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ESPN is saying Sylvester Croom will be stepping down as coach @ Mississippi State.

I'm sorry to hear that for him, as I thought he was doing alright over there. More to the point, the question now becomes where will MSU look to find a replacement?

And the second question is, is there a possibility they might look to Central Arkansas?

After all, if I remember correctly, the did interview our AD once, right?

when is the last time an SEC school hired a lower-division coach as its head football coach?

I guess if there's any school in the SEC that would/could/should do it it'd be MSU, but I just can't see it happening unless it's a guy like Jim Tressel at Ohio State who won multiple national titles at the I-AA level. You'd just get absolutely roasted at a place like that if you "dipped down" to hire a head football coach.

I would imagine they will stick with the tried-and-true formula of hiring a 30something up-and-comer, a retread or a black guy (who could also fit one of the first two criteria). Charlie Strong, anybody?

That was sort of my point; normally an SEC school might not hire a lower-division coach, but this is MSU we're talking about -- they're not necessarily in a position to have high expectations in who they choose from.

So, that being the case, I don't think its out of the question for them to look down the ranks a bit. What top-tier FCS coach is going to want to leave a program to coach an FBS team they could probably already beat? In some ways it might be a step backwards.

In Band terms (cause that's what I know), we have a bit of advice: "Sometimes it's better to make 1st chair in the 2nd band than make last chair in the first band." This is why I would rule out some top FCS coaches.

How about non-BCS conference FBS coaches? I think that's the most likely place the candidate for MSU will come from. Even by going to MSU, you're getting inside the SEC so you get access to the recruiting, the conference payouts & the national media exposure (although MSU may have considerably less right now that other SEC schools, but that can change).

I won't name any names because I'm not good at speculation. The only reasons I threw out CC are because 1.) They did look at our AD once I believe, so UCA has been on the radar before; 2.) It's a successful program that's in the region, so no doubt they've heard of that success; 3.) It wouldn't be far removed from CC's existing recruiting bed.

Maybe these aren't good reasons; I don't know. I'm just thinking out loud here.

Kentucky - Hal Mumme/Valdosta State

So it's been 11 years, and that one didn't turn out real great – even with Tim Couch. I almost thought it was Nutt at Arkansas from Murray State, but then I remembered he had the brief stint at Boise.



One who wanted to at least quintuple his income. Or one who wants to compete at the highest level in arguably the best conference in the country. Or one who wants to see what he can do with more resources at his disposal. Not necessarily more than his rivals, but just more than he has now.



AD and football coach are entirely different beasts. ADs don't need to be "sexy" hires, they just need to be good. The hiring of an AD doesn't happen in a pressure cooker like a football coaching search.

Think about it – how many Division I head coaches can you name? Even if it's not many, I would guarantee it's more than the amount of ADs you can name. By a lot.

With an AD, for the most part, the general public isn't going to have a strong emotional reaction one way or the other right away. That guy actually gets a chance to prove himself. A football coach has people tracking flights on the Internet if his name gets mentioned on a blog.

So comparing ADs to football coaches is apples to oranges. If oranges answered to apples.

Anyhow I'm in no way saying that Conque shouldn't be considered for that job or a similar one, I just think given the way the system is set up these days, that he won't be. I could always be proven wrong, though.

Hal Mumme inherited a turd and did succeed in putting a much more competitive team on the field before he left. Coaching is coaching. There are several good coaches that have managed to make the leap up divisions. The biggest mistake most of these good coaches make is not picking the right fit. Tressel, Mangino, Harbaugh etc.....

All of this, of course, hinges on the fact that the position is available in the SEC. Taking my statement more generally (if this an opening in the WAC or Mountain West, Big East or even ACC for instance ), I think it would be more accurate.

But you're right, this is the SEC we're talking about and that certainly presents a very attractive opportunity for any coach, even if the program making the offer currently and historically is at the lower end of the conference.

I'm also not advocating CC go off and take the job if it were offered to him, but it would be an incredible tribute to his coaching skills if he did get a look from MSU.

No offense to MSU but the Bulldogs have always been in the bottom tier of the SEC and I've been following the SEC since I was probably about 8 years old. They have and never will be able to recruit consistantly as long as they have to compete with Tenn., Ole Miss, Ala., and even LSU, just to name a few, in the recruitment wars.

If someone's coaching stock is now at a high level MSU would only serve to diminish that stock in about 3-4 years. Always has, always will. I think most coaches want to accept a position where there is a potential for a winning program. MSU ain't it guys.

You can win at MSU ... if you don't care for rules.

Now why bad mouth a team that played Jerry Clower as a lineman? He should be evidence enough they can recruit. Not sure whether Marcel played for the Dogs.

To paraphrase - even a nut is found by a Dog occasionally. Marcel did not play for the Dogs. However, he and Uncle Vercy did do a lot of running - in the moonshine business.

Pat Forde reported on Gameday this morning that no names had yet surfaced in the Mississippi State hiring search, but said MSU was willing to "think outside of the box" in the sense that the Bulldogs weren't necessarily looking for a big name. He went on to say MSU is looking for an offensive mind with lots of passion and the ability to recruit against Houston Nutt at Ole Miss. Hmmm...

I'm thinking more Malzahn that what you're thinking.

Malzahn's offense looked bad today.
Of course, that's going to happen when your QB throws six picks and fumbles once...

The final INT was a freak thing where the receiver just collapsed and grabbed his knee after the ball was in the air. It didn't look good.

Tulsa wasted two timeouts early in the fourth too. The second resulted in Michael getting yelled at a bit...

Gus is WAY too sophisticated for Starkville but their money spends fine....