Mal Moore
Mal Mathad Moore was an American football coach and college athletics administrator. He served as the athletic director at the University of Alabama from 1999 to 2013. On November 23, 1999, he was hired as athletic director after spending thirty years in other areas with the university; as a player and director of athletics, Moore was part of ten national championship football teams. In May 2012, he was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame. Moore died March 2013 in Durham, North Carolina. One of seven children, Moore was born December 19, 1939 in Dozier, the son of Dempsey Clark Moore and Fannie Bozeman Moore; as a scholarship player from 1958 o 1962, Moore played as a career backup quarterback for legendary coach Bear Bryant, behind Pat Trammell and subsequently Joe Namath. During his college career at Alabama, Moore earned his bachelor's degree in sociology in 1963 and his master's degree in secondary education in 1964. After he earned his master's degree, at Coach Bryant's suggestion, he joined the Alabama Air National Guard.
During a coaching career that spanned 31 years, Moore spent 22 of those at Alabama with stops at Montana State, Notre Dame and the NFL's St. Louis and Phoenix Cardinals. At Alabama, Moore began as Bryant's graduate assistant in 1964 as defensive backfield coach for six seasons before becoming quarterbacks coach from 1971–82 and serving as the Tide's offensive coordinator starting in 1975. Moore was instrumental in the installation and implementation of the wishbone offense at Alabama prior to the 1971 season; the move to the wishbone led to an unprecedented decade of success for the Crimson Tide. During the wishbone era, Alabama set school records that still stand for yards gained per game, rushing attempts in a season, rushing yards gained in a season, rushing yards per game for a season, yards per rush for a season, rushing touchdowns, passing yards per attempt for a season, fewest punts in a season, rushing first downs in a season, total offense in a game and rushing yards in a game. Moore returned as offensive coordinator under Gene Stallings from 1990-93 before moving into athletic administration.
In 1994, because of his wife's illness, Moore left coaching and moved into the UA Athletic Department as one of the many legacy projects placed in assistant athletic director's positions. An enormously popular figure in the history of University of Alabama athletics, Mal Moore's personal style as Director of Athletics from 1999-2013 generated devotion from the University community at-large, as well as the employees of the department that he oversaw. After building an impeccable reputation as an assistant football coach at Alabama, Notre Dame and in the National Football League, Moore's enormous success as an athletics administrator was personal, as he skillfully and dealt with issues and initiatives that required the cooperation of numerous campus and statewide entities. Moore's superb talent for gaining the respect and affection of those he worked with, as well as those that worked for him, revealed him to be the man suited to guide Alabama Athletics through a turbulent period into an era of success and prosperity.
Moore possessed a gift for inspiring confidence by harmonizing diverse groups and disparate personalities into a smoothly functioning coalition. Moore's term as Director of Athletics was a personal triumph; the good-natured sincerity with which he conducted business created an uncomplicated atmosphere that disarmed potential critics and comforted his underlings. Bestowed with the power to lead, he did so through a spirit of persuasion, he allowed his department to focus on the job at hand. After an exhaustive search by the UA Board of Trustees, Moore took over as Athletic Director in 1999. Moore was instrumental in the hiring of four head football coaches including Dennis Franchione, Mike Price, Mike Shula, Nick Saban, he oversaw various facility improvements: Bryant–Denny Stadium expanded to its current capacity of over 101,000 seats, renovations were made to Coleman Coliseum in 2005, as well as new tennis and softball stadiums. The University of Alabama's Director of Athletics from 1999 to 2013, Moore was a football player under legendary Crimson Tide head coach Paul W. “Bear” Bryant from 1958–62 and went on to serve as an assistant football coach on Bryant's staff.
Moore held the distinction of being a part of ten national championship teams as a player and athletics director, 16 SEC championships, 39 bowl trips. He is the only individual connected with the Tide program – and the only person in collegiate athletics – to be a part of ten national football championships; as Director of Athletics, Moore made an indelible mark on one of the nation's most storied athletic programs, leading a department through a period of growth and success both athletically and academically. Moore's vision was to make all Crimson Tide athletic teams and student-athletes nationally competitive at the highest level, his leadership elevated Alabama's athletic facilities to premier status nationally for all sports. During Moore's tenure as Director of Athletics, Alabama produced national championship teams in football, softball, men's golf and women's golf as well as Southeastern Conference championships in football, baseball, men's and women's golf, men's cross country and softball.
