CFN’s John Harris interviews Mississippi State head coach Sylvester Croom
A Conversation With Sylvester Croom
By John Harris
CFN’s John Harris also co-hosts with Sean “The Cablinasian” Pendergast daily on the Sean and John Show 2-6 PM CST on 1560 The Game, Houston, TX (www.1560thegame.com). This is his interview with the Mississippi State head coach Sylvester Groom
Sean and John: Joining us on the Sean and John Show, as we parade the roster of coaches coming through here today…we’ve been waiting for him and Sylvester Croom is finally here. Coach, congratulations on a great season and for being nominated for this great award.
Coach Croom: Well thank you guys very much. It is good to be here in Houston. It is good to be nominated among a group of such distinguished coaches. It’s a real honor.
Sean and John: Now Coach you played for Coach Bryant, does being here tonight have a little extra meaning for you because you played for Coach Bryant?
Coach Croom: Without a doubt, to even be recommended for an award with Coach Bryant’s name in it is very special for me and one of the highlights of my coaching career already.
Sean and John: Coach, when did you realize what kind of team you had this season. You got off to a rough start this year, but turned it around and had a great finish to the season, when did you realize this season you could make Mississippi State relevant again and put the Bulldogs in the consciousness of the people of the SEC?
Coach Croom: Believe it or not, we were walking off the field of the LSU game and said in the dressing room, we just got beat by the National Championship football team. No question in my mind and the only thing that almost derailed that was all the injuries that LSU had, but they were a great football team. The fact that I thought our defensive line was totally suspect going into that football game and that unit held its own against LSU’s tremendous offensive line. It should have been 10-0, but I made a serious strategic mistake before the half and it costs us some points. We should have gone into the half 10-0 and against that football team it would have been very good for us at that time. I told our players that we got beat bad because I made a bad decision. If our both are lines could compete with their line of scrimmage all we had to do was get better and we would some games.
Sean and John: Now coach you head to Liberty Bowl and all the talk is about UCF running back Kevin Smith – is he going to break the record…He needs 181 yards. But, your defense stepped up and said nope not today. Talk about your defense and its performance in that game.
Coach Croom: Well our defense has played well all year and as we went into season I was really concerned with our defensive front. We held up, but we made some significant changes. We moved Derrick Pegues from corner to safety and that turned out to be a fantastic move for us. We had some young corners and young defensive linemen. We went into the bowl game and that was the talk of the media and we knew our guys would respond. In fact, my one big worry was that we were overly concerned about stopping him. My big worry was they were going to go play action and they were going to be behind the safety because our guys were very committed to not allowing him to get that record.
Sean and john: Well that wasn’t going to happen Coach because I coached one of UCF’s receivers a long time ago when he was in high school so that wasn’t going to happen. I can tell you that right now. Coach you beat Auburn, you beat Kentucky, you beat Alabama, what was the most special win that you had this year?
Coach Croom: Well it is always special for us when we beat Ole Miss and Alabama, I mean those are our two biggest rivalries. And having that Egg Bowl trophy back on campus and of course having beat Alabama twice in the past two years, which hasn’t happened very often and is my alma mater. All of those things are very special to us.
Sean and John: We’re throwing names out there like Alabama and the Egg Bowl with Ole Miss and regardless of how well, or not, they are playing, they’re always a rivalry. Talk about the gauntlet that the SEC is - all the teams are so physically and mentally into it and the week to week grind.
Coach Croom: It has caused us to totally change the way we prepare. We work extremely hard in the Spring, we have 2 to 3 hour practices in the Spring that are very physical practices and when we get back and start training in camp in the fall we start training for ten days, we will go pretty hard. Then that’s it. The guys that are going to play from then on will practice just as we did in the NFL. And this year with 23 seniors…if they come back and did everything we asked them to do early we are going to protect them a lot better. We were actually very fortunate, other than the quarterback position, we stayed pretty healthy this season. But the last time we put full pads on was the week before the LSU game and we did not put them back on until the bowl game.
