Read an interesting quote today by Mullen...

[Waterdawg]

Mullen from the Sunherald (1/28/2010):

When Mullen arrived in Starkville after mentoring Florida quarterback Tim Tebow during the drive to the BCS national championship, he knew very little abou the overall talent left behind. After his first workout, Mullen had a better take on the talent, especially when he conpares it to the talent-rich Gators. "At some of the positions, we were equal to or had more talent than Florida," he said. "The other positions we had a drop off. I was not disappointed.

Now, I understand this is coach speak and realistically can't think of any position where we had more talent than Florida (possibly at RB due to the quality of depth?). Mullen is selling his program in a postive manner.

I know I'm slow at times but thinking back on when Croom was hired...here are some of the quotes being thrown out in the national media by our own people.

LT to ESPN (2007)

"Sylvester took over a program in a lot of disrepair, that brougth disrepute to the university. I'm going to give him time to repair that."

Early and to the end, Croom repeatedly stated that it was terrible here....he said that the talent was terrible, discipline was terrible, facilities were subpar, it is going to take 5 years to turn it around, I really didn't want the job but LT wouldn't take no for an answer blah blah blah. Whether he was wrong or right doesn't matter, but he should atleast paint something positive about the university and the football program.

I may be wrong but I don't remember Croom saying anything good about State...none of this "Starkville is a great town", "this is a great university", etc. It was Alabama this and Bear Bryant that...17ing recruiting for Alabama.

Croom and LT further created a very negative preception of State (not that we needed any help at the time). What recruit would want to come to State after reading the **** they spewed to the media for 5 years? They did nothing to entice recruits to come here. What other school would sit back and watch their AD and HC go around and run their mouths about how bad it was? Did Alabama do this when they wenth throught their probation time? 17 no..it was "we are getting back to championship football". Is Tennessee and Dooley doing it this now after the fiasco with Kiffen? No. It's one thing for some jackleg writer to beat down a school two states away. But for the HC and AD to do it on our payroll....it leaves a deeper impression. The preception they painted through the media still lingers and the scars are deep.

Alot of this has been hashed out countless times on this board. However, I wanted to bring this up as we close out this recruiting class. Mullen has to recruit against this perception that fatass and 17 face created. I'm not making excusses for Mullen in regards to recruiting but this is somewhat an unique situation. We have to undo the perception damage caused by people who were on our payroll. I think this is a reason why recruiting out of state is difficult for us right now especially for recruits with SEC/BCS offers.

 

[Waterdawg]

Mullen from the Sunherald (1/28/2010):

When Mullen arrived in Starkville after mentoring Florida quarterback Tim Tebow during the drive to the BCS national championship, he knew very little abou the overall talent left behind. After his first workout, Mullen had a better take on the talent, especially when he conpares it to the talent-rich Gators. "At some of the positions, we were equal to or had more talent than Florida," he said. "The other positions we had a drop off. I was not disappointed.

Now, I understand this is coach speak and realistically can't think of any position where we had more talent than Florida (possibly at RB due to the quality of depth?). Mullen is selling his program in a postive manner.

I know I'm slow at times but thinking back on when Croom was hired...here are some of the quotes being thrown out in the national media by our own people.

LT to ESPN (2007)

"Sylvester took over a program in a lot of disrepair, that brougth disrepute to the university. I'm going to give him time to repair that."

Early and to the end, Croom repeatedly stated that it was terrible here....he said that the talent was terrible, discipline was terrible, facilities were subpar, it is going to take 5 years to turn it around, I really didn't want the job but LT wouldn't take no for an answer blah blah blah. Whether he was wrong or right doesn't matter, but he should atleast paint something positive about the university and the football program.

I may be wrong but I don't remember Croom saying anything good about State...none of this "Starkville is a great town", "this is a great university", etc. It was Alabama this and Bear Bryant that...17ing recruiting for Alabama.

