So how does everybody feel about the four stated goals?

[DowntownDawg]

<span class="storybody">1) Win the conference championship
2) Go to a B.C.S. bowl game
3) Beat Ole Miss
4) Beat Alabama

I'm not sure what I think about this. At least half are unattainable, and the other half could very easily not happen. In fact, there is a much, much greater chance that none of goals are achieved than there is that even three are achieved. I understand that setting goals like winning the conference championship is good on some levels. However, I think I am slightly bothered by the arbitrary nature of beating Alabama. So, all of the sudden we're supposed to embrace that as important as the rest because of Croom's personal history? Maybe we should focus on beating LSU or Arkansas a time or two, since we are 0-fer since the stone age.
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[DowntownDawg]

<span class="storybody">1) Win the conference championship
2) Go to a B.C.S. bowl game
3) Beat Ole Miss
4) Beat Alabama

I'm not sure what I think about this. At least half are unattainable, and the other half could very easily not happen. In fact, there is a much, much greater chance that none of goals are achieved than there is that even three are achieved. I understand that setting goals like winning the conference championship is good on some levels. However, I think I am slightly bothered by the arbitrary nature of beating Alabama. So, all of the sudden we're supposed to embrace that as important as the rest because of Croom's personal history? Maybe we should focus on beating LSU or Arkansas a time or two, since we are 0-fer since the stone age.
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[Porkchop.sixpack]

1. Why are half of them unattainable. I will admit they are long shots. But, I do not believe they are unattainable. I mean, if you are worth your salt as a coach, you have to set those two as goals. And you have to believe in them, and you have to get your players to buy in.
2. I don't like setting the goals of beating a specific team and making those into season goals. However, I have always been under the impression that our fan base shares Croom's desire to beat Alabama. I don't think this is just a Croom thing. I, for one, would place 'bama #2 on my most hated in the SEC list.

 

[RebelBruiser]

Just my opinion, but I believe that goals 1 and 2 are virtually the same. MSU is a little guy in the conference, so I doubt you'll ever get an at large bid to the BCS. Neither will we. Therefore, the only way to get that BCS bid is to win the conference.

So I see that as 3 goals, not 4. I do find it interesting that he added Alabama and not any other West teams to the list.

 

[DynamicDawg]

<span class="storybody">1) Win the conference championship
2) Go to a B.C.S. bowl game
3) Beat Ole Miss
4) Beat Alabama

I'm not sure what I think about this. At least half are unattainable, and the other half could very easily not happen. In fact, there is a much, much greater chance that none of goals are achieved than there is that even three are achieved. I understand that setting goals like winning the conference championship is good on some levels. However, I think I am slightly bothered by the arbitrary nature of beating Alabama. So, all of the sudden we're supposed to embrace that as important as the rest because of Croom's personal history? Maybe we should focus on beating LSU or Arkansas a time or two, since we are 0-fer since the stone age.
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I'd rather we set our goals high and strive to achieve them. That's how winners are made - by setting high goals and standards ... and getting thoroughly immersing in the process of their achievement. Winning is a process ... a mindset.</p>

There is a word for people who decide that the goal is unattainable before they even try. The same word applies to people with low expectations. Loser.
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[TR.sixpack]

but I've always looked at Bama as our second most-hated "rival" since the early Sherrill days. A lot of fans I know feel the same way.

About the goals, I would rather have high goals an fail to achieve them than moderate goals and underachieve once they're met.

 

[DowntownDawg]

....but what happens if we lose to Auburn, LSU, and UT? Are we just supposed to quit, except for the OM and Bama games? I don't know. I just don't think we need to feel like we are a failure if it becomes apparent that we can't win the conference. We aren't freaking UT. It'd be nice to get to a better bowl. In my opinion, that's the next step.

Bama is also my second most hated rival, but I don't feel the need to single them out. We'll see. I guess it's a minor nitpick, but I just find it a bit odd.

 

[futaba.79]

is about being 90 miles from one and 80 miles from the other. You gotta beat your closest rivals.

