Sylvester Croom
Sylvester Croom went 21–38 as a head coach, 2004–2008, at Mississippi State. Share
- Record
- 21–38 career
- Seasons
- 5
- Schools
- 1
- Final AP top 10
- 0 seasons
- Best season
- 2007 8–5
Season by season
| Season | School | Record | Conference finish | Bowl | AP final | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Mississippi State | 3–8 | 6th (Western) | |||
| 2005 | Mississippi State | 3–8 | T–5th (Western) | |||
| 2006 | Mississippi State | 3–9 | 6th (Western) | |||
| 2007 | Mississippi State | 8–5 | T–3rd (Western) | Liberty Bowl W | ||
| 2008 | Mississippi State | 4–8 | T–4th (Western) |
Each season links to the team’s season page; bowls and playoff games link to the game. Conference finishes from the Wikipedia article’s record table.
How his teams did
| Kind of game | Games | Record | Won |
|---|---|---|---|
| Against ranked teams | 22 | 4–18 | 18% |
| Against top-10 teams | 12 | 0–12 | 0% |
| Against rivals | 15 | 4–11 | 27% |
| Conference games | 40 | 10–30 | 25% |
| Bowls and playoffs | 1 | 1–0 | 100% |
| Decided by 8 points or fewer | 20 | 10–10 | 50% |
| At home | 32 | 14–18 | 44% |
| On the road | 25 | 5–20 | 20% |
| At neutral sites | 2 | 2–0 | 100% |
| As our Elo’s favorite | 13 | 9–4 | 69% |
| As our Elo’s underdog | 46 | 12–34 | 26% |
His own 59 games on file, 2004–2008, as played (vacated wins counted, ties as half a win). Ranks are the AP poll going into the game; rivals are the ones either program’s Wikipedia article names; favorite and underdog by our own Elo rating, which reads only scores.
Against other head coaches
| Coach | Record | Their schools | Games | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rich Brooks 2004–2008 | 2–3 | Kentucky | 5 | |
| Tommy Tuberville 2004–2008 | 1–4 | Auburn | 5 | |
| Houston Nutt 2004–2008 | 0–5 | Arkansas, Ole Miss | 5 | |
| Les Miles 2005–2008 | 0–4 | LSU | 4 | |
| Chris Scelfo 2004–2006 | 2–1 | Tulane | 3 | |
| Ed Orgeron 2005–2007 | 2–1 | Ole Miss | 3 | |
| Mike Shula 2004–2006 | 1–2 | Alabama | 3 | |
| Nick Saban 2004–2008 | 1–2 | LSU, Alabama | 3 |
Sylvester Croom’s record against the head coaches he met three or more times, from the games on file, as played.
Most-faced opponents
| Opponent | Games | Record |
|---|---|---|
| Kentuckyseries | 5 | 2–3 |
| Ole Missseries | 5 | 2–3 |
| Alabamaseries | 5 | 2–3 |
| Auburnseries | 5 | 1–4 |
| Arkansasseries | 5 | 1–4 |
| LSUseries | 5 | 0–5 |
| Tulaneseries | 4 | 3–1 |
| UABseries | 3 | 2–1 |
Other roles
- Team captain, Alabama 1974 (his playing career)
From each season’s Wikipedia article.
Career
| Years | Team | Job | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1976 | Alabama | Graduate assistant | |
| 1977–81 | Alabama | Inside linebackers coach | |
| 1982–83 | Alabama | Outside linebackers coach | |
| 1984–86 | Alabama | Inside linebackers coach | |
| 1987–90 | Tampa Bay Buccaneers NFL | Running backs coach | |
| 1991 | Indianapolis Colts NFL | Running backs coach | |
| 1992–96 | San Diego Chargers NFL | Running backs coach | |
| 1997–2000 | Detroit Lions NFL | Offensive coordinator | |
| 2001–03 | Green Bay Packers NFL | Running backs coach | |
| 2004–08 | Mississippi State | Head coach | |
| 2009–11 | St. Louis Rams NFL | Running backs coach | |
| 2012 | Jacksonville Jaguars NFL | Running backs coach | |
| 2013–16 | Tennessee Titans NFL | Running backs coach |
Every job as the infobox of his Wikipedia article lists it (CC BY-SA), assistant jobs included.
