Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Charles Barkley criticizes NCAA, supports Bruce Pearl at Auburn reunion event

Former NBA star and current television commentator Barkley arrives on a horse for Game 3 of the NBA Western Conference in Oklahoma City

Former NBA star and current television commentator Charles Barkley arrives on a horse for Game 3 of the NBA Western Conference basketball finals between the San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma May 31, 2012. REUTERS/Steve Sisney (UNITED STATES - Tags: SPORT BASKETBALL ANIMALS MEDIA)

REUTERS

Charles Barkley is at it again. The outspoken NBA analyst, and former league MVP, was invited back to Auburn along with other prominent former Tiger players and coaches on Friday and Barkley spoke out against the NCAA while defending new Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl.

Pearl took the Auburn job in March after being fired from Tennessee as the head coach faced a three-year NCAA show-cause penalty stemming from recruiting violations and lying to NCAA officials. In a report from Duane Rankin of the Montgomery Advertiser, Barkley gave his take on the incident while also taking a shot at the NCAA.

“I thought he got screwed by the NCAA. He did not get a fair deal with the NCAA. I’m not a big NCAA fan as you can tell. What happened to him was really unfair,” Barkley said on Friday.

Barkley was invited back to Auburn for the Moore’s Mill Club event by Pearl along with former Auburn head coaches Sonny Smith and Cliff Ellis -- currently the head coach at Coastal Carolina. Former players also attended the event and Barkley appreciated that Pearl invited former coaches of the program to maintain support.

“I want to thank Bruce for having all us guys back,” Barkley said in the report. “It’s really cool. I look forward to coming back any time I get an opportunity. The one thing people aren’t talking about is I thought it was cool to invite all the old coaches. People always invite the old players back, but to invite the old coaches, I thought that was spectacular. I’m glad to be here, we’re going to have some fun.”

The former forward also had kind words to say about Pearl and Barkley said he’ll continue to support the new head coach in whatever way that he can.

“I’m going to support Bruce. I’m not one those alumni. Trust me, Auburn has enough alumni who are in a pain in the [expletive] to run the football program. I’m going to support Bruce,” Barkley said to Rankin. “Whatever he needs from me, I want to support the program. I’m not one of those alumni. I just want to support my team and my school. That’s it. Plain and simple.”

It’s nice for Pearl to have an event like this and the new head coach seems to have done a nice job of bringing back important figures in Auburn’s basketball history to continue to support the program. Bringing back a current Division I head coach in Cliff Ellis, who led Auburn to two Sweet 16 appearances, especially shows that Pearl respects the legacy of former key members of the program as he looks to build the Tigers into a perennial contender in the SEC.

As for Barkley, it’s interesting that he’s taking shots at the NCAA when he helps provide studio coverage of the NCAA Tournament in March. Nobody is ever going to get Charles Barkley to stop talking, but will this criticism of the NCAA hurt his broadcasting career in any way?

Follow @phillipshoops