More than a statistical anomaly

I don’t know that NBA Hall of Famer and one-time Auburn Tiger Charles Barkley is right that “race was the No. 1 factor” in the school’s hiring of Gene Chizik to be its next football coach. Hiring Chizik meant bypassing Turner Gill, who has a better record as a head coach than Chizik — and, yes, Chizik is white and Gill is black.

I don’t know that race was involved in any specific coach hirings of the past few years.

I do know, however, that race HAS to be involved in the fact that out of 119 programs in the NCAA's Football Bowl Subdivision, only four — count ’em, four — are black.

There’s a phrase to describe this: institutional racism, and the NCAA doesn’t seem to give a damn.