Coaching tree
Worked under
- Bear BryantAlabama
- Ray PerkinsAlabama, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Richard WilliamsonTampa Bay Buccaneers
- Rick VenturiIndianapolis Colts
- Ron MeyerIndianapolis Colts
- Bobby RossSan Diego Chargers, Detroit Lions
- Gary MoellerDetroit Lions
- Mike ShermanGreen Bay Packers
Assistants who became head coaches
- Ellis JohnsonSouthern Miss, Gardner-Webb, The Citadel
- Freddie KitchensNorth Carolina, Cleveland Browns
- Reed StringerSouthern Miss
- Rockey FelkerMississippi State
- Shane BeamerSouth Carolina
- Stan DraytonTemple
Worked under (8)
| Head coach | Team | Years | His job | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bear Bryant | Alabama | 1976–82 | 1976: graduate assistant; 1977–81: inside linebackers coach; 1982: outside linebackers coach | |
| Ray Perkins | Alabama | 1983–86 | 1983: outside linebackers coach; 1984–86: inside linebackers coach | |
| Ray Perkins | Tampa Bay Buccaneers NFL | 1987–90 | Running backs coach | |
| Richard Williamson | Tampa Bay Buccaneers NFL | 1990 | Running backs coach | |
| Rick Venturi | Indianapolis Colts NFL | 1991 | Running backs coach | |
| Ron Meyer | Indianapolis Colts NFL | 1991 | Running backs coach | |
| Bobby Ross | San Diego Chargers NFL | 1992–96 | Running backs coach | |
| Bobby Ross | Detroit Lions NFL | 1997–2000 | Offensive coordinator | |
| Gary Moeller | Detroit Lions NFL | 2000 | Offensive coordinator | |
| Mike Sherman | Green Bay Packers NFL | 2001–03 | Running backs coach |
Coached under him, later head coaches (6)
| Coach | With him | Head coach at | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ellis Johnson | Mississippi State, 2004–05: defensive coordinator and safeties coach; 2006–07: defensive coordinator and inside linebackers coach | Southern Miss, Gardner-Webb, The Citadel | |
| Freddie Kitchens | Mississippi State, 2004: tight ends coach; 2005: running backs coach | North Carolina, Cleveland Browns | |
| Reed Stringer | Mississippi State, 2004: graduate assistant; 2005–06: tight ends coach; 2007–08: tight ends and special teams coach | Southern Miss | |
| Rockey Felker | Mississippi State, 2004–06: football operations; 2007–08: running backs coach | Mississippi State | |
| Shane Beamer | Mississippi State, 2004–05: cornerbacks coach and recruiting coordinator; 2006: running backs coach and recruiting coordinator | South Carolina | |
| Stan Drayton | Mississippi State, 2004: running backs coach | Temple |
Other assistants under him (4)
| Coach | With him | |
|---|---|---|
| Brick Haley | Mississippi State, 2004–06: defensive line coach | |
| Woody McCorvey | Mississippi State, 2004–08: offensive coordinator | |
| Wes Goodwin | Mississippi State, 2005–08: student assistant | |
| Charlie Harbison | Mississippi State, 2007–08: defensive coordinator |
From coaches’ Wikipedia infoboxes (CC BY-SA) and each season’s article for its coordinators: an assistant’s seasons at a school count under its head coach in our records; jobs in the NFL and elsewhere, under the head coach whose own article lists the job that year. Names without a page here link to their Wikipedia articles.
Pay
| Year | School | Job | Contract pay | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Mississippi State | head coach | $1,700,000 USA Today via Leeds | |
| 2007 | Mississippi State | head coach | $975,000 USA Today via Leeds | |
| 2006 | Mississippi State | head coachbonuses up to $15,833 | $940,000 USA Today via Leeds |
The same USA Today database for 2006–16, from Michael Leeds’ replication data on Harvard Dataverse (CC0): the season’s contract pay.
Pay of public employees in their public job only: head coaches, and assistants in the seasons our records name them a coordinator, at public universities.
How he coached
Croom’s teams went for it on 15% of fourth downs and on 27% of those where the model said go for it, passed on 48% of plays and took 25.6 seconds a play, 2004–2008.
| Season | Went for it on fourth | When the model said go | Pass rate | Seconds a play | EPA a play | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 11 g | 12 of 87 14% | 22% | 43% | 24.4 | −0.14 | |
| 2005 9 g | 10 of 75 13% | 21% | 48% | 26.9 | −0.15 | |
| 2006 11 g | 15 of 87 17% | 39% | 51% | 26.8 | −0.21 | |
| 2007 13 g | 15 of 105 14% | 26% | 44% | 24.6 | −0.18 | |
| 2008 12 g | 18 of 109 17% | 27% | 54% | 25.4 | −0.16 | |
| All 56 g | 70 of 463 15% | 27% | 48% | 25.6 | −0.17 |
His seasons as a head coach from 2004 on, from ESPN’s play by play: fourth downs where he went for it out of every fourth-down decision; how often he went when SportsDataverse’s fourth-down model said going for it was the better call; the share of his offense’s plays that were passes; seconds of game clock per offensive play (lower is faster); and expected points added per offensive play (EPA, a measure of how much each play moved the offense toward points). The season in progress counts its games so far. SportsDataverse’s coach tendencies, from ESPN’s play by play; the EPA and the fourth-down model are SportsDataverse’s.