That's not a goal I would talk about on the record though.

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[Shmuley]

Croom actually put his goals out there BEFORE the damn season. So he can be held accountable ... at least by the fans.

 

[hatfieldms]

<span class="storybody">1) Win the conference championship
2) Go to a B.C.S. bowl game
3) Beat Ole Miss
4) Beat Alabama

I'm not sure what I think about this. At least half are unattainable, and the other half could very easily not happen. In fact, there is a much, much greater chance that none of goals are achieved than there is that even three are achieved. I understand that setting goals like winning the conference championship is good on some levels. However, I think I am slightly bothered by the arbitrary nature of beating Alabama. So, all of the sudden we're supposed to embrace that as important as the rest because of Croom's personal history? Maybe we should focus on beating LSU or Arkansas a time or two, since we are 0-fer since the stone age.
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</p>Would you rather hism set our goals at winning 6 games? I hope we have the goal every year of winning the conference championship. And the goals of beating OM and Bama fall under us beating our 2 biggest rivals which can do nothing but help us when it comes to recruiting

 

[Dawg725]

1. Why are half of them unattainable. I will admit they are long shots. But, I do not believe they are unattainable. I mean, if you are worth your salt as a coach, you have to set those two as goals. And you have to believe in them, and you have to get your players to buy in.

</p>I definitely agree with this statement. As a former football player, believing is half the battle. Honestly, heart is half the game. I dont care what anyone says. If your team has heart along with a littl etalent and a little luck...you can go a long way. Those who have not played the game of football, have a hard time understanding this. Unless you coach it.

With that said, I would have liked to see Coach Croom have a goal of improving his offense. We need to score more points.

 

[dogfan96]

if we don't win the conference or go to a BCS bowl, then we can rake his *** over the coals?

 

[vhdawg]

1. Win more than you lose. Hopefully at least two more.

2. When you lose, don't lose like punks.

 

[Porkchop.sixpack]

my thoughts abuot the OM and Bama goals. I understand wanting to beat them. I just wouldn't make that a public goal.

 

[Shmuley]

Meaning that he can't pull the same junk we've heard from him in the past. Stuff like, "We always said it would take four years before [insert some goal]." He's pulled that "we always said..." or "we always knew..." after-the-fact crap in the past. This time he's put it out there for public consumption beforehand. Don't get the wrong impression, I'm glad he did it. My point was that we finally have something measurable from him that he can't backtrack on.

 

[MadDawg.sixpack]

Just my opinion, but I believe that goals 1 and 2 are virtually the same. MSU is a little guy in the conference, so I doubt you'll ever get an at large bid to the BCS. Neither will we. Therefore, the only way to get that BCS bid is to win the conference.

I agree completely. You will never see MSU in a BCS game without winning the West - and even that's not a guarantee.

 

[patdog]

The first 2 probably aren't realistic, no matter what some people have posted in this thread. The last 2 are specific games and really aren't season goals. What if we beat UM and UA and lose the other 10 games? Or lose to them and win the other 10? Examples of measurable, realistic goals could be something like have a winning SEC record, win 8 games, etc. I don't see anything like that in what Croom said.</p>

 

[dogfan96]

should imply the first two goals whether he ever said them publicly or not. If that's not what you're working toward then what is it all for anyway? The fact that he actually said it out loud doesn't really mean much to me as far as "measurable" goes.

 

[muddawgs33]

Bama is also my second most hated rival, but I don't feel the need to single them out. We'll see. I guess it's a minor nitpick, but I just find it a bit odd.

With Bama and Ole Miss being so close, it should be a goal to beat their *** every year just for recruiting purposes. I know it sure helps to say, "Hey, we beat their *** this year, so come play for us."

 

[Keyser Soze.sixpack]

this past weekend, I feel pretty good about another 7 to 8 wins this season. The team really believes that there is not a game on the schedule that they cannot win. I handed him a schedule and he immediately put W's by 9 games and ?'s marks by 3 games. Games with ?'s were georgia tech, lsu, and ut.

