You can count Charles Barkley among those excited for the start of the Bryan Harsin era on The Plains.

Arguably the most well-known alum of the school — and without a doubt the most unique character produced by Auburn — Barkley was asked to share his thoughts on the program’s new football coach during an appearance at the Regions Tradition Pro-Am golf event.

The way Barkley sees it, it took guts for Harsin to leave a comfortable situation at Boise State to jump into the pressure cooker of the SEC and compete against Nick Saban and the mighty Alabama football program.

“To leave the confines of Boise, where you could probably win 7-8 games a year and live happily ever after, to come on down to Alabama and take on King Kong, that takes tremendous courage and belief in yourself,” Barkley said in the clip below. “So, I’m really excited about Coach Harsin.”

Check out video of the Barkley’s comments courtesy of Drew Carter of CBS 42: