http://www.wjox690.com/goout.asp?u=http://joxfm.com/sectional.asp?id=23646Bashing the Birmingham media, particularly Finebaum. Saying Scarbinsky is approaching on Finebaum territory and he doesn't think he hates anyone more in the world than Finebaum.
He talks about how he didn't understand why the Turner Gill thing blew up to the proportion it did, yet he felt even stronger about the Shula hire over Croom and tried to make a bigger deal about it and he was ignored.
Someone needs to fill him in on the bammerham media conspiracies...
Here's the article in question that has the misleading headline.
http://blog.al.com/kevin-scarbinsky/2009/12/scarbinsky_charles_barkley_sti.htmlScarbinsky: Charles Barkley still thinks Auburn should have hired Turner Gill
By Kevin Scarbinsky -- The Birmingham News
December 15, 2009, 5:30AM
Charles Barkley is worried that Gene Chizik can't stand up to the heat brought by Alabama's Nick Saban. (The Huntsville Times / Robin Conn)
Charles Barkley is man enough to admit when he’s wrong.
One year after Auburn hired Gene Chizik, though, this Auburn man is not going to man up.
Barkley doesn’t think he was wrong.
He thinks the same thing today he thought a year ago.
Auburn should’ve done what Kansas just did.
Auburn should’ve hired Turner Gill.
“Turner would’ve been the right hire,” Barkley said. “I still think he would’ve been the better hire.”
With all due respect, Sir Chuck, what?
What about Chizik turning a 5-7 disaster into a 7-5 ray of hope?
What about Chizik becoming the first coach in Auburn history to lead the Tigers to a bowl game in his first season on the job?
(Asterisk noted. Terry Bowden went 11-0 in his debut, but NCAA probation kept his 1993 team home for the holidays.)
Barkley said he thought Chizik “had a very good first year. And now we’ll see where he goes from here.”
OK. What about recruiting?
Rivals.com says Auburn has the No. 8 class in the nation at the moment. Isn’t that a sign that Chizik has the Tigers moving in the right direction?
What about the job Chizik did in rounding up talented coaches like Gus Malzahn, Trooper Taylor and Curtis Luper? What about the job those assistants have done in rounding up talented prospects?
“They have done a great job in recruiting, but the face of the school will always be the head coach,” Barkley said.
That’s the center of his argument for Gill over Chizik, then and now. Name recognition.
“Look at the other coaches in the SEC,” Barkley said. “Nick Saban. Urban Meyer. Les Miles. Steve Spurrier. Houston Nutt. Mark Richt. Those names pop in your mind before Gene Chizik.
“Let’s not kid ourselves. As far as name recognition, Auburn is at a decided disadvantage. Not just in the state. In the SEC.”
Auburn is at a disadvantage in the state in so many ways, but the Tigers did manage to give Alabama its toughest game of the season for 60 minutes.
And still Alabama won that game and 12 others and will play for the national championship. And if Auburn is going to sign a top-10 recruiting class, Alabama is headed toward another top-three class.
Oh, and Mark Ingram just cut Auburn’s Heisman Trophy advantage over Alabama in half.
Barkley called it “the Alabama machine.”
Can Auburn stop it?
“My worst nightmare is coming true,” Barkley said. “I’m definitely concerned about Alabama going on a huge roll. I have great respect for Nick Saban. He’s won everywhere he’s been.”
A year ago, to combat Saban, Auburn chose Chizik over Gill (and others). In a sense, Auburn chose one head coach with a losing record over another head coach with a losing record to go head-to-head with one of the bigger winners in the college game.
Chizik put up a serious fight in his first bout with Saban, but you don’t make your reputation as a football coach in this state with one game or even one season.
Chizik hasn’t been close to a bust in his first year on the job, but he’s a long way from proving himself an unqualified success. He needs a lot more wins like Tennessee and Ole Miss, and fewer losses like Kentucky and Georgia, and eventually, he’ll need more than a moral victory over Alabama.
But he has given Auburn people and outside observers alike some tangible reasons to believe he just might get the job done.
That alone is definite progress from the day he was hired.
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