SCOTT JACOBS

In a sports world littered with the words, “what have you done for me lately,” Auburn sure is living in the past.  Auburn recently replaced longtime head coach Tommy Tubberville with Iowa State head coach Gene Chizik.  Chizik was the former defensive coordinator at Alabama, and was a part of that magical 13-0 season, in which the Tigers went undefeated in the SEC and still failed to get a title game invite.

Chizik bolted to Iowa State, went 5-19 in two seasons, and now he’s back, resurfacing at head coach.  At Auburn.  Over guys like Turner Gill, who just led the University of Buffalo to a MAC title and an 8-5 record in just his third season.  Now, on the surface alone it looks ridiculous that Chizik would be a desirable head coach for any major BCS school after the stink he’s produced as head man of the Cyclones.  But to land the Tigers coaching job over someone as promising as Gill, well, it just seems wrong.

Enter: Charles Barkley.

Barkley, always the outspoken type, has come to the conclusion that there is no other logic for Auburn to go with Chizic over Gill, unless race came into the equation.  Chizik is white.  Gill is black.  And Auburn is in Alabama, which means its in the deep south.  Now, Barkley plays the race card a lot, and most of the time it is out of line.  But for once, I think he’s hit the nail on the head.  Alabama is a very traditional southern state, and Alabamans have southern values.  Some are racist, others are not.  And I’m not picking on Alabama, because there are a zillion states out there that have racist people.  It probably won’t change.

But when you look at this hiring, it has the stenches of racism.

How else can you explain a major SEC school opting for a former defensive coordinator who has failed miserably in the Big 12.  I’m not saying it is racism, Charles Barkley is.  But I think it makes sense that people would think this.  And the race card gets throw around a lot.  But when something looks racist, smells racist, and just glares of racism, it just might be.

But forget race for a minute.

How does a sport that disposes of its coaches like wet naps as soon as they feel like they’re all used up, go back to one that has been awful as a head coach? The NBA just saw a sixth coach get fired this season today, and once again it was a coach who’s been successful, but got off to a slow start.  Chizik wasn’t successful at Iowa State.  I repeat: wasn’t successful.

But today he’s the one with head coach of Auburn on his nameplate.  Not Gill.

You can come to your own conclusions, but ignoring the race issue is just being naive