One of Auburn's most outspoken alums, Charles Barkley, ripped into his alma mater in this ESPN.com article by Mark Schlabach.
He says the only reason Auburn didn't hire Buffalo coach Turner Gill is because he's black. Here's a quote:
"I think race was the No. 1 factor," said Barkley, who played basketball for three seasons at Auburn during the early 1980s. "You can say it's not about race, but you can't compare the two resumes and say [Chizik] deserved the job. Out of all the coaches they interviewed, Chizik probably had the worst resume.
"I'm just very disappointed. I just thought Turner Gill would be the perfect choice for two reasons: He's a terrific coach and we needed to make a splash. I thought we had to do something spectacular to bring attention to the program. Clearly, if we'd hired a black coach, it would have created a buzz."
6 comments:
It was only a matter of time before Barkley opened his mouth and complained about racism.
I don't think racism was the number one factor, I think the number one factor is Jay Jacobs is an idiot, and the number two factor is that Chizik has ties to Auburn University.
Barkley is a moron! His mouth is too big even for his bloated body. If an SEC school such as Mississippi State hired a black man like Sylvester Croom a few years ago, it's ridiculous to think race was an issue in the hiring of Chizik. While I know turner Gill is a good coach and was a legitimate candidate, he has no connection to Auburn or the SEC. Confine your comments to basketball, Sir Charles!
wareag1, spoken like a guy who doesn't get it. Scott H., I agree it might not have been the number factor, but I bet it was close. To quote Mike Singletary, "I want winners!" Gill could do it, had the pedigree of being at a championship program as a student, and would have made a great coach. Remember that Saban had zero ties to the SEC when he went to LSU. How'd that work out? And neither did Les Miles. How'd that work out? Urban Meyer. How'd that work out? Don't give me the "ties to the south" excuse. That's an easy cop out.
Felix, quit your whining about racism! While I don't agree with wareag1 concerning SEC experience being relevant, this "we have to have a black coach" mentality is absurd. Turner Gill will get his shot at big time coaching. Funny, I don't see many black coaches at big programs up North! Could it be racism? Nooo! That's strictly a Southern thing!
And as for Charles Barkley, does anyone give a rat's behind what that dolt thinks?
Barkley is a blow hard and everyone knows it. But I'm not whining about racism--way to read my entire post. What I said is that you can bet race played some part in the hiring (I didn't say racism, you did). We needed to make a splash with a hire and what we did was underwhelm everyone. If I give you a guy who went 3-9 then 2-10 in two years or a guy who went 2-10, 5-7, then 8-5 in three seasons who would you take? Where was our need? Offense. And we haven't heard anything about what the offensive recruits want to know--who is the new OC? If I'm a high school kid playing on defense and I was a previous commit, Chizik keeps me wanting to come. Look at the former players who've spoken out in support of Chizik--Carlos Rogers and Antarrious Williams. What do they have in common? They played defense. But if I'm an offensive guy all I've got to go on is 3-9 and 2-10.
Hey Felix, you forgot to mention that Cadillac Williams also spoke out in support of Gene Chizik. Obviously, he is an offensive player.
Everyone on the team liked and respected Chizik.
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