Croom expects State to be bowl eligible in 2005
This comes from the Columbus (GA) Ledger-Enquirer:
Croom was the guest speaker at the Columbus Quarterback Club on Monday evening.
How did your first year meet the expectations that you set for yourself?
We got all we wanted to accomplish out of it — not in terms of the wins and losses, because I wanted to win them all — but in terms of attitude adjustment. We have created a certain standard for the work ethic and discipline that we expect. We have put in our schemes and started to identify certain players that we can rely on. We have also gained a trust with one another. It takes some time for that to happen. There’s no more “we played hard,” because that’s expected, or “we executed,” because that’s expected.
What are the expectations for next season?
I expect a winning season and that’s the least of what I expect from us. With that said, we are still a very young team. We don’t have a lot of depth at wide receiver or on the offensive line, and we were young at linebacker this year. So there are still going to be some of those difficult days again next year like there were this year.
What was the toughest adjustment going from an assistant coach to the head coach?
The hardest part for me was all the non-football-related stuff. There’s a lot of other things to do other than just coach. You have to go to speaking engagements, worry about housing and meals for the players, the academics and all of the tutoring. In the NFL, it’s just football — nothing else. That was the toughest part after I was able to assemble my staff.
What was it like for you to be named the first African-American football coach in the SEC?
It was special to me, in a sense. And it was not just for African-Americans, but it was another barrier of racism that was brought down in this country, and I was just blessed to be the first. I will probably appreciate it more after the job is done. I try to work hard to make sure that it isn’t a distraction to me.
Was it frustrating when you were overlooked for many head coach openings?
It was. I have been in this business for 28 years. I was at the college level for 10 years and spent the last 17 at the professional level. I was hoping that I was preparing myself for an opportunity and it just didn’t happen. And it’s not as if the candidates that got those jobs didn’t deserve them. They were as worthy as myself. I was just waiting for my shot to come. For many, it never comes.
Other than the actual final record, what Croom accomplished was astonishing, mainly because of how bad things had gotten. It’s hard for fans mired in a 4 year losing streak to think about being patient, but that’s exactly what we must do. The main difference I think we’ll see next year is on offense. A scheme like the West Coast Offense is complicated to implement, especially when some players don’t fit the system. However I think next year we’ll see more production. The key is improvement at the WR and OL spots.
