Gene Chizik, Charles Barkley, and Auburn's Fit

Since I predicted that Sir Charles would go crazy over this hire, I will chime in and give you my thoughts on the acquisition of Gene Chizik.

First off, let me clearly state that I know nothing about the Auburn program and I do not have any inside information. I will simply give you my opinion as a Michigan fan who went through a "painful" coaching search last year.

Here are Barkley's comments on the hire (courtesy of the AP):

"I believe race had a factor. Of course I do. First of all you can't compare these two, their records. That's not even close to being fair.

"I look at things from a commonsense standpoint, how do you interview Turner Gill and pick Gene Chizik over Turner Gill?"

Auburn AD Jay Jacobs has said that race did not play a role in this decision, and that he simply chose "the best fit for Auburn."

I have been very critical of ADs this offseason for picking coordinators with no head coaching experience to lead their programs. I talked about the difference in being a leader versus learning how to be a leader. This is one of the reasons why I believe Chizik was the wrong choice for Auburn.

He was a very successful coordinator at Auburn and at Texas, but he lost 10 games in a row this past year as the head coach for Iowa State. Chizik had two seasons worth of experience being a head coach and went 5-19 overall. Is this the type of resume Auburn wanted? Someone page Bob Davie!

Was race a part of the decision? I don't know, but I believe Sir Charles brings up a valid point. What made Gene the right fit for Auburn? Was he the white fit? Only Jay Jacobs and the rumored "Good Old Boys" network down at Auburn really know.

I can tell you one thing, if Michigan had hired a former assistant that was now a head coach who had just completed a season where he lost 10 in a row, Bill Martin (Michigan's AD) would be on his sailboat full time. The Michigan faithful would have thrown him out of office and run him out of Ann Arbor.

Auburn could have gone a number of directions with this hire: Brady Hoke, Turner Gill, heck even a former NFL guy like Brian Billick and nobody would have given it a second thought. In these days, when last year is all that you remember, I don't see any way that Gene can be successful at Auburn.

It's un-believable that nobody at Auburn, took a step back and said, "Wait a second! What type of ramifications will this hire have for the program?" (mostly when one of your famous alums is Charles Barkley).

Auburn fans, you have every right to be mad at the program you love. You have every right to yell at airports, during games, or wherever you can be heard. This hire makes zero sense, and being the right fit doesn't explain anything.

I'm afraid this situation is only going to get worse.