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 hiring of Gene Chizik. First off let me clearly state, that I know nothing about the Auburn program or have any inside information, I will just give you my opinion from a Michigan fan that went through a "painful" coaching search last year.

Here is Barkley's comments on the hire:

"I believe race had a factor. Of course I do," Barkley, a former Auburn and NBA star, said Monday in a phone interview with The Associated Press hours after Chizik was introduced. "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?"

Here is Auburn's AD's comment: Jay Jacobs denied that race was a factor, saying he picked "the best fit for Auburn."

I have been very critical of AD's this off season 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 Gene 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. Gene had two seasons experience at 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 knows.

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 this sailboat full time, because the Michigan faithful would have thrown him out of office and ran 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, where last year is all that you remember, I don't see anyway 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 does this hire have on 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 where ever 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.