run it. Giving a college team an NFL playbook would be the equivalent of giving a HS team a college playbook. You have got to match your scheme to the level and ability of the players- even if that's the Yale Wedge. And like anything else, in the WCO, you need players with talent. I'm sure some people may be thinking, yeah the WCO looks good with Montana and Rice, but the fact of the matter is ANY offense we ran would have struggled with the collection of talent we had assembled under Croom. I bet Henig would have thrown 30+ INT's if he were in Hawaii's offense and had been able to somehow stay healthy. But it wasn't just QB- Croom totally neglected the o-line, WR's, and TE's. All of those are key to the WCO.
Mullen will be nothing like Croom. He is a spread guy, and there is no question that he knows how that offense is supposed to work, and what kind of perssonnel you need to run it. And he has made that a priority in his recruiting. We may very well struggle on offense some because maybe we're lacking in a couple of areas, or are going to have to play Fr., but I have no doubt in my mind that Mullen is going to have the offense progressing well within five years. I can deal with a guy putting in a new scheme and giving him a year or two to build his perssonnel, even if it doens't quite fit the talent.
I actually think Croom did a pretty good job with defense. He let Ellis Johnson or Cheese run the unit and pretty much left it alone. Too bad he didn't do that for the offense.
Croom also sorely neglected special teams. That is one area we really can not afford to be bad in. ST's can change the momentum of a game in an instant. I could almost (key word here being almost) overlook the offense being bad if we were good on ST's. During the Croom era, we had the worst kicker and punter in the SEC, and looked completely disorganized for four out of Croom's five years. The one year we didn't was the year we went to the Liberty Bowl. I don't think that's a coincidnece. I don't know how we will be on ST's under Mullen, but I am at least encouraged that he has brought in better specialists at the very least.
At first, Croom had no clue how to recruit, and he gave out too many scholarships as favors to friends. Croom did improve in this area. I will give him that. I'm not worried about Mullen in recruiting. He closed this last class strong, and the only two guys that we lost were Garrett and Patterson. And we may have lost them anyway. We're running an offense that a lot of the HS kids seem to like, and hopefully we can continue to get good defensive players- if we're known for anything, it's good defense, so I feel OK.
Finally, I think Mullen has blown Croom away in alumni relations. That is huge, because those are the people that pay lot of money, and spend time to go to Starkville to watch your product. And you represent them. I'm including the students as alumni, because they are future alumni. You plant that seed when they are in school. The students also are your most vocal group at the games and help get everyone else going. I like how Mullen is encouraging bringing cowbells, actually have a real spring game, choosing helmets that are more appealing to the fans, and I doubt that he is going to tell me that I am blind.