 

[thelaw]

Since we consider ourselves rivals with Alabama, we should emulate OM and create a trophy for it. It could be a 3x4 ft. bronze bust of Croom's head.

Seriously, I think that putting emphasis on Alabama puts me off balance- while I think that is a great "specific" goal for locker room speeches and practices, publicly, putting that kind of pressure on one game could back fire later on down the road.

Whatever though, I don't think its a deal breaker, rather just another Croomism.

 

[Roy Munson.sixpack]

on guesses just like anyone else then if he puts ga tech on the question and has the others as W's. Ga Tech SHOULD be way down...If he is sure about us beating auburn he better be damn sure that we beat tech. That said, im glad the bastard thinks we are gonna for sure win 9.

 

[DowntownDawg]

Examples of measurable, realistic goals could be something like have a winning SEC record, win 8 games, etc. I don't see anything like that in what Croom said.

That's exactly what I was trying to say. There's nothing wrong with middle ground. You may be taking the risk that you achieve that realistic goal for the season and don't have anything else to play for, but in my opinion, that's a fallacy. If we assure ourselves of a winning SEC record early enough in the year, then getting to a conference championship or BCS game is plenty of motivation without it being a stated goal. The way Croom is doing it, you run the risk of losing 3 ballgames and saying, well, we can't win the conference, we can't play in a BCS game, what do we have left to play for?

A winning SEC record would be a good goal. More than 8 wins would be a good goal. I think you need to set attainable goals so that the goal setting process means something. Sure, we could say every year that our goal is to win the national championship, but after we don't win the national championship a few times, the goal setting process becomes meaningless, just talk.

 

[Maroon Eagle]

Considering all the football coaches we've had who've had Alabama connections, that makes as much sense as any.</p>

 

[Keyser Soze.sixpack]

Said he just didn't know much about them, but knows all the SEC teams good enough to make a prediction. He refused to put a loss down, bc he said that he's not conceding to anyone. He feels the defense will be really stout and that the offense should be greatly improved. When asked about the first 2 games his reply was those will be stat games. He is ready for practice to start and can't wait for the first game. Said there is great senior leadership. Losing Ellis Johnson was huge, also talked about anthony johnson and mike brown. Brown was in bed asleep when he received a call to come help his teammates. The players catch hell from alot of people bc most around starkville and surrounding areas are jealous of them.

sidenote: most players were planning on going to the grand opening of the pony until Carroll warned Croom. There was then a text message sent to all players explaining the hell that would ensue if even one player went to the pony. I say good for Carroll

 

[thelaw]

I couldn't agree more. The <span style="font-weight: bold;">"</span>Porridge" Bowl? Or is that too over the top? haha.

 

[PBRME]

The Paul "Bear" Bryant Hwy 82 Memorial Bowl.</p>

 

[hotdogface9]

I would be ticked off if he publicly stated as a goal that we should "win more than we lose" or "Music City Bowl or Bust." And to say that because he singles out Ole Miss and Bama means that the team can quit against LSU, AU, etc. makes it sound like you're just looking for something to complain about. This isn't pee-wee league. I think the players know that they have to 'show-up' for the lsu game. I don't think many people would argue that from year to year, these are State's two biggest games, and I bet they consistently draw the largest MSU home crowds. So, it makes perfect sense to circle them on the calender.

 

[FlabLoser]

He basically said those are attainable if every player brings their A-game every week. I believe that. But that's a huge IF. There's probably not a team in America that can say they brought their A-game every single week.

I like the goals. Very, difficult. Not probable, but possible.

 

[FlabLoser]

Is our one-sided rivalry. Meaning we think its a rivalry, but our opponent thinks its just another SEC game.

 

[FlabLoser]

sidenote: most players were planning on going to the grand opening of the pony until Carroll warned Croom. There was then a text message sent to all players explaining the hell that would ensue if even one player went to the pony. I say good for Carroll

What's "the pony"?
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[VegasDawg13]

The new strip joint between Starkville and West Point that opened last week. It replaced De Werks le Rey.

