Rams hire Croom as RB coach

ST. LOUIS -- Sylvester Croom, who resigned under pressure as coach at Mississippi State in November, is returning to the NFL as an assistant coach for the new-look St. Louis Rams.

Coach Steve Spagnuolo announced the hiring Monday, along with four others -- Tom McMahon as special teams coordinator, Rock Gullickson as strength and conditioning coach, Brendan Daly as defensive line coach and Matt House for defensive quality control.

"We are closing in on completing our staff," said Spagnuolo, who has hired 14 coaches since he was named Rams coach Jan. 17. The latest hires "bring a wealth of knowledge and a wide variety of experiences."

Croom became the first black head coach in Southeastern Conference history when he took over the Bulldogs in 2004. Mississippi State was 21-38 in his five seasons. Before that, he spent 17 seasons as an NFL assistant.

Croom's final season at Mississippi State ended 4-8, punctuated with a 45-0 loss to archrival Mississippi in the season finale. He resigned a day later after a meeting with the athletic director.

His tenure there included four losing seasons. But the Bulldogs were 8-5 in 2007, when Croom was named SEC coach of the year.

Croom was among the first black players to play for Bear Bryant at Alabama from 1971 to 1974, where he was the starting center. He was a Crimson Tide assistant before beginning his NFL career as running backs coach in Tampa Bay in 1987. He also coached running backs at Indianapolis, San Diego and Green Bay. He was Detroit's offensive coordinator from 1997 to 2000, where he coached Barry Sanders.

In St. Louis, he'll work with Steven Jackson, who has rushed for more than 1,000 yards each of the past four seasons despite missing several games with injuries.

McMahon was assistant special teams coach for Atlanta for the past two seasons. He previously coached at Carroll College, Utah State and Louisville.

Gullickson is a 32-year coaching veteran, including 10 in the NFL. He was strength and conditioning coach at New Orleans from 2000 through 2005 and at Green Bay the last three seasons. He was among six assistants released by Packers coach Mike McCarthy after the 2008 season.

Daly spent the past three seasons as a defensive assistant and defensive line coach for the Vikings. Minnesota's defense ranked first against the run during that three-year span.

House was a special teams assistant and assistant strength and conditioning coach at Carolina last season.

Spagnuolo, the former defensive coordinator for the Giants, is remaking a team that was 2-14 last year and 5-27 over the past two seasons.