re: Who had the worst coaching tenure in SEC history

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No way was Croom on the worst coach list.
He inherited a horrible situation plus probation then had to purge another 20+ talented but malcontents off the roster in 2004. So the first couple of years, 2004/05 it was a given that we were going to be so low that we were looking up at Australia.
2006 the record did not reflect it but we were getting better. After the beat down by Ole Miss in 2008 Egg Bowl, a change was appropriate but he had left the program in much better shape than he found it and left Mullen a superb 2009 signing class as well.

Felker was not a good on the field coach but like Croom in 2008 , he left a loaded roster for Sherrill who took immediate advantage of it by having success right away back in 1991.

So IMHO, if you look at the big picture, neither Felker or Croom would be on the worst coach list. I know at the end of the day, your record is what makes or breaks you but in these two cases it is more than just the record of each.

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So I guess we measure "worst coach" by different metrics. I remember a guy who was trying to run a west coast offense without the personnel. I remember a guy who kept an offensive coordinator out of loyalty. I remember a guy who punted from the 30 on 4th and 2 after going for it from the 45 in a game. Sylvester Croom's in-game decision making was nothing short of a comedy of errors. The only decision he made that was a great one was hiring Ellis Johnson to be his defensive coordinator, which is the main reason he won the games that he did. I watched Sylvester Croom waste talents like Omar Conner, Jerious Norwood, and Anthony Dixon.

I also remember him as a guy that could not take questions or criticism. He scoffed at anyone who dared question anything he was doing because by God, he played for the Bahr.

Sylvester Croom may not be the worst coach on the list of bad coaches in SEC history, but he's easily the worst coach I've seen at Mississippi State in my lifetime. Easily.