Charles Barkley Says NCAA 'Jacka**es' Are Ruining College Sports, Tells Auburn To Stop Calling For Donations

Charles Barkley is certainly not the type of guy to hold back his feelings when it comes to the current state of college athletics under the guidance of the NCAA. 

During an appearance on Friday on OutKick's Don't @ Me With Dan Dakich, the NBA host called out the ‘jackasses’ at the NCAA for having a part in what has turned into a giant mess in how they've handled the upcoming revenue sharing with student-athletes. 

"These NCAA idiots and fools, I should just call them jackasses like they are. I'm trying to figure out how we've 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 did we ruin 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 headaches of NIL and the transfer portal', because I have no idea where college sports are going. But it's going in a bad direction. 

"I don’t know what to do about it, because I think it's very important."

WATCH THE FULL CLIP WITH BARKLEY AND DAKICH HERE:

We have all seen where the conversation around revenue sharing is headed. It's not some hidden secret. There will be tough decisions to make for athletic departments in the future regarding the long-term solutions on how to afford it all, which could end up leaving them with no other option but to cut certain sports. 

In terms of how we got to this point, Charles Barkley makes the point that everything regarding the new models comes down to just 1% of athletes on campuses across the country. 

"We have screwed up college sports for one percent, Dan," Barkley told Dakich. "One percent of players who probably make all the money, but we're going to end up screwing up the 99% that actually need college to get a free education. I feel so sad for those 99% that we're gonna screw it up for that one percent. 

"There's gonna be a lot of schools that go under because they can’t afford or can’t pay players. I think women's sports are really gonna suffer the most. So i understand what Danny's (Hurley) mindset it, because we just lost Nick Saban for the NIL thing, Jay Wright and I haven't spoke with Coach K lately, but i bet he's feeling some sort of way."

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MAY 15: Charles Barkley attends the Warner Bros. Discovery Upfront 2024 on May 15, 2024 in New York City.  (Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images for Warner Bros. Discovery)

Barkley Wonders What Schools Get Back For Paying Athletes

One of the most common questions that are being asked right now around college campuses is what a return on investment will look like in the future. If you have boosters still donating to NIL, while the school is also at the same time trying to raise money for other projects, we find ourselves in the same spot that we were in when this all started in 2021. 

"If I am gonna give a guy a couple million, which is crazy to even think about because were paying a guy a couple million to go to school for six months. What's the benefit to the school?," Charles Barkley told Dan Dakich. "Football is a little bit different, cause at least you get three years of them. But if I'm gonna pay a basketball player two million dollars, and he's only going to be on campus for six months and it's kinda hard to throw a bunch of guys together, and we lose in the first or second round, i don’t understand how that helps the program."

While I imagine Charles Barkley was talking about the football side of this and having a player sign some sort of contract under the new revenue sharing model that could lock them in for a certain amount of years, even though they'd have to be named employees, he does make a point about the return on investment with basketball. 

Auburn, Stop Hitting Up Charles Barkley For NIL Donations

But, he didn’t stop at just the NCAA or how we're going to pay certain athletes. The former Auburn Tiger put a warning out to his school to stop hitting him up for millions of dollars per year, in a serious, but joking manner. 

"My biggest pet peeve, and i've told them, y'all can't call me every year asking for millions of dollars, that's not gonna happen" Charles Barkley said about Auburn. "Ya'll need to stop. I love Auburn, 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 gonna happen. 

"I love my school, but I don't love them that much."

Sounds like Charles Barkley has figured out the whole return on investment deal when it comes to donating for wins.