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Felker steps in as interim, mindful of situation |
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Monday, 01 December 2008 |
By AARON SEIDLITZ
Starkville Daily News
Rocky Felker’s 33 years in college football have taught him one glaring thing, and the Sylvester Croom resignation on Saturday showcased it.
The expectations on a coach are a killer.
Felker knows the drill, he’s been a head coach at Mississippi State before and actually spent the same duration of five years at the position as Croom did. Since 2002 he served for Croom’s staff as an assistant, and he was named by the school’s Director of Athletic Greg Byrne on Saturday as the interim head coach.
But the way this season wore on State’s recently departed coach was something that Felker noticed, and the Egg Bowl loss was just the capper to force the situation to develop.
“When you come off the kind of loss we had (Friday), the way the season has gone, you’re not sure what is going to happen,” Felker said. “I don’t guess you’re really surprised at anything.”
To the Bulldogs’ recruiting director, the state of the game has always remained this way. The game may consume the coach, but usually that coach doesn’t last as long at a job as he initially believes.
To Felker, the goal for each head coach is the same. The picture painted in the early stages of any job in the business is a rosy one.
Coaches usually enter a new job, Felker said, with the idea of building the program, winning and staying there for 10 to 15 years.
But rarely does that happen, especially in Mississippi State’s history. Outside of Jackie Sherrill – who lasted 13 years – no other Bulldogs football coach has lasted 10 years.
The closest was Allyn McKeen, who coach the team nine years from 1939-48.
That, Felker believes, is not misleading.
“I know it’s the way college athletics is,” Felker said. “Particularly being a head football coach at this level. We think we’re going to go to a place and stay 15, 20 years.
“But the reality of it is it’s normally a four, five, six year process.”
Still, Felker didn’t believe that signs of this past season – which ended with the Bulldogs at 4-8 and only having two wins in the Southeastern Conference – had shown themselves in a negative way with Croom.
Whether it was through the three early rebuilding years, the breakout season of 2007 or this past season, Felker never thought his head coach’s persona changed.
“That’s the great thing, Coach Croom was the same behind closed doors as you saw him, as everybody saw him,” Felker said. “He was the same person. There wasn’t any fake anything about him.
“I think the big thing, some losses along the way certainly had to hurt.”
But while Croom’s resignation may have come as a surprise to some, it wasn’t to the man who will be taking over day-to-day operations of the team on an interim basis.
Felker is the team’s recruiting coordinator, so the transition should be eased considering he helped put the group of commitments and possible commitments together under the direction of Croom this season.
He also mentioned that he understood the uncertainty in the process for those recruits moving forward, because they would want to know who the new coach is going to be in the near future.
“I think they would want to hear from who is in charge. And I’m sure there is concern about who the next head coach is going to be,” Felker said.
But it will still be Felker’s job to try and keep the recruits pacified while that process is undergone.
To that end he has the support of Byrne.
“We’re lucky to have Rocky with his head coaching experience, his understanding of the state of Mississippi and his contacts there to help us with that transition, and he will obviously be very active,” Byrne said on Saturday.
That activity began on Sunday, when the recruits could be contacted, and will continue when the team has it’s planned meeting at 2 p.m. today.
Felker and Byrne will both attend the meeting, and the latter said on Saturday that Croom was welcome to be there as well. He wasn’t sure if the former coach would attend or not at that time.
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 02 December 2008 )
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