Bleacher Report - Articles by Joseph Craven

Sylvester Croom: A Career of Character

Joseph Craven — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 10:21:14 -0500

Mississippi State Head Coach Sylvester Croom resigned Saturday morning after five years with the school.

He left with a 21-38 overall record and many unsatisfied Mississippi State backers, asking who can solve all the problems the program has.

However, it isn't uncommon for Bulldogs fans to be upset. This is the fan base who, in 1999, frequently called for Wayne Madkin to be benched. Madkin, of course, was the school's career passing leader.

This is also the fan base who, over the past three years, loved to despise Jamont Gordon, despite the countless games that Gordon single handily won.

Furthermore, this is the same fanbase who could never really get behind Croom at all, even when he led the team to a Liberty Bowl victory a year ago.

So really, the biggest question is how Croom was even able to deal with 60,000 people calling for his head every Saturday.

One word: Character.

It was what Croom was always based on.

He brought an unprecedented level of character to the program as soon as he took over. It was a program that had just come off of the best years in its history, but was in serious trouble of flying out of control.

Croom came in and made drastic changes.

Poor character was no longer tolerated. He even kicked off the starting running back, Nick Turner. The back up running back was a man named Jerious Norwood.

Turner was good enough to start above a future school record-breaker, but that didn't matter to Croom.

He never sacrificed character for success. That mindset led to the previous year, in which the Bulldogs went to a bowl game for the first time since 2000.

However, his loyalty to character also led to unrest. He was loyal to his coordinators, even when it was clear that they were not getting their jobs done. The failure to improve was enough to cost him his job.

But what is really interesting is how he went out.

The school was fed up with him. However, Croom was also fed up with the situation, and resigned.

He willingly resigned in the best interest of the school. In the best interest of the school that gave him a chance to be an SEC coach.

He willingly resigned in the best interest of the school that wanted him to fire his coordinators, but in the end were convinced to pay them the rest of their contract too.

He willingly resigned, taking the fall, in the best interest of the school that had turned on him.

He even went out with character.

In this sports world, with all of its Rich Rodriguez's and Nick Saban's, needs more Sylvester Croom's—more men of character.

If only teams put a little emphasis on character instead of simply success, just imagine how different the sports scene would look.

Heck, the Memphis Tigers might actually have beaten the Kansas Jayhawks last year in the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship.

The nation could learn a huge lesson from Sylvester Croom about being devoted to character.

In fact, Mississippi State could learn a thing or two about that.

Wesley Carroll or Tyson Lee as QB?: Mississippi State Looks to Shake up SEC West

Joseph Craven — Mon, 19 May 2008 10:53:57 -0400

The Mississippi State Bulldogs will be looking this fall to finally put an end to the rebuilding.

After finally posting a winning season in 2007—including wins over the University of Mississippi in the Egg Bowl rivalry and UCF in the Liberty Bowl—the Bulldogs finally have reason for high expectations.

With the spring practices over, it's time to look at who will have to step up for the Bulldogs to be SEC contenders this year.

With a team that has always been built around defense, big-time defensive playmakers are needed. The Bulldogs lose some powerful forces in Titus Brown and Gabe O'Neal, but other players have shown that they can step up to lead the Dawgs' stifling D.

Look for safety Derek Pegues to continue his reign of terror in the State secondary. The speedster from Batesville already holds the school record by returning three touchdowns for interceptions, and led the team in INTs last year with five.

Pegues is also the fastest player on the team, which means that as a kick returner he poses another threat. He did, after all, score the dramatic winning punt return touchdown against Ole Miss last season.

Where Pegues really excels, however, is in an area that doesn't get recorded in the stat book. Though only 5'10" and 196 pounds, Pegues is one of the hardest hitters on the team, and has broken up countless passes (many of which can be seen on YouTube). Look for Pegues to help seal many a victory with his ability to destroy receivers. Moving him to safety from corner might have been the best move the coaching staff has done.

Pegues will also be joined in the secondary by Keith Fitzhugh, another senior standout who helped the Bulldogs tremendously in their wins over Ole Miss and UCF. The duo of Fitzhugh and Pegues should give any opposing coach quite a headache this coming season.

Another one of the hard hitters, LB Jamar Chaney, will look to stand out in his senior year. He has been a contributor for a few years, so it is no surprise that he would step up now. Chaney and Pegues have both been named to the preseason watch list for the Nagurski Trophy.