Alabama athletes earned some of the highest honors the SEC and
Bear Bryant
Paul William "Bear" Bryant was an American college football player and coach. He was best known as the head coach of the University of Alabama football team. During his 25-year tenure as Alabama's head coach, he amassed six national championships and thirteen conference championships. Upon his retirement in 1982, he held the record for most wins as head coach in collegiate football history with 323 wins; the Paul W. Bryant Museum, Paul W. Bryant Hall, Paul W. Bryant Drive, Bryant–Denny Stadium are all named in his honor at the University of Alabama, he was known for his trademark black and white houndstooth fedora, deep voice, casually leaning up against the goal post during pre-game warmups, holding his rolled-up game plan while on the sidelines. Before arriving at Alabama, Bryant was head football coach at the University of Maryland, the University of Kentucky, Texas A&M University. Paul Bryant was the 11th of 12 children who were born to Wilson Monroe and Ida Kilgore Bryant in Moro Bottom, Cleveland County, Arkansas.
His nickname stemmed from his having agreed to wrestle a captive bear during a carnival promotion when he was 13 years old. His mother wanted him to be a minister, but Bryant told her "Coaching is a lot like preaching", he attended Fordyce High School, where 6 ft 1 in tall Bryant, who as an adult would stand 6 ft 4 in, began playing on the school's football team as an eighth grader. During his senior season, the team, with Bryant playing offensive line and defensive end, won the 1930 Arkansas state football championship. Bryant accepted a scholarship to play for the University of Alabama in 1931. Since he elected to leave high school before completing his diploma, Bryant had to enroll in a Tuscaloosa high school to finish his education during the fall semester while he practiced with the college team. Bryant played end for the Crimson Tide and was a participant on the school's 1934 national championship team. Bryant was the self-described "other end" during his playing years with the team, playing opposite the big star, Don Hutson, who became a star in the National Football League and a Pro Football Hall of Famer.
Bryant himself was second team All-Southeastern Conference in 1934, was third team all conference in both 1933 and 1935. Bryant played with a broken leg in a 1935 game against Tennessee. Bryant pledged the Sigma Nu social fraternity, as a senior, he married Mary Harmon, which he kept a secret since Alabama did not allow active players to be married. Bryant was selected in the fourth round by the Brooklyn Dodgers in the 1936 NFL Draft, but never played professional football. After graduating from the University of Alabama in 1936, Bryant took a coaching job under A. B. Hollingsworth at Union University in Jackson, but he left that position when offered an assistant coaching position under Frank Thomas at the University of Alabama. Over the next four years, the team compiled a 29–5–3 record. In 1940, he left Alabama to become an assistant at Vanderbilt University under Henry Russell Sanders. During their 1940 season, Bryant served as head coach of the Commodores for their 7–7 tie against Kentucky as Sanders was recovering from an appendectomy.
After the 1941 season, Bryant was offered the head coaching job at the University of Arkansas. However, Pearl Harbor was bombed soon thereafter, Bryant declined the position to join the United States Navy. In 1942 he served as an assistant coach with the Georgia Pre-Flight Skycrackers. Bryant served off North Africa, seeing no combat action. However, his ship, the converted liner USAT Uruguay, was rammed by an oil tanker near Bermuda and ordered to be abandoned. Bryant disobeyed the order. Allen Barra claims, he was granted an honorable discharge to train recruits and coach the North Carolina Navy Pre-Flight football team. One of the players he coached for the Navy was the future Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Otto Graham. While in the navy, Bryant attained the rank of lieutenant commander. In 1945, 32-year-old Bryant met Washington Redskins owner George Marshall at a cocktail party hosted by the Chicago Tribune, mentioned that he had turned down offers to be an assistant coach at Alabama and Georgia Tech because he was intent on becoming a head coach.
Marshall put him in contact with Harry Clifton "Curley" Byrd, the president and former football coach of the University of Maryland. After meeting with Byrd the next day, Bryant received the job as head coach of the Maryland Terrapins. In his only season at Maryland, Bryant led the team to a 6–2–1 record; however and Byrd came into conflict. In the most prominent incident, while Bryant was on vacation, Byrd reinstated a player, suspended by Bryant for a violation of team rules. After the 1945 season, Bryant left Maryland to take over as head coach at the University of Kentucky. Bryant coached at Kentucky for eight seasons. Under Bryant, Kentucky made its first bowl appearance in 1947 and won its first Southeastern Conference title in 1950; the 1950 Kentucky Wildcats football team finished with a school best 11–1 record and concluded the season with a victory over Bud Wilkinson's top-ranked Oklahoma Sooners in the Sugar Bowl. The final AP poll was released before bowl games in that era, so Kentucky ended the regular season ranked #7.