Croom and LT further created a very negative preception of State (not that we needed any help at the time). What recruit would want to come to State after reading the **** they spewed to the media for 5 years? They did nothing to entice recruits to come here. What other school would sit back and watch their AD and HC go around and run their mouths about how bad it was? Did Alabama do this when they wenth throught their probation time? 17 no..it was "we are getting back to championship football". Is Tennessee and Dooley doing it this now after the fiasco with Kiffen? No. It's one thing for some jackleg writer to beat down a school two states away. But for the HC and AD to do it on our payroll....it leaves a deeper impression. The preception they painted through the media still lingers and the scars are deep.

Alot of this has been hashed out countless times on this board. However, I wanted to bring this up as we close out this recruiting class. Mullen has to recruit against this perception that fatass and 17 face created. I'm not making excusses for Mullen in regards to recruiting but this is somewhat an unique situation. We have to undo the perception damage caused by people who were on our payroll. I think this is a reason why recruiting out of state is difficult for us right now especially for recruits with SEC/BCS offers.

 

[Waterdawg]

Mullen from the Sunherald (1/28/2010):

When Mullen arrived in Starkville after mentoring Florida quarterback Tim Tebow during the drive to the BCS national championship, he knew very little abou the overall talent left behind. After his first workout, Mullen had a better take on the talent, especially when he conpares it to the talent-rich Gators. "At some of the positions, we were equal to or had more talent than Florida," he said. "The other positions we had a drop off. I was not disappointed.

Now, I understand this is coach speak and realistically can't think of any position where we had more talent than Florida (possibly at RB due to the quality of depth?). Mullen is selling his program in a postive manner.

I know I'm slow at times but thinking back on when Croom was hired...here are some of the quotes being thrown out in the national media by our own people.

LT to ESPN (2007)

"Sylvester took over a program in a lot of disrepair, that brougth disrepute to the university. I'm going to give him time to repair that."

Early and to the end, Croom repeatedly stated that it was terrible here....he said that the talent was terrible, discipline was terrible, facilities were subpar, it is going to take 5 years to turn it around, I really didn't want the job but LT wouldn't take no for an answer blah blah blah. Whether he was wrong or right doesn't matter, but he should atleast paint something positive about the university and the football program.

I may be wrong but I don't remember Croom saying anything good about State...none of this "Starkville is a great town", "this is a great university", etc. It was Alabama this and Bear Bryant that...17ing recruiting for Alabama.

Croom and LT further created a very negative preception of State (not that we needed any help at the time). What recruit would want to come to State after reading the **** they spewed to the media for 5 years? They did nothing to entice recruits to come here. What other school would sit back and watch their AD and HC go around and run their mouths about how bad it was? Did Alabama do this when they wenth throught their probation time? 17 no..it was "we are getting back to championship football". Is Tennessee and Dooley doing it this now after the fiasco with Kiffen? No. It's one thing for some jackleg writer to beat down a school two states away. But for the HC and AD to do it on our payroll....it leaves a deeper impression. The preception they painted through the media still lingers and the scars are deep.

Alot of this has been hashed out countless times on this board. However, I wanted to bring this up as we close out this recruiting class. Mullen has to recruit against this perception that fatass and 17 face created. I'm not making excusses for Mullen in regards to recruiting but this is somewhat an unique situation. We have to undo the perception damage caused by people who were on our payroll. I think this is a reason why recruiting out of state is difficult for us right now especially for recruits with SEC/BCS offers.

 

[Todd4State]

I think it goes WAY back even before them. Like 50's and 60's. We were "Good ol' MSU"- our team sucked and we did little to change it aside from having Darrell Royal for a couple of seasons before he bolted for Texas. Our team was competitive at times, and at times easily beaten, but either way people got a win.

My family is almost all MSU and Alabama alums- mostly MSU- and I have heard my family members that went to MSU in the 60's say- "We went to the football games to watch the OTHER team." In other words, they went to see the great Alabama, LSU, or Ole Miss teams of that day, and expected to lose, accepted it, tipped their hat to the other team, and just tried to be as nice as possible to the other teams visitors so that at the very least they could say "Well, at least MSU has nice people".

