Posted by
Billy email MADBillyD@aol.com on Thursday, December 18, 2008 9:33:40 PM
Auburn's hire of Iowa State's Gene Chizik as its new football coach certainly raised some eyebrows.
It also raised the ire of former pro basketball star Charles Barkley, (pictured above) who is an Auburn alum.
ESPN.com's Mark Schlabach quoted Barkley as saying: "I think race was the No. 1 factor. 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."
Gill,a former star quarterback at Nebraska and later an assistant coach with the Huskers, led Buffalo to an 8-5 season in his third year with the Mid-America Conference program. His team upset previously undefeated Ball State in the MAC championship game and gained a berth in the International Bowl on Jan. 3 against Connecticut in Toronto.
(I don't know if race was the reason Gill wasn't hired by Auburn but I do find it strange that Auburn said no to Gill who has proven he is a winner as a coach and yes to Gene Chizik who before taking the Auburn job, to replace Tommy Tuberville had 5-19 record as head coach at Iowa State. Auburn may have done right in doing this however I see a shipwreck coming just like the college in my home state of Nebraska when they fired a coach after he had gone 9 and 3 but wasn't number 1. Read more of the above story right here.)