But several other contemporaneous polls, as well as the Sagarin Ratings System applied retrospectively, declared Bryant's 1950 Wildcats to be the national champions, but neither the NCAA nor College Football Data Warehouse recognizes this claim. Bryant led Kentucky to appearances in the Great Lakes Bowl, Orange Bowl, Cotton Bowl Classic. Kentucky'
Alabama Crimson Tide football
The Alabama Crimson Tide football program represents the University of Alabama in the sport of American football. The team competes in the Football Bowl Subdivision of the National Collegiate Athletic Association and the Western Division of the Southeastern Conference; the team is coached by Nick Saban. The Crimson Tide is among the decorated football programs in NCAA history. Since beginning play in 1892, the program claims 17 national championships, including 12 wire-service national titles in the poll-era, five other titles before the poll-era. From 1958 to 1982, the team was led by Hall of Fame coach Paul "Bear" Bryant, who won six national championships with the program. Despite numerous national and conference championships, it was not until 2009 that an Alabama player received a Heisman Trophy, when running back Mark Ingram became the university's first winner. In 2015, Derrick Henry became the university's second Heisman winner. Alabama has 905 official victories in NCAA Division I, has won 31 conference championships and has made an NCAA-record 69 postseason bowl appearances.
Other NCAA records include 19 seasons with a 10 -- 0 start. The program has 34 seasons with 10 wins or more, has 41 bowl victories, both NCAA records. Alabama has completed 10 undefeated seasons; the Crimson Tide leads the SEC West Division with 14 division titles and 12 appearances in the SEC Championship Game. Alabama holds a winning record against former SEC school; the Associated Press ranks Alabama 4th in all-time final AP Poll appearances, with 53 through the 2015 season. Alabama plays its home games at Bryant -- Denny Stadium, located on the campus in Alabama. With a capacity of 101,821, Bryant-Denny is the 8th largest non-racing stadium in the world and the seventh largest stadium in the United States. Alabama has had 28 head coaches since organized football began in 1892. Adopting the nickname "Crimson Tide" after the 1907 season, the team has played more than 1,100 games in their 114 seasons. In that time, 12 coaches have led the Crimson Tide in postseason bowl games: Wallace Wade, Frank Thomas, Harold D.
"Red" Drew, Bear Bryant, Ray Perkins, Bill Curry, Gene Stallings, Mike DuBose, Dennis Franchione, Mike Shula, Joe Kines, Nick Saban. Eight of those coaches won conference championships: Wade, Drew, Curry, Stallings, DuBose, Saban. During their tenures, Thomas, Bryant and Saban all won national championships with the Crimson Tide. Of the 27 different head coaches who have led the Crimson Tide, Thomas and Stallings have been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame; the current head coach is Nick Saban, hired in January 2007. National championships in NCAA FBS college football are debated as the NCAA does not award the championship. Despite not naming an official National Champion, the NCAA provides lists of championships awarded by organizations it recognizes. According to the official NCAA 2009 Division I Football Records Book, "During the last 138 years, there have been more than 30 selectors of national champions using polls, historical research and mathematical rating systems. Beginning in 1936, the Associated Press began the best-known and most circulated poll of sportswriters and broadcasters.
Before 1936, national champions were determined by historical research and retroactive ratings and polls. The criteria for being included in this historical list of poll selectors is that the poll be national in scope, either through distribution in newspaper, radio and/or computer online."Since World War II, Alabama only claims national championships awarded by the final AP Poll or the final Coaches' Poll. This policy is consistent with other FBS football programs with numerous national title claims, including Notre Dame, USC, Oklahoma. All national championships claimed by the University of Alabama were published in nationally syndicated newspapers and magazines, each of the national championship selectors, are cited in the Official 2010 NCAA FBS Record Book. In addition to the championships claimed by the university, the NCAA has listed Alabama as receiving a championship for the 1945, 1966, 1975, 1977 college football seasons. In Alabama's 1982 media guide, the last for Coach Bryant, 1934 is listed as the only national championship before Coach Bryant in a footnote about the school's SEC history.
