Auburn alum Charles Barkley is one of the most recognizable voices in basketball today. Outside of his work with Inside The NBA on TNT, he covers the NCAA March Madness tournament every year as a studio analyst. He has always been a vocal analyst in everything basketball-related.
Charles Barkley has plenty of love for Auburn, as he spent 3 years there playing basketball. However, he recently called them out on some calls he received from the university and the NCAA itself.
Charles Barkley Speaks On NIL Deals
On the Don’t @ Me With Dan Dakich‘s show Friday, the NBA analyst called out the “NCAA jackasses” for the giant mess they made with sharing revenues with student-athletes via NIL deals. In the interview, Barkley stated,
“These NCAA idiots are fools, I should just call them jackasses like they are. I’m trying to figure out how they screwed up college sports. I said it one day, I would call it the Wild Wild West, but that would be disrespectful to the Wild Wild West. I have no idea how we ruined college sports, and I understand why Dan [Hurley] is like, “I might as well go to the NBA and make a lot of money. Don’t have the headache of NIL and the transfer portal,” because I have no idea where college sports are going. But it’s going in a bad direction.”
Barkley Calls Out Auburn For Excessive Calls
In that same interview with Dan, he called out his alma mater. He became exhausted with the constant calls from the university to aid their funding to support student-athletes regarding NIL (Name-Image-Likeness).
The Round Mound of Rebound also said, “My biggest pet peeve, and I told them, y’all can’t call me every year and ask for millions of dollars. That’s not going to happen.” He continued by saying, “Y’all need to stop. I love Auburn. But the chances of me going back to black and broke again because I want Auburn to be good in football and basketball that’s not going to happen. I love my school, but I don’t love them that much.”
Barkley had a great career at Auburn. His number 34 was retired by the program. He won SEC Player of the Year, a First-Team All-SEC selection, a two-time Second-Team All-SEC selection, and an SEC tournament MVP.
College Alumni Might Get Relief From These Excessive Calls Soon
The growth of NIL deals has affected college sports in a major way, with the inclusion of transfer portals. These deals require constant maintenance and can even irritate alumni and some of the college administrative staff.
Help might be on their way to stop universities from calling them nonstop for help. The House vs NCAA settlement will give athletic departments the opportunity to pay student-athletes directly. The deal could help augment those payments directly through internal efforts within the universities.
It doesn’t mean the deals are going away anytime soon. It could, at least, have Auburn stop calling Barkley often for donations.
For More NBA or NCAA News and Rumors
To view more great stories featuring the NBA, WNBA, or College Hoops click the link.
