Speaking of control freaks ...

Then we have Auburn coach Gene Chizik, who’s absolutely mum on off-season arrests of several Tigers and the dismissal of five players from last season’s national championship team.

Chizik responded to questions about off-field incidents by saying he would only answer “spring practice and our football team and guys that are currently on our team.”

Way to man up, Coach. Way to give your kids a good lesson in accountability.

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.