Charles Barkley's Racist Claim: I Don't Think So

Charles Barkley recently made a very serious accusation: racial prejudice exhibited by Auburn when it failed to hire Turner Gill as its next head coach.  

Just how credible is his claim?  How close was he to the situation that makes him qualified to make a statement such as this?  Does a black candidate being passed over for a position automatically mean there was racial discrimination in play?

If you look closely at Gill's résumé, his greatness doesn't jump out at you.  He has done an excellent job thus far at Buffalo and is beginning to turn that program around, but an 8-5 record in one season doesn't earn him the head coaching spot at one of the prestigious college coaching positions in the country—not yet.  

Compounding the situation was the man they chose might not merit it either if you view his most recent win/loss record.  Gene Chizik's run at Iowa State was nothing to brag about, to be sure, but he does have a successful track record in previous positions, including being an assistant coach at Auburn during their glory years.

He is a known entity to Auburn.  He was the safe choice.  It remains to be seen if he was the right choice.

But discrimination?  I don't think so.

Does racial discrimination exist in college and professional sports?  

Black athletes cannot complain about being underrepresented in the player ranks.  It has been reported that over 80 percent of players in the NBA are black, and blacks enjoy significant percentages as players in both football and baseball.  Turn on any NBA game, and odds are good you'll see 10 black players on the court at any given time.

In addition to the majority role blacks often find themselves in in professional sports, these professional athletes are among the highest paid, commanding multimillion-dollar salaries for their efforts.  

Coaching has not progressed as far, however.  While professional sports is seeing an increase in black coaches, college football lags behind.  Out of the 120 FBS schools (I've included Western Kentucky, who elevates to FBS this year), only four schools presently have black head coaches. 

This number is ridiculously low and without question needs to be increased—and I believe you will see it increase very soon. We're talking about ground level here.  It will take longer for blacks entering the coaching profession to rise to the level of head coach.  They need experience gained in the assistant ranks.  You do see more black assistant coaches today, which bodes well for the future for black head coaching positions. 

I'm not saying that pockets of discrimination don't still exist in this country, but we need to be very careful about accusing a school of discrimination.  In my view, Charles Barkley made a reckless and boundless claim as it relates to Auburn University.     

Charles Barkley was one of those black athletes I spoke of above.  He was rewarded for his basketball skills at Auburn with a lucrative NBA career and was able to make millions from the sport of basketball.  His racism claim rings hollow to me and appears to be more like a clamor for personal attention than anything else. 

If Barkley has done anything positive with his reckless remarks, he has shone a brighter light on an issue that needs to be—and will be—corrected. 

Schools need to hire the individual most qualified and who is the best fit for their program, regardless of the color of their skin. In this case, Auburn believed it was Gene Chizik.  Turner Gill is a talented individual who will have his day, and he will no doubt end up as a head coach at a major program.  It just didn't work out this time. 

As for Barkley, he needs to be more cautious about making reckless accusations whenever a decision is made he doesn't happen to personally agree with.