Charles Barkley vs. Auburn

DISCLAIMER: I am a Gene Chizik fan, forever grateful for his help in the 2005 National Championship the Longhorns won.

"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 résumés and say [Chizik] deserved the job. Out of all the coaches they interviewed, Chizik probably had the worst résumé."

Charles Barkley's comments reflected the sentiments of the nation when he commented on Auburn not hiring Turner Gil. The case for Turner Gil was obvious, he was able to turn around one of the worst college football programs at Buffalo almost immediately after arriving, and this season took them to their first bowl game ever. Turner Gil was this years rising coach star, and looked almost certain to get the job at a big name, BCS school like Auburn, Clemson or Tennessee.

The case for Gene Chizik was much less flashy, and certainly less talked about. But don't forget that three years ago Gene Chizik was the Turner Gil. He was an extremely effective defensive coordinator at Auburn and a large reason for the undefeated season of 2004. In 2005 he was an even larger reason when the Longhorns wrapped up the National Championship. This guy was a huge part of something like a 25 game winning streak in college football, and his stock could not have been higher.

The main point of comparison between Gil and Chizik was records, this was the only issue ever talked about and my God it was hammered into the ground. Both Gil and Chizik had head coaching job for three seasons, and one had a hell of a lot more wins than the other. But the issue there is both coaches inherited down and out squads, and one had to compete against the Big XII with his and the other against arguably the worst conference in the nation the MAC.

Iowa State's schedule every year includes eight Big XII games and a game against rival Iowa. With a much tougher schedule Iowa State was bringing in decent recruiting classes and showing promise, they were also beginning to show promise on the field. At least twice each year Chizik was coaching Iowa State led a much better national power going into the 3rd quarter and lost the game in the second half when depth starts to show.

That being said I certainly don't know how much racism played into the case. And to be perfectly honest I don't know how much Charles Barkley or any other person outside the Athletic Director at Auburn. But that didn't stop speculations on phantom "racist boosters" keeping out Gil because of a white wife that ran rampant over the internet and ESPN.

Lately College football has been subject to conversations about race, and rightfully so, because of the small number of Black head coaches, which has become even smaller with the departing of Croom at Mississippi State, Ron Prince at Kansas State and Willingham at Washington. This leaves three black coaches for 119 schools in a sport where 60% of the players are themselves black.

When the history of the schools are examined the race issue could not help but be magnified. Buffalo received one bowl bid in its school history but did not accept because two players, who were black, would not have been allowed to play. Auburn is looked upon suspiciously because of its location in the deep south.

But here is my point, Gene Chizik never made the rule that black players would not be allowed in the Tangerine Bowl, he wasn't one of the supposed racist boosters who underhandedly had him hired. Gene Chizik is just a coach who had a history of being successful in the SEC, with a history of winning at Auburn, he knows the all-important recruiting layout. He has actually shown himself to be a better recruiter than Gil over the years. He was a much better candidate than anyone ever gave him credit for.

Gene Chizik will for the foreseeable future be the coach who won the job over a better candidate due to racism thanks mostly to Barkley. Without the alumna's comments Chizik would have been a passing conversation point on ESPN, which has a history of lingering on any controversial point they can find. So Gene, have fun recruiting, have fun answering questions about it for the next four years, have fun when your players are asked about the situation and if they would rather play for a black coach. If i was Gene Chizik I would issue an official statement for Sir Charles, "Thanks, Fucker."