Former Auburn player and basketball Hall of Famer Charles Barkley said Monday he was shocked when Auburn hired Iowa State’s Gene Chizik as its next football coach over the University at Buffalo’s Turner Gill.

Gill, who led the Bulls to their first Mid-American Conference championship with an upset over previously unbeaten Ball State, last week interviewed for jobs at Auburn and Syracuse and last year interviewed at Nebraska, where he was a player and assistant coach. Syracuse hired New Orleans offensive coordinator Doug Marrone, who played for the Orange in the ’80s, while Auburn hired Chizik, who in two seasons at Iowa State went 5-19.

“I’m in shock that Turner didn’t get that job,” Barkley told The Buffalo News on Monday. “First of all he deserved the job — I’m in shock. It’s so frustrating because he should have gotten the Nebraska job, and it’s frustrating to me that a guy with a proven track record doesn’t get these jobs. It’s no disrespect to the coaches who get these jobs.”

Barkley, easily one of Auburn’s most recognizable former athletes, first endorsed Gill in a radio interview two weeks ago. Barkley said a presence like Gill’s was needed at Au- burn to compete against the Southeastern Conference’s cache of high-level coaches, including Alabama’s Nick Saban and Florida’s Urban Meyer.

Chizik replaced former Tigers coach Tommy Tuberville, who won 85 games in 10 seasons but resigned earlier this month after a disappointing 5-7 season.

“I look at what Turner has done at different schools, that’s even more impressive,” Barkley said. “I wanted Turner to get the job because he earned it and deserved it. I thought it would have been a great pop nationwide for Auburn, which we really need with Nick Saban on the other side of the state, with Mark Richt at Georgia and with Urban Meyer at Florida and Les Miles at LSU.”

“We needed some heat; we needed a spark,” Barkley added. “No disrespect to Gene Chizik, but when he walks into a room with those four guys there isn’t a single high school All-American in the country who’s going to know him.”

Barkley also can’t understand why so many athletic directors are hiring coaches who lack head coaching experience instead of coaches like Gill. Florida State offensive coordinator Jimbo Fisher and Texas defensive coordinator Will Muschamp were also mentioned as candidates at Auburn.

“Jimbo Fisher is probably a good coach, but he doesn’t have a track record as a head coach,” Barkley said. “Will Muschamp doesn’t have a track record as a head coach. [Tennessee coach] Lane Kiffin does not.

“And it’s so frustrating to me that these black coaches are getting looked over. I want to know why all these white coaches all of the sudden become hot after having one good year. Of course they are, they’re defensive coordinator and offensive coordinator at Texas or USC. They’re going to have good years because they have the best college talent in the world.”

Gill was asked Monday if he was given a fair opportunity during the interview process at Syracuse and Auburn.

“It’s up for everybody’s own opinion,” said Gill, who withdrew his name for consideration at Syracuse. “I feel as if I had a sincere look. God has a plan and if he wanted me to be at those particular places he would have placed me there. I’m excited to be the head football coach here and we’ll see how things work out.”

There is the possibility that Gill will be contacted by Chizik’s former school, Iowa State, but as of Monday that school had yet to speak with UB Athletic Director Warde Manuel for permission to talk to Gill.

Gill is one of only four African- American coaches among the 119 programs in the Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A). The others are New Mexico’s Mike Locksley, Miami’s Randy Shannon and Houston’s Kevin Sumlin. Washington’s Tyrone Willingham and Kansas State’s Ron Prince were fired during the year, and Mississippi State’s Sylvester Croom resigned.

Barkley said he’s speaking out for African-American coaches because if they do, “they’re going to be considered the angry black guy,” he said.

“The assistant coaches, they can’t say anything because the ADs will say, ‘Oh, we can’t hire the angry black guy,’ ” Barkley said. “There’s so much [expletive] and double standards to all this stuff. For Turner, [Georgia assistant] Rodney Garner, [Florida assistant] Charlie Strong, they can’t say anything because they’ll become the angry black guy.”