Red's Rants: Auburn has its man...let's be colorblind and let it go, please

By Brendan Hall
Fan Fanatic Sports Staff

Tuned into Outside the Lines yesterday afternoon to find a segment that was particularly frustrating to watch.

Let's be honest, ever since the show went to a daily afternoon slot, they've been stretched thin for ideas. That's why you see them doing features on Bobby Reid transferring, why Rick Barry can't get a job, and the guy Danny Almonte struck out for his perfect game "getting redemption" (huh?). But this one struck a nerve with me a little bit, and not just because Paul Finebaum (Luv Ya Blue!) was a panelist in its ensuing roundtable discussion.

OK, so last December, Auburn University forced Tommy Tuberville outta the head post after a turbulent season. They had the choice of hiring Turner Gill, a guy with an excellent track record as an assistant at Nebraska and who turned Buffalo from a Division 1 afterthought to a MAC champion; or Gene Chizik, who had back-to-back undefeated teams as defensive coordinator (Auburn 2004, national champ Texas 2005) but went just 5-19 in two seasons at Iowa State -- an admittedly tough place to win.

Auburn went with the latter, sparking national outrage about potential racial undertones. Gill had been denied a year earlier at his alma mater, Nebraska, over Bo Pelini, who is 15-5 midway through his second season at the helm and has put fear back in the famed "Blackshirts" defense. Charles Barkley at the time called the school racist, and in this segment the Buffalo athletic director thinks Gill was screwed. ESPN's Mark Schlabach at the time went on air and suggest -- through his head coach sources, of course -- that Gill was not hired because he's married to a white woman.

(OK, call me a hypocrite if you must...I contributed research to a Bob Hohler report in the Globe back in 2006 on minority coaching hires in college football. I'm just calling this how I see it)

I understood the hire -- there's no question Gill could do a great job, but they went with the safety -- but at the same time questioned it. Would his familarity with the south in recruiting help him pull together a strong enough recruiting class in just two months? He's went out and proven us wrong, putting together a Top 20 class on signing day and sparking the Tigers off to a 5-0 start.

Could Gill have done the same? Sure. But that's not the point of this column.

Why, ten months later, are we still pointing fingers and playing the race card? Why, Mr. Finebaum, are you suggesting looking into Nebraska's "racist" hire? Why is race still an issue here?

Or how bout Kevin Blackistone suggesting that the track records of DeWayne Walker (1-4 at NM St.) and Mike Locksley (2-3 at New Mexico) will work against future minority candidates? That's the most racist crap I've ever heard. Sorry Mr. Gill, New Mexico State sucked this year, so we don't think you're the right fit at Notre Dame.

I don't get it.

I'm sorry, I thought in this age of Obama we were supposed to be colorblind in our discussion of race. And by colorblind, I don't mean "bitterly play the race card after somebody loses out on a tough call". What if Ray Lewis played the race card after all the questionable calls the Ravens got in their loss Sunday? Would we be lauding him for his "boldness", or lambasting him? Something tells me the latter.

Let's all do ourselves a favor and put this one to rest, before it gets REAL ugly.

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So this is the "Blackshirt" defense Pelini was brought in to revive. Have you ever seen such a quick twist of fate than the Huskers' 27-point fourth quarter rally? And how about Ndamukong Suh for top five NFL Draft pick next spring?

On Suh...the ESPN announcers pronounced him as "Mr. Suh" a handful of times last night. Get it right, people, it's N-D-A-M-U-K-O-N-G. Duh.

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Baylor over Oklahoma this week. Period.