Obviously, we were behind the eight ball in facilities, fan support- no one wants to watch a loser, or in my case waste a weekend driving to Starkville to watch MSU get beat down, and that reputation grew over time.

When we would actually get a good coach like a Bob Tyler or a Jackie Sherrill, the rest of the SEC did whatever they could to take them down because they knew that our administration would do nothing about it. "Good ol' MSU".

When Jackie came along, in many ways it was the best thing that happened to MSU, and I'm not Jackie's biggest fan either, but there's no denying that with the bad stuff that he brought- NCAA scrutiny, lack of discipline on the field, recruiting way too many JUCO players, and losing to NLU and Troy - he did many good things and busted many myths about MSU. One myth was that a coach couldn't consistently win at MSU. Jackie did. Second myth was that MSU didn't travel well to bowl games based on our attendance at the 1981 HOF Bowl- a game played with TORNDO sirens blaring in the background- well Jackie got us TO bowls and MSU fans went in droves. You don't hear that one any more.

Jackie also showed MSU fans how to win and how to have a viable program in the SEC. He started beating people like Texas and Florida, and all of a sudden people believed- "Hey! Who knows? Maybe we CAN beat Alabama." We went from just going to watch the other team to watching OUR team. That's huge because now all of a sudden a fan base was starting to form. That means that those fans are going to start to go to other SEC venues- like Florida and LSU. Those fans that travel see how it's done around the rest of the conference, and what that leads to are people that get ideas about how to improve MSU's gameday experience. Around 1996, we were running onto the field through butcher paper like a HS team and playing Hang on Sloopy through the PA system. Now look at it. MSU has the largest videoboard in the SEC, we have our own tailgating area, we have a well orchestrated pre-game experience that honestly is about as good as anyone else in the SEC if not better- and I have been to every SEC venue except for Arkansas in Fayetteville. MSU football is now an event- Byrne has refined it, but Jackie started it.

I think what happend in the early part of 2K with MSU is we started to have success, and people around the SEC starting to attack us for lack of a better word- NCAA investigations, cowbell bans, etc. And on the field, all of a sudden our luck was running out, and Jackie was starting to get past his prime. And some of our older fans were kind of freaking out- and probably went to LT and said- "Look, I'd rather lose being classy than go through all of this, just like the old days." I know that back in the day that I saw people on GP say as much at times. And, LT granted their wishes. At the same time, there was that fanbase from Jackie's era that wanted to win. And then we get Byrne who granted our wishes.

I will say this on Croom's behalf though- I have heard that he demanded that we get better facilities. So, I will give him some credit for that. And I will say that Jackie again played a large role in getting better facilities as well, so it wasn't all Croom either. I think LT as an AD was also having trouble handling our success. I don't think he was creative enough to know how to spend more to make more money. He treated going to bowls like they were a big hassle, and I don't think he liked fooling with a lot of the stuff that went into the football program. He would much rather schedule four big name teams and try to get people that way- again reinforced by the old "I don't want to watch us play North Texas" crowd. I also believe that he didn't want to handle the pre-game stuff with football as well. Especially if it cost money. On top of it all, he didn't want to go toe to toe with other SEC members and risk losing out on a job with the conference in the future. MSU football essentially outgrew LT's abilities.

Croom in many ways was pefect for LT as a coach. He was a historical hire, which was good publicity for MSU- I don't think anyone can deny that- he was good enough as a coach that he could upset on average one good team a year, which was enough to keep hopes up for many people and at the same time not risk pissing off the rest of the SEC, he was a guy that came across as a disciplinarian who ended up being more talk than anything, and most importantly, he was cheap. I do wonder what would have happened when "The seven years" were up and we still were about the same. Fortunately, we'll never know.

Dan Mullen is what we need right now. He is a smart football coach- honestly the best in terms of X's and O's I have seen at MSU, he is young, energetic, and at the same time, he represents MSU well. Most coaches- like Mark Richt- had a large learning curve in their first year as a HC, but Dan handled his first year very, very well. And he's going to get better. I like his new DC who fits in well with what I think Dan wants to do as a program. If it wasn't for Jackie, he may not be here though.

