Turner Gill for Major Conference Head Coach

As I do with most of my spare time, I was watching ESPN yesterday and saw something that upset me for several different reasons. Auburn University recently lost their football coach of 10 years when Tommy Tuberville stepped down, but that was old news. Despite leading the Tigers to an undefeated season in 2004 and being named Coach of the Year and being the only Auburn head coach that's defeated in-state rival Alabama six consecutive times, one poor season means your done these days.

The first thing I'd like to air out is that coaches, especially at the collegiate level, come and go way too much. At Tennessee, Philip Fulmer was at the helm since 1992. He won a national championship, coached Peyton Manning, and felt the need to step down, lest he wanted to be fired. Are you kidding me? While he left on his own terms, it's a damn shame that anyone in their right mind would have shown Fulmer the door.

Based on his resume from 1992 until now, Joe Paterno would probably be fired by many SEC and ACC programs, which is a joke. Speaking of him, take a good look sports fans. Oh, and Bobby Bowden too. You'll probably never see anything like what they've done again. Ever.

But back to the mess down in Auburn. They hired a guy that coached at Iowa State for two years with a record of 5-19. 5-19! Ladies and gentlemen, The Tiger athletic department proudly presents... Gene Chizik, former Auburn defensive coordinator who said in an article on SportingNews.com that his family is "Auburn through and through."

Well isn't that sweet? He lost his last 10 games. A 10-game skid! And Auburn hands him the reigns.

The 'university relations' pick-up line must have carried some serious weight for whoever made the final decision to hire Chizik. They passed up University of Buffalo head coach Turner Gill, who just won the Mid-American Conference title and also happens to be African-American. The MAC, okay, but a conference title is exactly what it says it is.

Charles Barkley, an Auburn man himself, spoke publicly about how disgraced he was to see the University hire a less-qualified white coach than a better black coach, citing racism. I would like to think race was not behind Auburn's decision to hire Chizik rather than Gill, but how in God's green earth does a program pass on such a qualified candidate in Gill? He took Buffalo from the basement of the MAC to the top in three seasons.

Somehow Gill is one of just four black coaches in the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Jeff Schultz made an excellent point when he wrote that Chizik will suffer with recruiting for a few years, and that Gill would have given Auburn something that Alabama doesn't have in a recruit's living room. But oh wait, that would have been a front office decision that would have made sense, something universities don't do very often these days. It's either that or close-mindedness in the South.

Wouldn't it be something if Gill got the job at a place like Mississippi or Vanderbilt and in a few years built them into a power, taking over the SEC, making sure to steamroll Auburn? Yeah, that would be something. But then again, after the season Les Miles had at LSU, he's gotta figure to be on the hot seat.

Turner Gill, anyone?