However, the Dogs will also look to Dominic Douglas, a surprising JuCo-transfer LB, to contribute in this area. Douglas, a great combo of speed and strength, seemed to be involved in every tackle made last season.

The offense, however, is still a mystery. After losing some very talented linemen to graduation and off the field problems, it is unclear what the strongest part of the Bulldog offense actually is.

The most solid area of the offense, though, will be the running game. Bruising back Anthony Dixon (6-1 240) will look to have another 1,000 yard season, and this year he will continue to get help from Christian Ducre and from redshirt freshman Robert Elliott, who coach Sylvester Croom has always liked.

The quarterback position is still questionable, though Wesley Carroll is the obvious favorite, as he is the only one with real experience. However, look for short JUCO walk-on Tyson Lee to see plenty of playing time. He's a talented QB who got a lot of time in the spring games.

Without a clear grasp on receivers and after losing a phenomenal group of TEs, Mississippi State looks bound for another season based around defense. This isn't a bad thing, though, as the Bulldog D looks very solid, and the offense seems to be getting its act together.

Look for Mississippi State to pose more of a threat this year than in the past. I'm not claiming that an SEC Championship is coming, but the West might want to look out. This isn't a team the rest if the conference can just overlook, like in years past.

P.S. If you'd like to see an example of what these players can do, you can find some here:

Mississippi State: Second Round Preview

Joseph Craven — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 10:42:48 -0400

Charles Rhodes scored 34 points to lead Mississippi State's dominant post play past Oregon in the first round.

What was noticeable, though, was the lack of offensive production from most other members of the Bulldog team. This will have to change if the Bulldogs hope to beat 1-seed Memphis on Sunday.

The Bulldogs face an opponent who has only lost one game, being to SEC foe Tennessee. However, they also face an opponent whose only real competition in the last three months was that one team that they lost to.

So let's break down the key matchups, shall we?

The Big Men: Memphis boasts some very athletic big men in Robert Dozier and Joey Dorsey. Dorsey also has a large 265 pound frame, but he doesn't exactly do much in terms of offense. Dozier is the third leading scorer on the team, but he only averages 9.4 points a game.

Mississippi State will match that by putting Jarvis Varnado on Dozier. Varnado, of course, is the nation's leading shot blocker, and will most likely cause Dozier fits. Charles Rhodes (who is about 35 pounds heavier than the lanky Varnado) is now the team's leading scorer, and with 17.5 ppg and a great deal of versatility, he will give the larger Dorsey quite a difficult defensive task. Rhodes can, after all, take it from anywhere within the arc, so don't be surprised if you see him bust out a few rare crossovers to blow right past the defender.

Also, don't forget that Rhodes isn't all offense. I wouldn't be alarmed if I see him frustrating Dozier or even covering Chris Douglas-Roberts.

Rose and Gordon: Obviously, this is the premiere match-up. You see the freshman phenom going up against the All-SEC 1st teamer. Rose averages 14 a game, Gordon 17. Neither of them really focus much on the three pointer, either, so that makes them fairly even. However, Gordon does out-weigh Rose by about 20 pounds (of muscle) and he will use that to his advantage. I don't really see these guys doing too much besides canceling each other out, though.

The X-Factor: The obvious key to victory will be whether or not State can stop Chris Douglas-Roberts. Roberts is an interesting person to have the a team like Memphis because he is a very solid basketball player, and not just a great athlete.

The thing is, though, that he will probably be matched up against Ben Hansbrough. Hansbrough has the ability to score 20 points, but doesn't do that often, so Roberts won't have to worry about guarding him too much. However, Ben is the most tenacious defender on the Mississippi State team, even more constantly active than Varnado. He may be shorter than Roberts, but look to him to challenge every shot and come up with several defensive stops and steals.

The Bottom Line: Rhodes will more likely than not continue his beastly scoring streak, and I see him outscoring Dozier and Dorsey if he has the chance. Gordon and Rose will be going at each other and most likely trying too hard all night. Hansbrough will try as hard as he can to stop Roberts, and the Memphis bench will have to really pick up the slack on offense, which they are more than capable of doing.

If Barry Stewart and Ben Hansbrough find their shot, however, I think you'll see Mississippi State shocking the nation. Just watch those two and three guard matchups to be the deciding point.

Memphis hasn't faced but one strong opponent in several months. I think they're just a little too out of practice and a little too overrated to pull one out against a highly motivated Mississippi State ball club.