As I have said, I think Dan focusing on Mississippi is the best way for us to go as a football program. The out of state kids still have that bad perception of MSU, and Mississippi in general, and to get a bunch of out of state guys is probably not the best way to go. We'll either end up having them snatched out from under us- like Neal or we'll get a bunch of guys that no one wants in most cases. Also, it's not like Mississippi is devoid of football talent. It makes Dan's job tough, but there are a lot of guys out there like Johnathan Banks that are from a small town that are good athletes, but MSU must be able to identify them, and then develop them. It is imperative that we have good recruiters in terms of evaluating talent and good coaches period. The advantage of being Alabama is they don't have to find diamonds in the rough so much. They can go out and get the Ingram's and the Julio Jones of the world and go with it. At the same time, I know that we can compete and beat anyone in the SEC, but we have to be smarter about it. I think a lot of times we get beat simply because we don't have the depth that an LSU or Tennessee may have- a result of being a team in a small state with raw talent in general, but again, if we are smart about how we do things, we can win in the SEC.

 

[HammerOfTheDogs]

 

[smellmyfinger]

Our fans need to read this. Well done Todd.

 

[FlabLoser]

Croom and LT further created a very negative preception of State (not that we needed any help at the time). What recruit would want to come to State after reading the **** they spewed to the media for 5 years? They did nothing to entice recruits to come here.

I agree with the post. But Croom did tell recruits that they would compete for championships during their time here.

 

[FlabLoser]

I think what happend in the early part of 2K with MSU is we started to
have success, and people around the SEC starting to attack us for lack
of a better word- NCAA investigations, cowbell bans, etc. And on the
field, all of a sudden our luck was running out, and Jackie was
starting to get past his prime.

Jackie had just lost his brother and I want to say his mother too. He had some personal problems that were distracting. I do not know if there was more to that than the deaths in the family or not. But Jackie was burnt out and just not feelin it.

But he really believed after '98 and '99 that we were only a player or two away. I think State fans believed this too. So he took a risk on some very talented, but very troubled players. They turned out to be cancer.

I will say this on Croom's behalf though- I have heard that he demanded
that we get better facilities. So, I will give him some credit for
that. And I will say that Jackie again played a large role in getting
better facilities as well, so it wasn't all Croom either. I think LT as
an AD was also having trouble handling our success. I don't think he
was creative enough to know how to spend more to make more money. He
treated going to bowls like they were a big hassle, and I don't think
he liked fooling with a lot of the stuff that went into the football
program. He would much rather schedule four big name teams and try to
get people that way- again reinforced by the old "I don't want to watch
us play North Texas" crowd. I also believe that he didn't want to
handle the pre-game stuff with football as well. Especially if it cost
money. On top of it all, he didn't want to go toe to toe with other SEC
members and risk losing out on a job with the conference in the future.
MSU football essentially outgrew LT's abilities.

Yes. LT was a fossil. The only reason he was AD is because he had been AD for so many years. He rose to that position at a time when being AD wasn't so demanding. And he stayed there. And stayed there. And stayed there. It was OK that MSU was behind other SEC schools because we're just from little Mississippi, right? So he was given a pass year after year. (Funny, I know a certain President of a Mississippi-based company who is the same way. He happened to rise up when it didn't matter, while the company was very small and being built from the ground up and now just sits there like Budda on top of the hill)

Dan Mullen is what we need right now. He is a smart football coach-
honestly the best in terms of X's and O's I have seen at MSU, he is
young, energetic, and at the same time, he represents MSU well. Most
coaches- like Mark Richt- had a large learning curve in their first
year as a HC, but Dan handled his first year very, very well. And he's
going to get better. I like his new DC who fits in well with what I
think Dan wants to do as a program. If it wasn't for Jackie, he may not
be here though.

Couldn't agree more. Jackie changed MSU football. He made us good. He made us winners. Most importantly he made the FANS winners. Today, we expect more. We expect Dan Mullen, not Sly Croom.

