Boycott Auburn Football?

Boycott Auburn Football?

Ok, that sounds foolish, you can’t boycott a university can you?

Maybe.

I realize many times we go overboard on things we think are important, while others may not see it that way. I agree to that, but I also believe that there are times you have to speak your mind, and address issues that seemed to be worth addressing.

If you read my last blog, I made a comment about how Auburn University has been under fire by noted alum Charles Barkley, as he accused his alma mater of using race to pick their new head coach. Charles Barkley said that Auburn had just as equal a chance to hire Buffalo head coach, Turner Gill, but refused, going for Gene Chizik, who has won only 5 games in two years with Iowa State.

He was not the only person to speak out against the move, many other people, some in the professional world of sports, have given a strong opinion of Auburn and the decision they made. In my last blog, I talked about how people can make a strong voice of opinion against this university, but before I do, let me do this:

There was a question of how Auburn could “spin” this story to get as much damage off them as they could, some folks said there is nothing Auburn could have said, because there was no argument that Turner Gill SHOULD have been that coach. I will play devil’s advocate because in truth, there is some credibility in the hire.

If Auburn wanted to (and perhaps what they should have done), they could have explained to the press that even though Turner Gill would have been an excellent hire, the reason why they went for Gene Chizik was because he actually does have a history with Auburn in the past. Gene Chizik was the defensive coordinator for Auburn back in 2002 to 2004, and in that time accomplished many goals, including going to the Capital One Bowl, the Music City Bowl and the Sugar Bowl. For two years his defense was amongst the best in the nation, and he received Broyles Award in 2004, given to the best assistant coach in the nation. In 2004 that same Auburn team went 13-0, won the SEC, and beat Virginia Tech in the Sugar Bowl and finished #2 in the polls.

See folks, if Auburn had come out and shared this with the public, and people like noted alum Charles Barkley, THEN I could not argue that in truth, they may have gotten the best man for the job. Yes, Turner Gill won the MAC Championship this year, while Gene ends a second season of losing, but if you are looking for a spark to keep the Auburn alum and rich boosters happy, sometimes you have to hire “in the family” to keep some happy.

And I will be honest, I would not argue with that IF that is what they did, or if this was the reasoning of their hire…but that isn’t what we heard, was it? In fact, Auburn never said anything, as if hiding in shame for closing another door of opportunity to another African American coach.

Now I say this in light of also finding out that Ron English will become the 5th head coach in the NCAA Division I because Eastern Michigan recently hired him….

Hmmm, same old formula… team in the gutters, desperate so they hire an African American to help them. How many winning seasons EMU had since 1989...one? Two?

I wish Ron English well, but it clearly is an uphill battle, but at least the MAC recognizes that man should not be judged on color, but rather merit.

But back to Auburn…

I would have been willing to buy the background of Chizik if Auburn chose to justify that, but that by saying nothing, it seems that Auburn had shown their “true colors”…and that is truer than it seems.

So how do you change the attitudes of universities that clearly do not want to give an African American or any minority a chance? Schools like Auburn have NO problem recruiting black kids from high school, and in fact take them in great abundance. You sit there and cheer for them in the stands while swearing by your team colors every Saturday, and every Fall season becomes a holy time to you when your Tigers take to the field.

But deep inside, you don’t care one bit about the person that plays for you, especially if he is black. Once he has played his years and moves on, you look for the next black kid to uphold your sacred sport. After all, they were chosen only to play for you, never to coach or lead…they are not smart enough (as a fool would say).

So how do you change this kinda attitude? I mentioned before, the way to do it is to hit them in the place the most covet. In this case, Auburn University covets football more than anything else. Rich alum give millions of dollars to Auburn to support football, and most of them hide like cowards behind a racist cloth, making puppets of the Athletic Director and heads of the university.

So I say make them aware that these kinda “cloak and dagger” methods cannot be tolerated. I say, boycott Auburn University.

You say that’s just stupid and it will never work? I disagree, in fact, if put in motion, it would put the fear of God in Auburn University.

I say again, if you want to make a REAL statement on colleges who refuse to hire black coaches, hit them in recruiting. For example, I know some read my blogs, but if for some strange reason a national media got hold of this and ran it, or if somebody spread the word to boycott Auburn University, that would create a major fear that Auburn would lose the ONE thing that would embarrass even the cowards that hid behind closed doors…recruits.

I guarantee you, if the word got out to high school kids playing football that Auburn does not recognize equality, do you think they would play for that school? If parents with prospective children got word that Auburn does not care about black kids, do you think they would send their children to such a “school of higher learning”?