In the 1980s, Alabama's Sports Information Director Wayne Atcheson started recognizing five pre-Bryant national championship teams by adding them to the University's Football Media Guide. According to Atcheson, he made the effort in the context of disputed titles being claimed by other schools, "to make Alabama football look the best it could look" to compete with the other claimants. Atcheson maintains; the University of Alabama 2009 Official Football Media Guide states that Alabama had 12 national championships prior to winning the 2010 BCS National Championship Game. The 2009, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2017 titles bring the total number of national championships claimed by Alabama to 17. Twelve of Alabama's national championships were awarded by the wire-services or by winning the BCS National Championship Game. In January 2013, CNN suggested that Alabama might be college football's new dynasty, in May 2013, Athlon Sports ranked Alabama's ongoing dynasty as the fourth-best since 1934, behind Oklahoma, Miami
Touchdown
A touchdown is a scoring play in both American and Canadian football. Whether running, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. To score a touchdown, one team must take the football into the opposite end zone. In all gridiron codes, the touchdown is scored the instant the ball touches or "breaks" the plane of the goal line while in possession of a player whose team is trying to score in that end zone; this particular requirement of the touchdown is the exact opposite of the prerequisite to score most sports in which points are scored by moving a ball or equivalent object into a goal where the whole of the relevant object must cross the whole of the goal line for a score to be awarded. The play is dead and the touchdown scores the moment the ball touches plane in possession of a player, or the moment the ball comes into possession of an offensive player in the end zone; the slightest part of the ball touching or being directly over the goal line is sufficient for a touchdown to score.
However, only the ball counts, not a player's foot, or any other part of the body. Touching one of the pylons at either end of the goal line with the ball constitutes "breaking the plane" as well. Touchdowns are scored by the offense by running or passing the ball; the former is called a rushing touchdown, in the latter, the quarterback throws a touchdown pass or passing touchdown to the receiver, who makes a touchdown reception. However, the defense can score a touchdown if they have recovered a fumble or made an interception and return it to the opposing end zone. Special teams can score a touchdown on a kickoff or punt return, or on a return after a missed or blocked field goal attempt or blocked punt. In short, any play in which a player carries the ball across the goal line scores a touchdown, the manner in which he gained possession is inconsequential. In the NFL, a touchdown may be awarded by the referee as a penalty for a "palpably unfair act," such as a player coming off the bench during a play and tackling the runner, who would otherwise have scored.
A touchdown is worth six points. The scoring team is awarded the opportunity for an extra point or a two-point conversion. Afterwards, the team that scored the touchdown kicks off to the opposing team, if there is any time left. Unlike a try scored in rugby, contrary to the event's name, the ball does not need to touch the ground when the player and the ball are inside the end zone; the term touchdown is a holdover from gridiron's early days when the ball was required to be touched to the ground as in rugby, as rugby and gridiron were still similar sports at this point. This rule was changed to the modern-day iteration in 1889; when the first uniform rules for American football were enacted by the newly formed Intercollegiate Football Association following the 1876 Rugby season, a touchdown counted for 1⁄4 of a kicked goal and allowed the offense the chance to kick for goal by placekick or dropkick from a spot along a line perpendicular to the goal line and passing through the point where the ball was touched down, or through a process known as a "punt-out", where the attacking team would kick the ball from the point where it was touched down to a teammate.
If the teammate could fair catch the ball, he could follow with a try for goal from the spot of the catch, or resume play as normal. The governing rule at the time read: "A match shall be decided by a majority of touchdowns. A goal shall be equal to four touchdowns. In 1881, the rules were modified so that a goal kicked from a touchdown took precedence over a goal kicked from the field in breaking ties. In 1882, four touchdowns were determined to take precedence over a goal kicked from the field. Two safeties were equivalent to a touchdown. In 1883, points were introduced to football, a touchdown counted as four points. A goal after a touchdown counted as four points. In 1889, the provision requiring the ball to be touched to the ground was removed. A touchdown was now scored by possessing the ball beyond the goal line. In 1897, the touchdown scored five points, the goal after touchdown added another point. In 1900, the definition of touchdown was changed to include situations where the ball becomes dead on or above the goal line.