 

[22yardpunt]

---</p>

 

[Tadarama]

to say that the MSU talent was as good or better than Florida at some positions must be attributed to the good job Croom and his staff did in recruiting.

While it was defnitely time for a change, does anyone realistically believe Croom would not have won at least five games this past season or that he would not have a better incoming class that the current one projects?

 

[sardis]

that was his only problem. He gave MSU some spirit, just to bad we were croomed for a while. If you look at the percentage of recruits from the state the U is located in with this year's class, MSU has the most. Florida is not far behimd, I think Dan has a great plan on recruiting. I also think the strength and conditioning program is key to getting these players to be all they can be. I lived in Nebraska in the early 80's and the NFL would say at the time that Ne. players were maxed out as physical specimens, I hope we can here the same about MSU.

To bad, Stans doesn't learn a lesson on this as the basketball players look wimpish to me except for Bost.

 

[LTblows]

[No message]

 

[karlchilders.sixpack]

loss of faith in his ********!
No reason to think it would have been any better this past season.

 

[dickiedawg]

Or false.

 

[jcdawgman18]

...but there is no doubt he left the situation better than he found it. The quote above from Coach Mullen shows that.<div>Coach Croom himself even had said things in the last couple of years indicating he knew the talent level had increased. At media days in 08, he said something to the effect of "we've been bear-hunting with a switch, now we've got a gun."</div><div>
</div><div>The one place we didn't have a gun was at quarterback, and that cost us. And ultimately, that does fall on Coach Croom. For the first several years, the deck was unquestionably stacked against him in recruiting a quarterback, but it is disturbing that we couldn't get a decent one in years 3 or 4 (thank goodness we got one last year). </div><div>
</div><div>Now, to put a positive spin on things (because it's January dang it, and there's no reason not to think positive about football in January), we should have been bowling the last two years EVEN WITHOUT A QB! Ignoring coaching changes and all and just looking at the shoulda-woulda-coulda situation, we should have been bowling 3 straight years. In 08, if Carlson isn't the epitome of suck against Auburn and Kentucky, we win 6 games. This year, see LSU and Houston. I don't even have to discuss LSU. Against Houston, if Tyson doesn't rip the ball away from Boobie and Arnil, we win. If the flag for illegal forward pass is overturned, we win. If he just tucks and runs on the play, we probably win.</div><div>
</div><div>I say all that to say this: We have a quarterback now. Whatever you think of Tyler Russell, you have to expect he will be a serious upgrade over our recent situations. For starters, he can see over the line and we don't have to talk about "throwing lanes". That has to make you feel good about the next several years here at Mississippi State.</div>

 

[thatsbaseball]

from the central part of the state coming into Starkville. Our struggles on many levelsfor many many yearscan be traced back to pathetic , limp wristed leadership in the form of corruptrepresentation in the state legislatureto appointees by the state college board that were meant to keep the university down. I hope we have broken through those barriersand now it`s up to us (alumni and supporters) to quit living in the past and get the job finished.

I feel the best about our leadership that I have since Dr. Z was there anddon`t ever fool yourself that the success of the athletic program doesn`t have to start in the president`s office. The LT/Croom combo was awful and makes a good dart board for all of us but they (LT & Croom) would have never happened if the president placed great importance onhaving a competitive football team. LTshould have never ever been allowed to hire Croom without a proper search being conducted for a HC.

In closing the success of the athletic programdoesn`t start at the AD`s office , it starts at the president`s office.

 

[El Diablo Blanco]

Croom would have lost to Vandy, Kentucky, and Ole Miss. He would have beat JSU and MTSU would have been a toss up. Try hard as you bastards want to, but you know deep down Mullen is head and shoulders above Croom. Also Croom would have never been in the LSU, Bama, or Florida games at all.

Croom is the worst all around coach in the history of the SEC. At least O left you some players. By your logic, Ole Miss would have had the same record the last 2 years if O had stayed as you do now.

Nutt= better than O.
Mullen = Way the hell better than Croom.

