Paul Finebaum says Nick Saban ‘is not a great representative of where college football is’
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Paul Finebaum loves him some Nick Saban but doesn’t like the way the former coach represents the sport of college football on a congressional level. With the Protect College Sports Act coming to the House of Representatives, it’s a step closer to passing.
But there’s a lot of pushback on the bill itself and Finebaum believes Saban doesn’t have the best interests of the sport and players in mind. Saban made the rounds earlier this week to talk about the bill, which included comparisons between coaching salaries and player compensation.
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“He does not like the way the game is,” Finebaum told Stephen A. Smith on Mad Dog Sports Radio. “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. …
“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 … 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.”
Nick Saban not the right guy to lead the charge of change in college football?
Finebaum would rather see guys like Kirby Smart (Georgia) and Marcus Freeman lead the charge over Nick Saban, when it comes to what needs to get done off the field. Saban, 74, has had his moment in the sun and perhaps it should just stay on ESPN’s College GameDay.
“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.”
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