I like Charles Barkley. I like him a lot. For a lot of reasons. I like that he speaks his mind. I like that he never seems to take life too seriously. I like that he’s funny. I like that he’s very good at his TNT job. I really like that he hates Alabama. Most of all, I like that he genuinely cares about the places that have made him the person he is: Leeds, and Auburn, and the state of Alabama. So many of our athletes have never looked back. Chuck has never stopped looking back.
So as soon as I cooled down a bit, I forgave him his idiotic, angry blurting-out that Auburn had hired Gene Chizik over Turner Gill for race-related reasons. We were all angry in those days.
Well, maybe not all all, but the overwhelming majority of us. This is the one and only time I’m going to link to a Schmaul Schmineschmaum column, I swear, but this one is worth reading for the reminder of how universal the condemnation of the Chizik hire was. When even Phillip Marshall is saying it’s the “wrong place, wrong time” for your hire, you officially have an image problem. (And as I always point out when we’re discussing the Chizik reaction, your humble Auburn Blogger was far from innocent.)
That Chizik and his hand-selected staff sit at 7-0 and a handful of games from the BCS championship game–no, seriously–no, seriously–makes this another good time for all of us who doubted him to eat some crow, but of course we’ve had several of those opportunities by now, from the hiring of the staff to the 5-0 open to last season to the epic effort against Alabama to Signing Day 2010. But for Chuck, this is a more apropos moment than any of those.
Why? Because the candidate he clearly preferred has proven himself not only inferior to Chizik–a lot of coaches have proven themselves Chizik’s inferior the past two seasons–but an outright disaster. Poor Turner Gill is coaching what might be the worst BCS team in the country. His Jayhawks have lost their last two games to Baylor and Kansas St. (Baylor and Kansas St.!) by a combined 100 points. He is in plausible (if not serious) danger of being fired* after just one season. His draconian player conduct policies make Chizik’s look like Pete Carroll’s, and may be part of the reason his team has collapsed in the face of adversity.
In short: he’s a nice guy, but hiring Turner Gill would have been a program-destroying bomb dropped on Auburn football. He was a tracer bullet Auburn only barely dodged. And as a reward for his shrewdness in escaping that bullet and hiring someone else, Jay Jacobs was booed at the airport. For his being 100 times the coach Gill is, Chizik was called the worst possible hire Auburn could have made. For making the absolute correct choice of head coach to lead our football program, Charles Barkley called the Auburn University administration a hive of racists.
He apologized not long afterward for running his mouth and being insensitive. But he has not, to my knowledge, apologized for just being flat wrong. Turner Gill was the wrong choice, a potentially disastrous choice. Gene Chizik has been proven to have been not just the right choice but a brilliant choice. At one point or another, all of us who criticized Jacobs and Chizik for their decisions have apologized, I think. I have. I was wrong, terribly so.
You were too, Chuck. Now it’s your turn.
*This is me at the new gig, by the way. And while I’m discussing it, let me take the opportunity to thank all of you (again) for your phenomenally kind words and support in what’s been an incredible and incredibly anxious few weeks. I said–and I hope this post is partial proof–that if I’m not around as much as I have been, I’m still going to be around on a semi-regular basis. Auburn football itself is a major part of that, but the biggest reason for it is you guys. There’s too much here to leave it all behind. Thanks again.
I was wrong. It was just turrble of me.
-Charles
Charles is Charles and he frequently talks or acts before he gives thought to the consequences. Don’t look for an applogy from Charles…. He’s done all kinds of embarassing things without showing remorse…..his usual answer is the he “isn’t anyone’s role model” which is true but which also means that no one should take him seriously.
Thanks for the post Jerry. I already feel even more appreciative of them knowing that there will be fewer of them.
WDE!
Ehh, I’m never gonna be sold on the Chiz not until we win an SEC title…I mean what percentage of Auburn fans would rather have Gustav The Wizard as our headcoach? I’m willing to bet you it’s about 40% or more.
I DO thank my lucky charms cereal box that we didn’t end up with Turner Gill. But Chuck doesn’t owe anyone an apology, when EVERYONE was wrong to react the way they did about the Chizik hire. And the race thing (although a subject most people can’t deal with) is always gonna be an issue for the state of Alabama, the South, the world.
Regardless, dwelling on this issue is pointless.
Semi-OT question for any of you:
With Will Collier’s premier column behind Rivals’ pay wall and Jerry going semi-regular, what are the next best AU blogs out there with actual anaylsis?
Most of the other AU fan blogs that I’ve read seem to have more fluff and rah-rah content than actual analysis.
TIA & WDE!
Hey Jess, we’re having some other folks step up to the plate, analysis-wise, so don’t write off WBE just yet. For some post-Arkansas, pre-LSU insight, try this, if you haven’t already.
Thanks, and sorry if I gave the impression that WBE is the only thing I liked about TWER, b/c that’s certainly not the case!
Like alot of folks here, I enjoy having quality fan analysis in addition to Bitter’s beat reports.
