Charles Barkley has no plans to donate to Auburn University athletics. Not everyone thinks Chuck's unwillingness to gamble on a roster meshing and being coached right in a hyper-competitive landscape is smart money, donating his money to help out his native city, Birmingham, and HBCUs.
OutKick's Trey Wallace believes that's more than forgivable considering everything Sir Charles does as an ambassador to AU with his national platform.
"The problem that we are seeing right now in college athletics centers around boosters or alumni who have given money in the past finally realizing that it's a poor investment. Some schools have enough big-time donors that are willing to give money to see their team succeed," Wallace wrote.
"But, the problem is that there will only be one team at the end of the season that will raise a trophy. So, the return on investment is clearly not worth it to some, including Charles Barkley. If we're honest, Barkley does enough for Auburn by being around the program, or finding a way to name-drop the Tigers every chance he gets on ‘Inside The NBA.'"
Barkley is undeniably the most effective evangelist of all things Auburn in the mainstream. To underscore what Barkley has meant for AU during the Tigers' rise to a national power would be wrong just because he's not investing.
And who knows? Maybe he'll invest in coaches he believes in one day. Let's not forget that Barkley admitted to wanting Deion Sanders hired in 2022. Also, it's not a stretch to say Barkley doesn't completely see eye to eye with Bruce Pearl and Hugh Freeze ideologically.
That hasn't affected Barkley's love for either program. He even defended Bryan Harsin when most turned against him.
Chuck believes in Auburn, and he loves it. No amount of NIL money, paid or unpaid, can change that statement.