 

[thelaw]

Being in the SEC, with football being such a deep-seated and traditional past time I think you could make the case for nearly everyone in the SEC being rivals with one another. But I think in this instance the use of the term rival with relation to MSU and Ole Miss is a different thing entirely than our "rivalry" with Bama. There is just more to the Egg Bowl than there is with the state/bama game. I think the term rivalry may have a few different definitions- it literally means: to compete with in rivalry: strive to win from, equal, or outdo. But we do that with every other team we play. With the Egg Bowl, there is an intangible aspect to the game that is the tradition that goes past DWS. For example, the only curse word I was allowed to say as a child was, "Go to hell Ole Miss," after the national anthem. I can't recall that type of thing with Bama. Maybe its different for other people (especially Ole Miss folks who think proclaiming dislike for another team makes them a rival).

 

[Coach34]

1 and 2 are basically the same goal. I dont particularly like naming Bama and Mississippi like he did, but nothing wrong with it either.

I feel they should have been stated more like this:

1. Play with maximum effort- every play, every game
2. Beat our rivals
3. Secure a spot in a better bowl game
4. Win the West

For a program that has been where ours has, to even talk BCS is ludicrous. You can have high expectations without making ludicrous expectations. You also want expectations the players see that they can meet. Most of will see winning the West as much more attainable than a BCS bid, therefore your goals mean much more to them.
Then, should Crooms pull the miracle of miracles and win the West, he can talk to them about how they have accomplished everything they have set their mind to attain in 2008, so why cant they win the SEC title?

Just another way of looking at it.

 

[Shmuley]

from the standpoint of logic. You ought to know damn well better than to do that with Mississippi State athletics, especially the football program. I agree 100% with you that it is foolish to stick unrealistic goals out there for public consumption, but we're talking Croom here. The guy has yet to learn how to control his damn mouth.

And before somebody chimes in with a patented "What the hell do you want from him? He's damned if you do and damned if you don't ..." ****, listen up. My opinion is that he needs to avoid BOTH unrealistic, stupid pipe dream goals BEFORE the season, AND he needs to avoid the after-the-fact ******** of "Well, we always knew it would take four years ..." and "Before the season we set a goal for 7 wins and a bowl game ..."

But, he decided he wanted to run his damn mouth. So, we get to measure what he SAID against what he DOES. If he backs it up, and I hope he does, then the legend of the black bear grows. If he doesn't, then he's got no one to blame but himself, and it'll be in black and white.

 

[Todd4State]

While winning a conference championship and going to the BCS may not be realistic goals, I don't have a problem with the football team at least trying for that. A lot of people probably didn't think Kansas had a realistic shot at a BCS game last year either. And if we don't reach those two goals, I still think that those are good long term goals to have. I'm tired of the goal for the football team to be simply just beat Ole Miss, even if we go 1-11. That should never be good enough. Heck, we're at that point right now in terms of having a legit shot to beat them every year.

All the while, I think winning the Egg Bowl and beating Alabama are good goals to have as well. While I don't think that those two particular games determine whether our season is successful or not, the fact is those two schools are our biggest rivals. When we beat them, it makes everyone feel better about the program- it's just a fact. Everyone else has rivals to- well, maybe not LSU, but at any rate it's no different that USC wanting to beat UCLA and Notre Dame every year.

I actually would like to expand the goals to beating LSU, Arkansas, and Auburn and winning the SEC West. Winning the SEC West might be more realistic than the entire conference, but again, I don't have a problem with those goals, and I think that they are pretty good goals to have.

 

[AROB44]

Actually I put them #1 --- OM is #2 for me. Now --- fire away !!! I've hunkered down !!!

 

[DowntownDawg]

...except that if you are going to address winning the west, you might as well address winning the title game. I can see that. I just don't know if I would even go there.