WDE!
To be fair, Jurry, Charles’ go-to deflection of this kind of criticism has and probably always will be the resume’ angle. In comparing Gill and Chizik’s resumes at the time, Gill’s was better, and I don’t think anyone can deny that…and that’s what Chuck will say. Not saying he shouldn’t come out and admit he was wrong, but to say he owes an apology is a biiiit much, at this point anyway. The comment was based on perceived fact – and while we know that it wasn’t based on race, it damn sure looked like it was at the time. Charles just said it from a much larger bully pulpit than any of us had.
I’m just eating my crow and thanking God that Jay Jacobs had waaay more foresight and cajones than any of us did at that time.
Whether it’s how he intended it or not, I’m going to interpret Charles’ shout out Friday night to the coaches (and team) to “Beat Arkansas’ A$$” as implied support and validation to Chiz and staff and let it go at that.
I was as upset as the next person at what he said in 2008 but, as Jerry notes, at the end of the day we know how much he, Bo and others care about AU.
WDE!
If Gill’s new discipline is the root of the Kansas freefall, that says some unflattering things about those players. He seemed to have success with that approach at his previous gig, so it may just take time to get “his” players in there. And there is likely a learning curve attached to it too, like the one Chizik experienced at Iowa State.
I think the bottom line we’ve seen over the past decades that it’s easier to win at Auburn than a lot of other places. It’s resources of locale, prestige and university/fan/alumni support give it a leg up on all but about 15 programs in the nation. Pat Dye told people this when he took the job 30 years ago.
In the last 20 years, Auburn turned a couple of also-ran coaches into hot commodities before their tragic flaws caught up with them. I’m not surprised with Chizik’s success and am more surprised by failure at Auburn, regardless of the coach.
Bottom line: I don’t care what Barkley said. Opinions are like, well, certain orifices…you know the rest.
I actually threw Chizik’s name out there immediately upon the dismissal of Tuberville. I based this on his going undefeated for us in 2004 and then for Texas the following year. That, along with his defensive coaching prowess and overall toughness and image, made for what I thought to be a strong resume and a powerful argument for him. I dismissed his ISU record as mostly meaningless, given the history of that program.
Thus I was shocked that the whole “5-19” thing became such a huge distraction and such a seemingly powerful argument against his hire. I maintain to this day that it was the bama people just *looking* for negativity to hurl at his hire that mostly was behind that.
(John, my “Wishbone” column co-writer, will attest if need be that what I said above is 100% true!) 🙂
“I think the bottom line we’ve seen over the past decades that it’s easier to win at Auburn than a lot of other places. It’s resources of locale, prestige and university/fan/alumni support give it a leg up on all but about 15 programs in the nation.”
This.
With respect to the resumes, I am not sure that Gills’ was better then Chizik’s. The man went two full years as a DC without losing a game on two different teams. Mac Brown hired him away from AU and without that defensive turnaround, they likely don’t make the BCSCG.
I get the whole 5-19 thing, but ISU is a bit different gig from Buffalo. ISU plays in the Big 12 and is likely the toughest place in the conference to recruit. Buffalo just another team in just another conference. Relative to their schedule, I’d bet that ISU is out-manned MUCH more often than Buffalo is.
Bottom line: DC at Auburn and Texas is about equal to HC at Buffalo.
Me thinks if Chizik didnt make such a homerun OC hire, this article would be about how can our defense be so bad when we have a defensive head coach. This could become a reality next year.
i don’t think the resume argument is valid, either. wasn’t gill’s epic turnaround of the century championship team like 7 and 5, or 8 and 5? and for that you’re gonna discount the many years that chizik was one of the most sought after DC’s, enough so that he was sought out as head coach for a (kinda) major school? i don’t buy that. gill was the flavor of the month, much like borges was a few years ago, and schiano a few years after that. chizik wasn’t a flash in the pan, regardless of his dismal record in his only two years as a head coach. that’s my (overly self-important) opinion.
Wow, I can’t believe the one and only WBE did not like when my man Chizik got hired. I’m shocked. I guess I was the only one that was happy that day I saw the Chizik hire news scroll across the espn bottomline. It was only moments after when I logged on to the ‘puter did I see such horrible things being said.
Barkley said what he wanted to say, who cares? He always does. A lot of people wanted Gill,… white, black, blue, or orange. Even more bashed Chizik.
I can’t understand why soooo many writers this week have wanted to crown my man Chizik by denouncing other writer’s comments. fineboob did this on his bandwagon article. One guy said coach was the worst hire in the history of the SEC.
Finally, if I hear that damn Kansas comparison again from a writer…, wow. Only someone who hasn’t played the game would compare Kansas to AU Football. Those schools are nowhere near similar in football programs (just like b-ball). Even though I never wanted Gill, who’s to say how it would be under him right now at AU. Honestly, all it’ll take is a loss this Sat and we’ll have more 5-19 articles (disclaimer…we’re not losing this Sat though). War Eagle