 

[nashdog]

Croom wouldmaybe havewon 3 games,definitely not5. His mediocre offensive philosophy would have left us dead last in every offensive category. Our defense wasn't spectacular. We would have never scored 41 against UM, or 31 against Kentucky. Those would have both been losses - easily. Additionally, we wouldn't have even had a chance against LSU, which with Mullen at the helm, at least we had a chance. We would have won MTSU, Jax State and Vandy -- tops.

Anyone who thinks Croom would have won 5 games against our schedule last year is kidding themselves. He could barely win 4 in 2008.

 

[Coach34]

to say that the MSU talent was as good or better than Florida at some positions must be attributed to the good job Croom and his staff did in recruiting.

While it was defnitely time for a change, does anyone realistically believe Croom would not have won at least five games this past season or that he would not have a better incoming class that the current one projects?

No, I dont think Crooms wins 5 games, and no, I dont think his recruiting class would have been any better...He wouldnt have had Bumphis this season had he stayed, and the beating Dixon would have taken would have been tough, because we were worse at WR than we were in 2008 even with Bumphis, when we won 4 games.

 

[thatsbaseball]

Croom was just low classed enough to blame his players for his ineptness.

 

[Griffdawg]

We have to make certain that all of our future Presidents truly care about putting a winning product on the field. It starts at the very top and filters down. As others have said, Jackie did a LOT to move our program forward.Changing perceptions within the fanbase and showing the entire nation that MSU could have a badass football team. And he did it withno support whatsoever from LT and very little from the President after Dr. Z had left. Imagine for a moment Jackie being hired with Keenum as our President and Byrne at AD.

Looking forward, you have to be pleased that we have the key personnel in place for having and sustaining success. We have a President that cares about have a winning product. Ditto with the AD. We have young, energetic coaches in Mullen, Diaz, etc. Once we begin getting to and winning bowl games, we will be an attractive choice for recruits. Our offense is going to put points on the board and our defense is going to dial up pressure on the QB. Who wouldn't want to play in those systems?

Lastly, if you gave me a choice between signing Thompson,Sanders, Robinson, & Neal or hiring Diaz to replace Torbush, I'm choosing Curtain # 2-hiring Diaz as our DC.Not that I wouldn't want both choices, but changing defensive philosophies was imperativefor us to take the next step forward as a program.Just my opinion.

 

[nwtfdog]

Hey dumbass tell me how many players that croom recruited are playing in the nfl. That explains his recruitng.

 

[Coach34]

"Mullen said that Relf finally has figured things out. Said Russell was coming along. Said redshirting Russell was the best thing, stressed mat duty would be huge for him."

But that right there, coupled with what I already know, makes me think Russell has a gap to close if he is going to be the starting QB next year

 

[HamilReb]

He even said it himself. The only reason he took the job, was because a friend of his told him that he should. Because

he owed it to all of the black coaches before him. If that aint a ******** excuse to take a job, then I dont know what is.
He turned down the job the first time he was offered.

 

[thatsbaseball]

since he left....he should have never been offered the job.

 

[thunderclap]

is he has not said one negative word. Ever. About anything concerning this program.

 

[Coach34]

plus some other good college players...that "no talent and awful situation" crap he spewed was ******** then and ******** now

 

[Beretta.sixpack]

plus some other good college players...that "no talent and awful situation" crap he spewed was ******** then and ******** now

people who defend croom because he 'had no talent' tend to forget this stat....

 

[thunderclap]

I seriously, seriously wonder if you have. And if you have, I wonder if you understand the concept and the rules. And if you have watched college football and you understand the concept and the rules, then you are either Sylvester Croom or Larry Templeton.</p>

 

[jcdawgman18]

But you honestly think Relf is going to be able to throw it well enough to be an every down QB? Seriously, he intended for the touchdown pass to Bumphis to go to Wilder against Mississippi. Need I remind you that Wilder was 10 yards in front of Bumphis and Bumphis caught the ball at the apex of his jump.<div>
</div><div>I know you're going to respond with "Mullen wants to run the ball, blah blah blah." But you cannot win consistently in the SEC without the ability to complete some passes. We of all people should realize this.</div>

 

[patdog]

nm

 

[Coach34]

that we see Relf start and play 75% of the snaps, and Russell come in with a 2 minute-type package throwing it around a little more for the other 25%...

