‘Need younger people’: Paul Finebaum criticizes Donald Trump, Nick Saban amidst college football changes
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Over the past several months, United States President Donald Trump has taken a pretty clear interest in addressing the recent changes to the college football landscape as he has pushed for the bipartisan legislation known as the Protect College Sports Act through Congress. He has also leaned heavily on legendary Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban to lead that charge. However, Paul Finebaum does not think they are the right people to be leading this push.
While Finebaum has been known to heap praise on Saban throughout his career, he does not think that either Saban or Trump should be the driving force behind the push for regulation in college football.
‘We need younger people’
During a recent conversation with Stephen A. Smith on Mad Dog Sports Radio, Finebaum spoke out against both Saban and Trump for their approaches to addressing the changes in college football.
“He does not like the way the game is,” Finebaum said of Saban via On3. “He’s 74 years old and he’s thinking like somebody who remembers the way it was when he dominated. 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 called out Trump’s approach, as well.
“The president said the same thing that day. He said, ‘Why can’t we go back to the way it used to be?’ Well, okay, that’s great, but that’s not the way it is,” Finebaum said. “I’m not that much younger than Nick Saban. I’m five years younger than him, but I understand where things are today. And I think Saban has a hard time looking, and that’s why I don’t think he’s a great representative. He may be Donald Trump’s emissary, but you need younger people representing the 18 and 19 year olds, not a 74 year old man as great as he was.”
Kirby Smart Should Lead the Charge
As for who Finebaum thought should lead the charge if it’s not Saban or Trump, he had a pretty clear answer: Georgia Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart.
“I’ll tell you, the guy who’s done the best job of adapting is Kirby Smart,” Finebaum said. “Kirby Smart is in his early 50s, but every time I’ve been around him, and I know you’ve interviewed him a number of times, he doesn’t have a problem with what’s going on. He doesn’t sound like Saban. And listen, I love Saban, but he sounds like ‘the get off your lawn guy.’
“And that’s why he doesn’t help himself. And I know next week he’ll be celebrated from coast to coast with this documentary. And he earned it, but he is not a great representative of where college football is when he hangs around with all these other billionaires and doesn’t pay homage to the 18 year old who is making this game go today.”
It’s worth noting that Smart was actually a longtime assistant coach under Saban before becoming the head coach at Georgia. So perhaps he could be the perfect person to blend some of Saban’s ideas with a younger, fresher approach.
As of now, though, it does seem like Trump is going to continue to lean on Saban to lead the charge.
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