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01.29.2009 2:51 pm

St. Louis Rams to hire Croom, 2 others

By Jim Thomas
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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Although there has been no official announcement or confirmation, the Rams are set to hire former Mississippi State head coach Sylvester Croom to their staff, according to league sources. It is believed that Croom, 54, would coach running backs in St. Louis.

Prior to his five-year tenure as head coach at Mississippi State, Croom spent 17 seasons coaching in the NFL. Thirteen of those 17 seasons were as running backs coach with Tampa Bay, Indianapolis, San Diego, and Green Bay. The other four seasons were spent as offensive coordinator for Bobby Ross and the Detroit Lions, from 1997-2000.

Croom was the first African-American head football coach in the Southeastern Conference, but resigned at the end of Mississippi State’s 2008 season.

The Rams also are hiring Rock Gullickson as strength and conditioning coach, and Matt House to an undetermined position, according to league sources. Gullickson, 53, was strength coach for Green Bay the past three seasons and had the same position with the New Orleans Saints from 2000-05. House, 30, was a special teams assistant as well as assistant strength and conditioning coach for Carolina last season _ his first year in the NFL.

23 comments

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Seems like they could be good hirings. I like House, from what I just read about him on the Panthers site.

— John
3:56 pm January 29th, 2009

Good job Rams. Croom is a good man.

— memphis ram
3:56 pm January 29th, 2009

I love that we’re getting a S&C coach named Rock.

— Sam
4:00 pm January 29th, 2009

It appears as though things are headed in the right direction.

— Greg
4:09 pm January 29th, 2009

yes i like to hear them addressing the strength and conditioning of this football team i mean i know we play on turf so its tough on body but they are always tired and getting hurt i’ve been saying for yrs we needed a good S&C coach

— dan
4:12 pm January 29th, 2009

Hated to see Croom leave MS State. I could care less if he won there or not. The important thing was he recruited quality character individuals and hopefully he will bring that strength of developing quality to the Rams. You won’t see behavior like Richie Incognito’s on a Croom coached team. If the Rams continue to lose, they will at least lose with class.

— MS State FAn
4:33 pm January 29th, 2009

I love the Croom hire. Spags and Billy D keep on doing good things to bring good football men into the organization.

— greysharks
5:18 pm January 29th, 2009

I love all of you!

— Peter
5:29 pm January 29th, 2009

This is great news for the Rams. Croom is an outstanding coach, and even better person, and M State simply gave up on him too quickly. I don’t care what his record says. He did things there that no one thought could be done.

Way to go Croom! I can’t wait to see you make those Bullpups see what they missed out on.

— Memphis Mike
5:32 pm January 29th, 2009

“This is great news for the Rams. Croom is an outstanding coach, and even better person, and M State simply gave up on him too quickly. I don’t care what his record says. He did things there that no one thought could be done.”

Seriously Memphis Mike? What did he do at MSU that no one thought could be done? Average 3 wins per season for 4 of his 5 years here? Yeah he’s awesome. How long did he deserve, 10 years? Unlike you, I am an MSU fan and I do care what his record says. You know what it says? It says he sucks as a head coach. My favorite thing about Croom is that he is no longer coaching here. Good luck numbnuts.

— MSU Dawg
5:41 pm January 29th, 2009

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