No room for racism in SEC football

-- This is my column that will appear in the Citizen of East Alabama Wednesday --

In the wake of Auburn University’s decision to hire Gene Chizik as its next head football coach, there has been a strong public outcry of disappointment. But beyond that, there have been a few people who cried that Auburn is racist for choosing Chizik over Turner Gill, who happens to be black.

The funny thing is that the racial argument is coming primarily from one group of people: the media. Sure, you could make a strong argument that Chizik might not have been the best choice for the job, but to say he was chosen over Gill because Gill is black or because he is married to a white woman is ridiculous and unfair.

Not only has Gill, himself, come out and said he would not have been a good fit for the Auburn job, but so have players and other coaches. Nobody but Jay Jacobs and Turner Gill know what was said in his interview. Maybe his plan was simply not very good.

Not to mention that I have on pretty good word that one of Auburn’s recent black assistant coaches is married to a white woman. How then, can anybody say that’s the reason Gill was not hired? Especially when that particular coach was one of Auburn’s lead recruiters…

When winning football games is one of the most important things at a school, such as Auburn, I promise you there is no room for racism. I guarantee that if the powers at be at Auburn believed hiring Turner Gill, or any other black, green or yellow coach would help win recruits and ultimately football games, that it would be a done deal. But that’s not necessarily the case. They believe Gene Chizik will help them win recruits and football games, bottom line.

What really upsets me the most about the whole situation is this: of all the coaching searches and hirings that have taken place the last two months, why is Auburn the only school being questioned as racist?

What about Clemson, or Tennessee, or Syracuse – none of which even interviewed a minority coach? Syracuse is less than two hours away from Buffalo, where Gill is now. It really makes a lot of sense that Syracuse should have hired Gill – being that he already knows how to recruit the area. But they didn’t. What about Nebraska last year? Gill is an alumnus there. If he is so good, why did they pass on him? Why aren’t these schools being called racist? What about Iowa State? They just hired Paul Rhodes. Why aren’t they being called racist?

It just doesn’t make sense, until you consider the source of the information. None of the schools I just mentioned have a loudmouth celebrity alumnus who is willing to betray his alma mater to get attention.

Of course, I’m referring to Sir Charles Barkley. I loved him as a basketball player, but most often nowadays, I just wish he would keep his mouth shut. He’s kind of a joke in the media ranks and what he says should be taken simply as entertainment. But when somebody of his stature says something about his own, unfortunately the media is going to run with it. Luckily, it seems to be blowing over.