Charles Barkley Rips Auburn for Hiring Gene Chizik -- and He's Right

Never one to keep his feelings to himself, Auburn basketball legend and current NBA studio cut-up Charles Barkley created another stir when he said that his alma mater refused to name Turner Gill as its new football coach because Gill is black. The Tigers instead chose Iowa State coach Gene Chizik, who was only 5-19 in two seasons with the Cyclones.

"I think race was the No. 1 factor," Barkley said to ESPN.com. "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."

Barkley has a well-deserved reputation for making controversial and even inflammatory statements (some of which were nicely chronicled by SI.com). So one could be forgiven for quickly ignoring Sir Charles' latest rant and getting back to Christmas shopping. But that would be a mistake because Barkley actually has a point, and he makes it while bringing to the forefront an issue that continues to dog America -- race relations.

Debating the coaching merits of Gill and Chizik is a discussion for another time, although blogs like FanHouse have been full of head scratching and guffawing over Auburn's choice. The larger issue is the one that Barkley focused on, which is the colors of Gill's and Chizik's skin.

Many love to focus on race when it comes to coaching hires to the point of seeming almost myopic. Some writers seem to have no problem with the thought of a man being given a top coaching gig simply because he is black, regardless of his qualifications, personality or overall fit with that particular team or school. The feeling seems to be that if enough blacks are put into prominent coaching positions to reach some unstated, unknown quota, then all will be right and balanced in the world of sports and we can all sleep easily, knowing that racial harmony has been achieved.

What separates Barkley's rant from this fantasy dream? For one thing, he knows what he's talking about. A native of Alabama, Barkley has lived for much of his life in the state, and at Auburn in particular, and has an understanding of the culture there as it relates to race.

In addition, Barkley has an inside perspective on how Auburn goes about hiring coaches. He was on the search committee for the school's men's basketball coach in 2004 and he offered up three viable African-American choices -- Mike Davis, Jeff Capel and Mike Anderson. The school instead went with Jeff Lebo, who is white.

"Out of all the basketball coaches they interviewed, they picked the only one who hadn't been to the NCAA tournament," Barkley said. Lebo so far been a major failure.

Maybe Barkley and the blogosphere will prove to be wrong about Chizik. But it would have been a powerful statement from a Southern school like Auburn to turn control of its cherished football program to a rising coach like Gill and help dispel the notion that blacks aren't wanted, or trusted, with such a responsibility.

The United States has come far in terms of race relations, but the stench of bigotry still lingers in certain corners, not the least of which is big-time sports and who is entrusted with the keys to the top teams and programs. Hiring more blacks just to make the number of African-American coaches look better would serve no purpose. But giving more blacks a chance at powerful programs like Auburn's would because it would prove to anyone with prejudice in his or her heart that we really aren't all that different. Black coaches can match wits with the likes of Nick Saban and Les Miles and come out on top.

Barkley perhaps put it best when he said, "My biggest problem with the black coaches is they're not getting jobs and they're getting [expletive] jobs when they are hired. That's why I wanted Turner to get the Auburn job. He could win consistently at Auburn. You can't win consistently at New Mexico. You can't win consistently at Kansas State. He could have won at Auburn."

Sir Charles might be wrong a lot of the time, but he's absolutely right on this count.