Sylvester Croom was the head coach at Mississippi State University from 2004 to 2008, and the first African American head football coach in the Southeastern Conference.
19 Facts About Sylvester Croom
2.
Sylvester Croom was named Outstanding Player his senior year.
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Sylvester Croom then played those same positions before settling in at center for Paul "Bear" Bryant at the University of Alabama, where in 1974 he was a senior captain, earned the Jacobs Blocking Trophy, and like his father years earlier earned Kodak All-American honors.
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Sylvester Croom played one season in the NFL for the New Orleans Saints before returning to the University of Alabama to begin his coaching career.
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Sylvester Croom then spent 17 years in the professional ranks as running backs coach at Tampa Bay, Indianapolis, San Diego, and Green Bay.
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Sylvester Croom was a finalist for the head coach position at the University of Alabama in 2003, but the job ultimately went to Mike Shula.
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When Sylvester Croom was hired at Mississippi State, he inherited a program that was riddled with NCAA sanctions and had not won consistently since the 1990s.
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Not just that, but Sylvester Croom became the first African American in Southeastern Conference history to be given a chance to head coach a football team.
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On December 4,2007, Sylvester Croom was named coach of the year by the American Football Coaches Association for region two.
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Sylvester Croom was hired onto Tennessee Titans head coach Mike Munchak's staff as running backs coach in 2013.
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Sylvester Croom was not retained by new Head Coach Mike Vrabel in 2018, and decided to retire after more than 40 years of coaching.
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Sylvester Croom earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in history with a minor in biology from the University of Alabama in 1975 at the age of twenty and while a graduate student and coach there earned a master's degree in educational administration in 1977.
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Sylvester Croom has consistently downplayed the personal significance of his status as the first black head coach of an SEC football team.
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An article published in USA Today on the day that Sylvester Croom was hired listed a few responses from members of the political, cultural, and athletic communities.
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On February 12,2007, in observance of Black History Month President George W Bush, at a gathering of African-American leaders and dignitaries where Croom was present, recognized the efforts and achievements of NFL football coaches Tony Dungy and Lovie Smith, both acquaintances of Croom and a friend in Dungy's case.
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Sylvester Croom was picked because he's a strong leader and a fine man.
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In February 2008 Sylvester Croom was featured in a half-hour segment of "Say it Loud," ESPN's documentary celebration of Black History Month.
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Sylvester Croom is a voice for a great mass, for a lot of people who don't have a voice.
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Elsewhere, Sylvester Croom has treated his status as the first African-American head football coach in the SEC with the complexity he sees befitting the situation of a person so deeply connected to the American South.