Sean and John: Now Coach we just mentioned you played for former Alabama legend Coach Bryant. Talk to us about what Coach Bryant meant to you and how you have taken what he taught you and used that coaching or teaching to your kids each day at Mississippi State.
Coach Croom: Well the things we talk about each day and the things Coach Bryant passed down to us have a large part to do with the success at MSU. First thing is the concept of team and we. The team is the first and most important facet in anything that we do. Next is the importance of hard work and sacrifice and discipline. The attention to detail of doing things the right way, the idea of coming to work everyday and doing the things that you are supposed to do. The idea of playing with character, we want to win and do things, but how we do things is important as well. Then the idea of perseverance, never to quit, never give up, you play every play likes it is the only play in the ball game. When things don’t go your way, you keep battling and fighting. These things are very important because those things…once the crowd is gone, the game is over, those are the things that a player carries onto his life. Those are the things that will allow a player to win the greatest game and those are the contents that he will face in his personal life once he gets out of school.
Sean and John: 45-0. The first game of the year you worked all off season and all summer, you’re playing at home the cow bells are ringing and it ends up 45-0 against LSU. You have to pull your guys up by the bootstraps. THAT has to be the epitome of perseverance.
Coach Croom: Well, no question. As a head coach I learned those things from Coach Bryant in college and at home I learned those things from my mom and dad. I have used those things over and over again in my career and quite often some of the games, the Tennessee game my sophomore year where we came from behind up there and won. When I hit the rough spots in my life I think we did it then and I can do it again now. The way our players fought at the end of games this year and our ability to come from behind and they will think of those things in life when they are faced with adversity and it will sustain them at that time.
Sean and John: Coach, first time African American coach in the Southeastern Conference. Coach talk about that a little bit. Do you carry any extra pressure with that; how do you internalize any of that?
Coach Croom: Well, the first part of it is that I grew up in Tuscaloosa, Alabama and I was born in 1954 so I grew up in the most intense times in the 1960s in the Civil Rights Era so I grew up in a time when those things were changes, but I have been used to being a minority in a lot of situations and being the one of the first. So for this it was not new for me, I have experienced pressure before being the first and what it means as far as representing yourself and representing African Americans everywhere in a positive, classy way. At times there is no question that it places a lot of responsibility on you and holds some pressure. But the only time I really felt pressure was when I was a Detroit Lions offensive coordinator I really felt pressure. Because there were very few and even now there aren’t very many minority coordinators calling plays in the National Football League. I felt a tremendous amount of pressure and it did not serve me well the way I handled it. I internalized a lot of it which I suffered from it. I made up my mind then that I was not going to do that with this job and I was not going to carry that burden and I do understand the positive impact that our sense of the program will have, and I think it bodes well for other African American coaches particularly young coaches who desire to become head coaches. More importantly I hope that it will serve to motivate young African Americans that things that seem impossible - I know when I was young and even as and adult for me to become a head coach in the SEC, it did not seem like a possibility on the horizon - so I hope what is gained from this, regardless of race or color, is that somebody faced something that seemed impossible, for somebody who has a dream, do not let anyone tell you that it cannot be done. Do the work, do the preparation, have faith, it can happen and somebody will help you, if you are strong enough to persevere.
Sean and John: I’m ready to go, I’m ready to play some football, ready to run through the brick wall. Coach Sylvester Croom of Mississippi State we appreciate you taking the time to impart your wisdom on us and our listeners. They need it, we need it. Congratulations on a great year and we appreciate your time.
Coach Croom: Thank you gentlemen.
Source: Interview With Sylvester Croom
Tiger’s there already. He flew out last night after his awesome win at the Buick Invitational. By now he’s probably checking out progress on fabulous Arabian Gulf golf complex, Tiger Woods Dubai, set to open in the 4th quarter of 2009.