Charles Barkley was asked what could be done about it. Coach Mike Tomlin was asked what to do about it, the answer is right there. Sometimes talking to people that see color of skin first is not productive, because they will not listen. Charles and Mike both understood that just talking about it is only a start, but unless Auburn University starts to really look at the mirror and see that they should have hired the best man for the job instead of what the “good ole boys” wanted, this could have been avoided.

I promise you this…if Charles Barkley said “boycott Auburn Football” , I guarantee you that inside of a week, there would be some major changes in the entire university. If some of those sports celebrities even uttered that idea, I promise you Auburn University would have to have a crisis meeting to fix the problem.

If you want to make Auburn listen, and I say this also to all those other teams in the SEC, since they are incredibly slow to hire black coaches in football anyway, I say press the word to boycott the school, and especially the football program. Let Auburn football fall apart while the Tigers go 3-9 or 2-10 or a few very bad seasons, I promise you they will hire more fairly next time. That does not mean they HAVE to hire a black head coach, because next year, or 3 years from now, or 5 years from now, there may be a great candidate that isn’t black. But I bet you they’ll go the extra mile to show the nation that they did take all the steps necessary to give a black candidate a fair shot.

While I’m at it, some thumbs down to some other schools. Kansas State fired Ron Prince, a black head coach, and rehired Bill Snyder…now, I know he was a good coach, but you STILL should have interviewed other candidates. Thumbs down to Florida State, naming a coach for the future, and thus ignoring a chance to even interview anybody else. And shame on you Texas, for naming a guy EIGHT YEARS in the future. Way to dodge the idea of interviewing or even giving a shot to African American prospects.

I can’t get mad at Washington, but to me it seems like the standards for a black head coach are much shorter than those that are white. Today Arizona is in a bowl, and Mike Stoops is the head coach…somebody tell me, how does he keep his job for what, five years, with a losing record every year, and they run out Tyrone Willingham after what, 15 minutes? How about Sylvester Crooms, who was kicked out this year. I guarantee you they would have fired him last year, after only 3 years, were it not for the fact that they did win 8 games.

There is a way to change this…hit these football programs right where it hurts… recruits. If the word got out to boycott Auburn for unfair hiring practices, or schools like Notre Dame that didn’t give Willingham a fair shot like everybody else in Notre Dame Football HISTORY, and schools like that, you would force schools to become more aggressive to give African Americans a chance.

Boycott Auburn Football? In 2008? Sure, why not, it might as well be today, since Auburn seems to continue to live in 1968, or 1958, what’s 40 or 50 years to people that refuse to change?

Cowards of SEC Football

Cowards of SEC Football

Today I am enjoying the college football bowls, and watched Wake Forest defeat Navy in a very good game, and between that game and the New Mexico Bowl, there was a segment where the guys in the studio talked about the Auburn Football mess.

And that is the best word for it…MESS.

I saw what Charles Barkley (one of my favorite players) said on it, especially as he is an Auburn alum, and what the head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers also said about it. Desmond Howard made a comment that seems to be right on the money, in that the fact that all these people have spoken against Auburn, and the university has said literally nothing, it seems to prove that their silence is their answer on a very bad decision.

To recap, Auburn got rid of their head coach, Tommy Tuberville, and went looking for a new coach. Amongst the people they “interviewed” was an African American head coach, Turner Gill, who coached Buffalo University, and had recently won the MAC Championship, defeating previously undefeated Ball State.

But Auburn decided to choose Gene Chizik, who was 5-19 in two years at Iowa State. Now, compare again, 5-19 and two losing seasons, against a man who just won the MAC Championship…what’s the difference? Color?

Likely.

This is a shameful way to do business, and sadly it screams of the undertone of many so called “Americans”, especially in NCAA football. Anyone who thinks college football isn’t managed by “good ole boys” is delusional. And yet, the entire conference is also at blame. The SEC ought to be ashamed of themselves and the stand they apparently believe in.

Let me take you back to about 2001 and explain.

On ABC one Saturday I was watching halftime of a football game, and John Saunders was interviewing the SEC Commissioner on the lack of African American coaches in the SEC. In fact, in the HISTORY of the SEC, there has never been a black head coach. WHY?

This was what John Saunders talked to the SEC Commissioner about, and you are not going to believe the answer he (commissioner) gave. Not quoting him word for word, but I can say with great confidence that what he said boiled down to this:

“Well, that’s just the way it is here”

The Commissioner of the SEC, the head of this collection of southern colleges and universities, is saying that the reason why they don’t have a black head coach is because that’s just the way it is…absolute ignorant and foolish to say in light that we live in a time where this should not be an issue…especially in the “good ole” USA.

