ESPN personality Paul Finebaum isn’t afraid to call out anyone, including former Alabama coach Nick Saban.
Saban has been a huge advocate for the Protect College Sports Act ever since it was introduced this past June. The seven-time national champion believes college football needs strict guidelines to ensure that it won’t collapse in the coming years.
“There’s not any business in the world that can function without a budget and some guidelines,” Saban said, via Awful Announcing. “If you ask an NFL owner, what would you do if all your players were free agents every year? ‘Oh, we couldn’t operate.’ What would you do if you didn’t have a salary cap? ‘Oh, we couldn’t operate. We’d go broke. Well, what’s going to happen in college sports is you’re going to either take money from the academic side to support athletics because we’re in a runaway, you know, financial situation, or you’re going to drop other Olympic sports and non-revenue sports that are very important to creating opportunities for young people.”
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Finebaum made an appearance on Stephen A. Smith’s Mad Dog Sports Radio show this week to discuss Saban’s antics. He thinks the former coach is frustrated college football no longer has dynasties.
“He does not like the way the game is. He’s 74 years old, and he’s thinking like somebody who remembers the way it was when he dominated,” Finebaum said, via Mirror US Sports. “Stephen A., you know the record. He was No. 1 at some point in the country between 2009 and 2022. He was an underdog once during a 15 or 16-year period. We’ve never seen a domination like this, and we never will again.”
Finebaum also brought up Saban’s recent comments about Mississippi State quarterback Kamario Taylor. The former Alabama coach said teams should get a $10 million offer ready for the talented gunslinger.
“If I was coaching right now, I’d be trying to find $10 million to get Kamario Taylor to my team,” Saban said.
So does Saban really want guidelines regarding NIL or does he want Alabama to pursue an elite-level quarterback?
For what it’s worth, Taylor has already said he’s sticking with Mississippi State. He’s been incredible this season, throwing for 1,194 yards and 14 touchdowns.
Finebaum isn’t the only person annoyed with Saban.
Earlier this week, Saban appeared on “Get Up” and “First Take” to discuss the Senate’s 77-22 vote on the Protect College Sports Act. That interview didn’t sit well with ESPN analyst Domonique Foxworth.
“At the moment, and like of course [I was] respectful, shake his hand and whatever,” Foxworth said. “I disagree with it, but like I hadn’t really weighed in, but I had to go and do something on my show cuz I just felt so gross. I wished somebody would have gave him a little push-back. And I went home wondering like what would I have done if I had time to prepare?”
Clearly, Saban’s antics over the past few months have rubbed people the wrong way.
