I must give kudos to Mississippi State AD Greg Byrne for his mastery of covert ops during this coach search. Dude must have Navy SEAL training or something. From what I’ve gathered, he’s either A) kept the big-shot boosters completely in the dark, or B) he’s found a way to keep them quiet. People say boosters hire coaches, but I’m not so sure in this case.
I tried calling Byrne this morning to gauge his reaction to Sylvester Croom‘s recent public comments, and then I texted him a few minutes ago. He said on the day Croom resigned that he would not speak to the media about the search until a coach was hired, and I guess he’s through talking about Croom.
Speaking of Croom, in light of the revelation that there was going to be a change at offensive coordinator, I do wonder what else, if anything, Byrne wanted Croom to change. Maybe Croom could elaborate, but that would require returning my call.
But I digress. Byrne can’t keep everyone quiet. As I and/or others have already noted, he was in Kansas City over the weekend – ostensibly to see Oklahoma offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson, and perhaps others – and Florida offensive coordinator Dan Mullen has possibly been in touch with MSU. And South Carolina defensive coordinator Ellis Johnson, formerly of MSU, has expressed interest in the position but has had no formal discussions with State. We don’t know what the heck is up with Boise State’s Chris Petersen.
We don’t know much at all, do we? I can’t wait until Byrne announces a new hire – and that’s another thing, will anyone break the story before he does? – so that we can ask him how he pulled this off.
Inside Mississippi State Sports with Brad Locke 
December 9, 2008 at 4:32 pm |
Greg Byrne doesn’t breath air, air breaths Greg Byrne!
December 9, 2008 at 4:40 pm |
caoch peterson was on the blog today. ask him what’s up.
December 9, 2008 at 4:41 pm |
sumbitch is a modern day Howard Hughes..at least.
December 9, 2008 at 4:44 pm |
he’s no L Ron Hubbard though.
December 9, 2008 at 4:53 pm |
if croom was not supposed to speak until the hire was made…..was a hire made or did croom just do his own thing as usual??….does croom recieve less money because of this??….seems to me that croom messed up on his part of the bargin…everything that comes out of his mouth is word vomit anyway…
December 9, 2008 at 5:01 pm |
the check must have cleared
December 9, 2008 at 5:42 pm |
Brad – is that your goal to break the news before Greg does?
On Croom statements – guess OC change was not good enuff – Al Borges good canidate for OC.
Feel Greg has was he wants in mind for MSU – Croom and his staff not in the picture, if he is out West recruiting – he said he wanted someone to “open it up” at State.
On pins and needles – hope it want be a disappointment – choice blows every speculation away…..hits a home run…out of the park.
December 9, 2008 at 6:40 pm |
have faith in the man, that is what he is paid to do
December 9, 2008 at 7:29 pm |
Okay, I take back what I’ve thought and said about Croom being of the highest character. The more he says, the less I believe in his “character”. NOW, he says that he was about to make a change? What he means is that during the conversation with Byrne, he brought up Borges’ name. Only, when he realized that Byrne was set to pull the trigger. By then, it was too late, and now seeing Croom for Croom, he probably tried to put contingincies in if he changed coordinators. Just go away Croom! Shut up and go away! I was a huge supporter of yours, but the more you say, the smaller you get.
December 9, 2008 at 7:34 pm |
Maybe, just maybe, the selection is on the desk of the President, for final blessing and concurrence of the contract. Why else would GB be back in Starkville?
December 9, 2008 at 7:50 pm |
Actually, the more I hear from Croom, the less I respect Byrne. I believe the Croom had a ‘gentlemen’s agreement” with Templeton and Lee. Neither of them are there to honor it and I think Byrne is out to prove he is in charge. Just my opinion. For the record, I had heard from a reliable source over a month ago that we were hiring Borges.
December 9, 2008 at 9:24 pm |
Wilson will be announced tomorrow as the new HC.
December 9, 2008 at 10:06 pm |
I think bringing ellis in would be a good move. You win championships on defense, but you must have at least some offense to go with it.
December 10, 2008 at 12:14 am |
I bet Stansbury and the basketball team is loving this. With all the focus on our football coaching search, there is pretty much no pressure on them right now.
December 10, 2008 at 7:14 am |
It looks like to me that Byrne was brought in for this day. He got rid of Croom, Polk, and probably our woman’s basketball coach as well. I agree with msu4me, the less I respect Byrne. Templeton would have never gotten rid of Croom until the contract ran out.
This has been bad press for State. I live in Knoxville and MSU is getting a bad rep from the media and by recruits. Byrne has to, HAS TO, hire immediate success to savior our reputation. Croom brought with State a good reputation and we had just spit on it in the eyes of the media. And recruiters our pouncing on that, Spurrier has contacted Russell out of Meridan. He just might leave. And then who is next?