Jackson Free Press

Mississippi State has become the first SEC school to hire an African-American head football coach. Sylvester Croom, a former Alabama player and coach who's been an NFL assistant for the last 17 seasons. the last three with the Green Bay Packers, will be officially introduced at a news conference on Tuesday at 1 p.m. in Starkville. Dr. S applauds MSU for being a pioneer, although a black coach isn't a cure-all for what ails the Bulldog program. But after what's gone on at State the last three seasons, particularly this season, it was definitely time for a new man in the top job. Regardless of race, a coach with Croom's qualifications is a good choice and State is lucky to get him.

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Previous Commentsshow

Yep. More Mississippi racism in action.

Greg Griffith

Dec 1 2003

IMO, Croom is the best hire MSU could have made. I don't know why, but Fisher didn't particularly impress me as much as experience goes as does Croom.

Ex

Dec 2 2003

Maybe I do live in the new south after all.

Fry

Dec 2 2003

As someone who doesn't follow sports much, I find it surprising that he's the first african american head coach in the SEC. But, as someone - probably Greg - pointed out on another thread, the timing is about right for more and more african americans to start being hired in 'executive positions'. If you figure it's been 35 years (give or take) since civil rights legislation and attitudes started to kick in, that means there should be a crop of 55 year old athletes ready to take power. Which seems about right, when we're talking head coaches. But still, I find it alarming that in 2003 the headline is that we've hired a black man. Seems like the story should be about the man, not his race. But, again, I don't follow sports, so maybe the vast majority of stories are about him, and not his race.

Kate

Dec 2 2003

I don't follow football closely either, but it seems to me that the fact that his race IS a newsworthy stoary speaks volumes about how far we think we've come versus how far we've actually come.

Nia

Dec 2 2003

Well, Kate, fortunately we won't need that headline again, eh? ;-) I think it gets at least one go-round, and as Greg pointed out in his unique way, it's another positive message we're sending to the world. I don't see any reason to downplay it; God knows we need positive coverage of race issues after all the race-baiting crime coverage that we were discussing under this year's editorial. Otherwise, I suspect Mr. Croom will be a welcome break from the last yo-yo -- and in more ways than one. It always befuddles me when people get cranky about positive race coverage. Obviously, it wouldn't even be noticeable if we truly had moved past race in our society. At the point when it's not unusual (or tradition-busting, or whatever) that an SEC team hired a black coach, then it won't be a news story anymore. That's what we're all (supposedly) working toward.

ladd

Dec 2 2003

Otherwise, you can all see that I'm back, and it's great to see the blogs have been so active. I have a ton of catch-up to do, so I'll read through them gradually, and try not to violate netiquette and swoop in in the middle of a conversation and comment out of context. Meantime, I trust that things have followed our terms of (civil) service we discussed before; if anyone has seen something that you think I need to see right away anywhere on the blogs, you might e-mail me and tell me where so I can go look. I haven't logged on at all since Sunday a.m. until a little bit ago. Meantime, happy chat. And, yes, NYC was lovely, but it's even lovelier to be home. ;-)

ladd

Dec 2 2003