In 1912, the value of a touchdown was increased to six points. The end zone was added. Before the addition of the end zone, forward passes caught beyond the goal line resulted in a loss of possession and a touchback; the increase from five points to six did not come until much in Canada, the touchdown remained only five points there until 1956. In addition, the score continued to be called a try in Canada until the second half of the twentieth century; the ability to score a touchdown on the point-after attempt was added to NCAA football in 1958, high school football in 1969, the CFL in 1975 and the NFL in 1994. The short-lived World Football League, a professional American football league that operated in 1974 and 1975, gave touchdowns a 7-point value. American football scoring Conversion Touchdown celebration Touchdown Jesus Touchdown pass Conversion
American football
American football, referred to as football in the United States and Canada and known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team controlling the oval-shaped football, attempts to advance down the field by running with or passing the ball, while the defense, the team without control of the ball, aims to stop the offense's advance and aims to take control of the ball for themselves; the offense must advance at least ten yards in four downs, or plays, otherwise they turn over the football to the defense. Points are scored by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone for a touchdown or kicking the ball through the opponent's goalposts for a field goal; the team with the most points at the end of a game wins. American football evolved in the United States, originating from the sports of association football and rugby football; the first match of American football was played on November 6, 1869, between two college teams and Princeton, under rules based on the association football rules of the time.
During the latter half of the 1870s, colleges playing association football switched to the Rugby Union code, which allowed carrying the ball. A set of rule changes drawn up from 1880 onward by Walter Camp, the "Father of American Football", established the snap, the line of scrimmage, eleven-player teams, the concept of downs; the sport is related to Canadian football, which evolved parallel and contemporary to the American game, most of the features that distinguish American football from rugby and soccer are present in Canadian football. American football as a whole is the most popular sport in the United States; the most popular forms of the game are professional and college football, with the other major levels being high school and youth football. As of 2012, nearly 1.1 million high school athletes and 70,000 college athletes play the sport in the United States annually all of them men, with a few exceptions. The National Football League, the most popular American football league, has the highest average attendance of any professional sports league in the world.
In the United States, American Football is called "football". The terms "gridiron" or "American football" are favored in English-speaking countries where other codes of football are popular, such as the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia. American football evolved from the sports of rugby football. Rugby football, like American football, is a sport where two competing teams vie for control of a ball, which can be kicked through a set of goalposts or run into the opponent's goal area to score points. What is considered to be the first American football game was played on November 6, 1869, between Rutgers and Princeton, two college teams; the game was played between two teams of 25 players each and used a round ball that could not be picked up or carried. It could, however, be kicked or batted with the feet, head or sides, with the ultimate goal being to advance it into the opponent's goal. Rutgers won the game 6 goals to 4. Collegiate play continued for several years in which matches were played using the rules of the host school.
Representatives of Yale, Columbia and Rutgers met on October 19, 1873 to create a standard set of rules for all schools to adhere to. Teams were set at 20 players each, fields of 400 by 250 feet were specified. Harvard abstained from the conference, as they favored a rugby-style game that allowed running with the ball. After playing McGill University using both Canadian and American rules, the Harvard players preferred the Canadian style having only 11 men on the field, running the ball without having to be chased by an opponent, the forward pass and using an oblong instead of a round ball. An 1875 Harvard–Yale game played under rugby-style rules was observed by two impressed Princeton athletes; these players introduced the sport to Princeton, a feat the Professional Football Researchers Association compared to "selling refrigerators to Eskimos." Princeton, Harvard and Columbia agreed to intercollegiate play using a form of rugby union rules with a modified scoring system. These schools formed the Intercollegiate Football Association, although Yale did not join until 1879.
Yale player Walter Camp, now regarded as the "Father of American Football", secured rule changes in 1880 that reduced the size of each team from 15 to 11 players and instituted the snap to replace the chaotic and inconsistent scrum. The introduction of the snap resulted in unexpected consequences. Prior to the snap, the strategy had been to punt. However, a group of Princeton players realized that, as the snap was uncontested, they now could hold the ball indefinitely to prevent their opponent from scoring. In 1881, both teams in a game between Yale-Princeton used this strategy to maintain their undefeated records; each team held the ball. This "block game" proved unpopular with the spectators and fans of both teams. A rule change was necessary to prevent this strategy from taking hold, a reversion to the scrum was considered. However, Camp proposed a rule in 1882 that limited each team to three downs, or tackles, to adva
Sylvester Croom
Sylvester Croom Jr. is a retired American football coach. He was the running backs coach for the NFL's Tennessee Titans, he was the head coach at Mississippi State University from 2004 to 2008, the first African American head football coach in the Southeastern Conference. His father, Sylvester Croom, Sr. was himself an All-American football player at Alabama A&M the team chaplain at the University of Alabama, has been recognized by that school as one of the state's 40 pioneers of civil rights. After his time at Mississippi State, Croom, Jr. served as running backs coach for three teams in the National Football League. Croom, a native of Tuscaloosa, starred at Tuscaloosa High School as a linebacker and tight end, he was named Outstanding Player his senior year. He 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, like his father years earlier earned Kodak All-American honors.
