Charles Barkley admits that Hugh Freeze wasn’t his first choice to be the new Tigers football coach, but he will fully support him.

Barkley, a prominent Auburn alum and Basketball Hall of Famer, told Mark Heim of AL.com that he was hoping Deion Sanders would have gotten the job, but Freeze is the guy and those that criticizing him should worry about themselves.

“One thing about being in the ‘Bible Belt,’ there’s a lot of people around here who think they’ve never made a mistake in their life,” Barkley said. ‘I never pay attention to that noise, and that’s what it is noise. Ain’t none of us perfect, but for some reason when you’re in the ‘Bible Belt,’ I saw a sign ‘don’t judge anyone.’ They judge everyone.”

Freeze was introduced as the new Auburn coach earlier in the week. At Liberty where Freeze led the Flames to a 34-15 record over four seasons. Previous to that he was the head coach at Ole Miss and was part of a run where the Rebels had to vacate 33 wins because of NCAA sanctions.