Croom concerned about the NCAA’s APR
The Jackson Sun Sports - New NCAA rules are creating concern:
And it doesn’t matter why the player leaves. If he’s kicked off the team for violating the school’s drug policy or simply clashes with the coach and decides to transfer, he still counts against that school.
”It’s new to all of us,” said Sylvester Croom, football coach at Mississippi State. ”We all want our players to graduate. But this is new legislation and there are some concerns about how it’s all going to be applied. We’ll have to work through it.”
Croom may have a lot of work to do.
In an effort to revive Mississippi State’s program and create the kind of environment he wants, Croom has seen 17 players leave since he took over prior to the 2004 season.
The Bulldogs are already on probation and have lost scholarships for violations that occurred under former Coach Jackie Sherrill. Croom is aware that he could lose more scholarships if his disciplinary stance pushes the program below the NCAA’s 925 cutoff.
”I’m very concerned because of what I’ve done to try and clean up our program and to get us on the right track,” Croom said. ”We essentially are going to get put on probation again. That concerns me.
”To be very honest, I was hoping to get some things cleaned up and hoping we would move forward from here with the new guidelines rather than have it be retroactive.”
That said, Croom wouldn’t do anything differently if he knew then what he knows now.
”Regardless of how this APR works out, it is not going to affect how I make decisions as far as discipline on my football team,” he said. ”If it does, we’ll pay whatever price that has to be paid down the road.
”If a guy does not fit our program and not following the rules of our program, he’s not going to be in our program. If it means cutting scholarships, then that’s what is going to happen.”