During his playing career there, Alabama garnered three SEC championships from 1972 to 1974 and a national title in 1973. He played one season in the National Football League for the New Orleans Saints before returning to the University of Alabama to begin his coaching career. Before coaching at Mississippi State, Croom was an assistant at Alabama for 11 seasons under Bryant and Ray Perkins, one as a graduate assistant coach and ten more variably as inside and outside linebackers coach. During this eleven-year period on the Alabama staff Croom participated in ten bowl games, two national championships in 1978 and 1979, he coached four eventual NFL first-round draft picks, including Cornelius Bennett and Derrick Thomas, he spent 17 years in the professional ranks as running backs coach at Tampa Bay, San Diego, Green Bay. Before going to Green Bay, he served as offensive coordinator for Detroit from 1997 to 2000, during his tenure in San Diego was on the Chargers' staff for Super Bowl XXIX, he was a finalist for the head coach position at the University of Alabama in 2003, but the job went to Mike Shula.
In March 2004, Alabama's Sylvester Croom Commitment to Excellence Award, given annually for 16 years to outstanding players, was changed to the Bart Starr because Shula did not want an award named for a rival coach. After complaints by alumni and fans, the award was changed back to its original name; when Croom was hired at Mississippi State, he inherited a program, riddled with NCAA sanctions and had not won since the 1990s. Not just that, but Croom became the first African American in Southeastern Conference history to be given a chance to head coach a football team. After the 2007 season, during which his team won eight games, including the Liberty Bowl, Croom garnered Coach of the Year awards from three organizations. On December 4, 2007, Croom was named coach of the year by the American Football Coaches Association for region two; the AFCA has five regional coaches of the year and announces a national coach of the year each January. That same year, on December 5, Croom was named SEC Coach of the Year twice, once as voted by the other SEC coaches and once as voted by The Associated Press.
It was the first time a Mississippi State coach received the AP honor since Charley Shira in 1970 and the first time a Mississippi State coach received the coaches award since Wade Walker in 1957. After a 4–8 record in 2008, culminating with a 45–0 loss to rival Mississippi, Croom was asked by school officials to resign as the coach of the Bulldogs. On February 2, 2009, St. Louis Rams head coach Steve Spagnuolo announced that he hired Croom to his coaching staff to be the team's running backs coach. Croom and the entire coaching staff were fired following the 2011 season in which the team posted a 2–14 record. Croom was hired onto Tennessee Titans head coach Mike Munchak's staff as running backs coach in 2013. Croom was not retained by new Head Coach Mike Vrabel in 2018, decided to retire after more than 40 years of coaching. 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.
Croom has downplayed the personal significance of his status as the first black head coach of an SEC football team. A characteristic response has been that while he is proud of his African-American heritage, the most important part for him is "the head coach part" and the ability to pursue a dream he has held for all of his adult life, stating notably at a press conference upon his acceptance of the position "I am the first African-American coach in the SEC, but there ain't but one color that matters here, that color is maroon." Elsewhere, in an interview shortly before his first season as a head coach, when asked if as the first African-American coach in the SEC he considered himself "a trailblazer," Croom responded "I'm just a guy trying to do the best job he can. It just happens. I don't see myself that way. If other people perceive that, so be it. I'm just trying to do the best I can here."However, the initial response to his hiring was lauded by many as a moment of relative cultural significance.
An article published in USA Today on the day that Croom was hired listed a few responses from members of the political and athletic communities. In it Julian Bond, chairman of the NAACP, noting that the hire was in Mississippi, a state regarded as having the poorest civil rights record, said that "For Mississippi State to place the fortunes of its team in black hands is more than welcome, however long it h
Randy Scott (American football)
Randolph Charles Scott is a former American football linebacker in the National Football League. He played 7 seasons in the NFL for the Green Bay Packers and he played for Bear Bryant at Alabama. NFL.com player page