It looked like John Saunders seemed upset at how this guy was apparently not too worried about the situation, almost shrugging his shoulders about the entire affair. I watched that in disgust, seeing how some people can be so stupid.

A year or so later, about 2002 or so, I remember seeing more about this, and I remember making a joke to my brother about it. I cannot remember the exact words I said, but I will put it this way, in how I think I said it to him:

“You know what the SEC is going to do, don’t you? They are taking a lot of shots because they don’t have a black coach, and what they are going to do is have a secret meeting with all the SEC schools. They are going to try to get this monkey off their back by telling the SEC that the team with the worst record should just go out and hire a black man, so that they will get this color monkey off their back”

I believed at that time that Vanderbilt would have been the team, since they were usually at the bottom of the conference, but we believed that the SEC was going to make it a high priority to hire a black head coach, not because it was right, but because it gets the racial monkey off their backs.

Turns out they seemed to do that by hiring Sylvester Crooms. Now, am I saying he was not the right man for the job, no, not at all, but I think we all knew he was living day to day there. Mississippi State won the National Title WHEN?

The last time Mississippi State was in the top ten was WHEN?

We’re not talking about a powerhouse team, we are talking about a team that was in the gutter. And it’s like some say, the only jobs an African American coach can get are teams that are far past gone. It just seemed the “right” fit for Mississippi State, with the blessings of the SEC, to hire Mr. Crooms, knowing that after 3 years, they were likely going to fire him anyway. I strongly believe Mississippi would have fired Crooms LAST year except that he managed to win 8 games…can’t fire him for that unless you wanted to create a national racial scandal. But this year they had enough condemnation to get rid of him.

So it seems that the SEC got their wish, they hired a black head coach to silence the critics, and not he’s out, so maybe another 10 years or so they may hire another African American coach. The good ole boy system is back in place, and it is business as usual.

Now, I have nothing bad to say about Gene Chizik, none at all, in fact, was he not on the same Auburn team when they went undefeated several years ago as a coordinator? I will not say anything against Gene, and I truly wish him well, it must be very hard for him to take this job under these circumstances. But this is the ugly mark of proof that racism is as alive today as it was back when the Tangerine Bowl told Buffalo that they could play in the bowl IF they rejected the black players on their team.

Stupid idiots, I am glad there is no more Tangerine Bowl….

But the Auburn problem still exists, and it seems that Auburn has gone into hiding, hoping to let some water run under the bridge.

Someone asked how to stop this kind of racial hiring, and there is something that can be done. Something that, if done, would put the fear of God into any college or university that is indeed hiring men based on color, rather than merit…

Boycott the school.

Think I am kidding…think about this…

In a place like Alabama, football is almost a religion, so schools like Auburn rely heavily on football season, and the desire to have a great team. Yet we know that at least half the players on any team are African American…

What if somebody like Charles Barkley said to the national public, “Don’t send your children to Auburn” or tell parents of African American kids, “Don’t send your son to play football for Auburn”.

If people started to boycott Auburn University, and if wise parents were determined NOT to send their children to a “school of higher learning” that makes decisions based on race, I guarantee you that the university will make changes. Not because they care, but because of FEAR.

Fear of losing football games.

Let Auburn regress back to the days of segregation and see how many games the Auburn Tigers will win without the talent of African American kids on the football team. Imagine those kids going to say…Alabama? Or UAB, or other southern schools?

If you want to make a STRONG point in that racial discrimination is NOT allowed in this country, not now, and not ever, then hit Auburn or any SEC school (or any NCAA school) where it hurts…sports. Take away the recruits by boycott and I PROMISE you they will sing a new song of gospel harmony.

Look at Notre Dame, when they got rid of Willingham, and got bad press about possible discrimination, they went into damage control and did what????

Hired Tim Brown, a former Notre Dame football player, and Heisman Trophy winner, to help with recruiting…oh, did I mention Tim is black?

Notre Dame knew that if they didn’t do something to offset the negative press of firing a black coach, their recruiting would suffer heavily. The same will happen to Auburn unless they change their tune.

I’m telling you, if parents or people called to boycott from Auburn Football, by sending recruits to other schools, it will hit Auburn right in the mouth. And I say this sadly, because I LIKED Auburn, especially when they had Bowden on the team as the head coach, and went undefeated but were not eligible for a bowl. I LIKE the Tigers.

But I do not like what they are doing, and I fear it may be by design. I am not saying to go out and hire any black head coach for the sake of hiring them, I am saying compare merits, and hire the BEST MAN FOR THE JOB.

Not by color, but by merit. Be a man Auburn, not a coward.