I agree that it would be in our best interest for Russell to be able to handle the offense- but i'm not sure that is going to be the case.

Working against Russell are the factors of completely new RB's and them having to learn the pass protections, and our youth at the WR position. Put that together with him needing to get stronger and be able to handle running the football...i'm just preparing you for what may take place come September

 

[SLUdog]

a coach. That turned out to be a fairly easy schedule and he only won 4 games. We LOST to La Tech in the first game. We lost to UK at home and a bad Auburn team at home. Croom would have been 3-9 this year and not been close against UF or LSU.

 

[gdogg]

and You are so right about LT though. He was bothered by success and would have rather seen MSU stay on the bottom because it was easier to manage. the best LT story I know: Ole Miss students stole the mascot Bully head one year, late 90s I think, and it was going to cost a couple of thousand dollars to replace. Templetonrefused topay for it. He would rather there not be a Bully. Finally the cheerleaders The Jackson Alumni Assoc. had to write the check. I was standing there why someone was telling Jimmy Bass that story. He shook his head and saidif you guys only knew (or something like that).This program has had the reigns on it forever. Now, the future is bright.

 

[therightway]

The down fall of Jackie was due to a bad class of jucos on DL and CB. On Croom he is just like Obama. He knew that he could not really move the team forward so he milked it for everything he could and blame it on how bad of a situation he came into. Hell he even said in an interview after being fired that he thought that the first 3 years did not count. We should have taken back his pay for those years if they did not count. In year 4 he lucked up and defensive scores got him to a bowl game. Now the present I have never heard Mullen say anything like he is going to have to get his own guys or anything like that. This coach took what everyone thought was the worst O Lines in the history of college football and increased offensive production around 50%.</p>

 

[mabtsdawg]

I can't believe that you actually tried to equate Croom with Mullen. </p>

 

[TR.sixpack]

Cuz there's no way Croom puts enough points on the board to hang w/ Ga Tech and Houston. Where do these 5 wins come form, Nostradamus?

 

[markymark.sixpack]

that russell takes over 50% of the snaps next year, barring injury.

Here's the bet: Relf takes over 50% of snaps, i pay you $100.
Russell takes over 50% of snaps, you can't post for 6 months.

Deal?

 

[Coach34]

lets see how they look this Spring...no need to get psycho on this issue....</p>

Many on here thought Russell would start in 2009 too- we see how that turned out</p>

 

[Todd4State]

to say that the MSU talent was as good or better than Florida at some positions must be attributed to the good job Croom and his staff did in recruiting.

While it was defnitely time for a change, does anyone realistically believe Croom would not have won at least five games this past season or that he would not have a better incoming class that the current one projects?

He brought his "positive image" to MSU, which was what we needed at the time- not saying that he was necessarily the right choice for us, but whoever we hired needed to have that- and he had his "Cinderella season" in 2007. I enjoyed that season and was certainly happy for him, and more importantly happy for MSU.

After that, I think Croom's effort started to lag. Honestly, he seemed to get worse as a coach in 2008. I think he was on the verge of losing the team, if he had not already lost it at the end of the season. We were losing recruits- like Garrett who would have provided some nice depth for us, and Patterson. I also don't know that we get Bumphis, and I know we don't get LaDarius Perkins who I think could be very good for us. If Croom had stayed, I think we maybe win two or three games.


What Croom did was make us respectable- occasionally upset a good seven win SEC team- but MSU was ready to take it to the next level. I'm sure Byrne did not like doing it, but he had no choice but to fire Croom. Another three win season for us, plus Ole Miss and USM making it to bowl games honestly could have set us back another 2-3 years. Then it becomes a vicious cycle of rebuilding.

We couldn't afford to do that.