Paul Finebaum Raises Eyebrows With Nick Saban Assessment Amid College Football Changes

The dean of SEC media had a surprising take on an SEC coaching legend.

Legendary former coach and now ESPN broadcaster Nick Saban took some friendly fire from a fellow ESPN personality. (Gary Cosby Jr.-Tuscaloosa News) | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Nick Saban remains one of the most respected figures in college football, first as a coach and now as a broadcaster at ESPN. That doesn't mean that Saban doesn't have his critics, including another SEC figure in fellow ESPN broadcaster Paul Finebaum. Saban has taken an active role recently in promoting the Protect College Sports Act, and Finebaum has an issue with that advocacy.

Finebaum talks about Saban

Speaking about the former LSU and Alabama legend on Mad Dog Sports Radio, Finebaum pulled no bunches in challenging Saban's front and center role in shaping the future of college football.

"He's 74 years old and he's thinking like somebody who remembers the way it was when he dominated," said Finebaum. He further noted, "[Saban] does not like the way the game is."

While Saban's resume of coaching success speaks for itself, his distance from the future of the game was significant in Finebaum's assessment. Conceding that Saban "might be Donald Trump's emissary", Finebaum still maintained that the sport "need[s] younger people representing the 18 and 19 year olds, not a 74 year old man."

Fellow ESPN personality Paul Finebaum sees Nick Saban as "not a great representative of where college football is." | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

In discussing the landscape of college football, Finebaum picked out Georgia's Kirby Smart as a coach who has succeeded in adapting to the modern culture. Not so much with Smart's mentor. "I love Saban, but he douns like the 'get off your lawn' guy," maintained Finebaum. "He is not a great representative of where college football is when he hang around with all these other billionaires and doesn't pay homage to the 18 year old who is making this game go today."

Saban's record-- and issues.

Saban rolled up a 292-71-1 record as a college head coach, including going 199-23 at Alabama after an initial 6-6 season that included NCAA probation. The six national titles Saban won at Alabama added to the one he had previously won at LSU before jumping out of college football for a brief and ill-conceived dalliance with the NFL's Miami Dolphins.

Saban retired after the 2023 season from his post at Alabama and quickly found second wind as an ESPN personality. His combination of expertise and common-sense wisdom has won over plenty of fans and analysts, but as the support of the Protect College Sports Act has certainly confirmed, he's still a man with plenty of critics, even some of them in unlikely places and with great respect for his prior accomplishments.