ESPN personality Paul Finebaum has made a career and millions simply being a contrarian from Tennessee and stoking the fires that fuels the Alabama and Auburn rivalry, which by all accounts is a 365 day a year thing.
Whether it was “Al From Dadeville” telling “Pawl” what he did to Toomer’s Corner, to other famous callers like Tammy, I-Man, Robert from Waterloo, Charles from Reeltown, to Cornbread, Finebaum was the lightning rod that got the South burning.
As Finebaum’s career continued to skyrocket, ESPN looked to capitalize on this by creating the SEC Network and needing Finebaum to create the content and be the lightning striking everyone’s lightning rod..
Finebaum has not only positioned himself as the SEC ringmaster, he’s begun to dabble nationally.
The strategic jabs aren’t new for Finebaum.
Finebaum began years ago when Ole Miss head coach was Lane Kiffin at USC. Finebaum, most likely bothered, when Kiffin bolted his alma mater, Tennessee, to USC had hard feelings and began to manufacture issues and use his platform to create the hysteria that ultimately led to his infamous firing on the tarmac after a 62-41 loss to Arizona State.
Kiffin has always had tongue in cheek remarks to Finebaum about the incident.
“I wouldn’t have been here to have the Georgia win if you wouldn’t have got me fired at USC,” Kiffin told Finebaum after Ole Miss upset Georgia last season. “Again, I’m grateful to you, Paul. Thanks for that day. Thanks for the Miley Cyrus comment.”
Finebaum began lobbing jabs at high profile Big Ten coaches, notably former Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh was a target for years.
Harbaugh seemingly couldn’t beat Ohio State and do anything on the national stage, which led to fiery responses.
After Harbaugh delivered Michigan a national championship in 2023 plus three consecutive wins against Ohio State, he bolted for the Los Angeles Chargers, most likely escaping a current NCAA investigation and ramifications from the Connor Stalions espionage scandal.
This left a void for Finebaum to poke at a Big Ten coach who was the “Charlie Brown” of the game.
Enter James Franklin.
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By all accounts, Franklin has had tremendous success at Penn State appearing in two Big Ten Championship games – winning in 2016, appearing in five different New Year’s Six bowls with a record of 3-4 in those games, made the program’s first College Football Playoff appearance last season that included a program record 13 wins in a season along with the first two playoff wins.
In the powder keg that is the SEC, national championships and elite wins are the ultimate measuring stick where Franklin comes short.
Franklin has a 1-10 record against Ohio State that includes an eight-game losing streak (2017 to 2024), 4-20 record against AP Top 10 teams as Penn State’s head coach is plenty of ammo for Finebaum to use.
On a recent appearance on ESPN’s Get Up, Finebaum decided to try to strike at the heart of Franklin and Nittany Nation.
“RC (ESPN analyst Ryan Clark), give me that SEC card back again. Heather, you had me until you said number one in the country,” Finebaum said. “There is no way. Texas is the best team in the country. They are going to win the national championship. There is no way the Big Ten does it three years in a row. And certainly if I had to bet on somebody, I would never bet on James Franklin doing it. He’s a very good coach. He’s not a great coach. Penn State will not win the national championship.”
As the Penn State contingent takes the podium at Big Ten Media Days in Las Vegas, this isn’t the venue for Franklin to clap back.
Harbaugh got it right by doing it on the field – signs or not.
Franklin has his best team, between coaching staff and players, heading into the 2025 season and meeting those expectations with major wins, a deep Playoff run a national championship would ultimately mute Finebaum.
But in Finebaum’s role of pressing for these schools to win big or just start over, Penn State understands consistency.
Think about the trials and tribulations programs like Miami, Nebraska, USC and even Finebaum’s alma mater Tennessee have had for much of the 21st Century of putting a consistent product on the field?
If you went to Nebraska and said would you trade Matt Rhule for James Franklin, knowing Franklin’s track record and proven consistency, they would make that trade. If they even could receive Franklin’s accomplishments from Penn State from the same period they would have taken it in a heartbeat.
Finebaum is just a giant troll with a large platform. Think of him as college football’s Jerry Springer. Finebaum relishes the opportunity to exploit faults in all programs and try to make the issues worse than they are.
With the impact fans have, and those fans include prominent boosters, that is what incites instability in the program.
Even if Franklin can’t win a national championship at Penn State, what joy does Finebaum get in being right?
When Franklin decides to hang his whistle the final time, he is a Hall of Fame coach who made Vanderbilt respectable (Franklin was 2-1 against Finebaum’s alma mater), and took over a gutted Penn State program and made it into a perennial power consistently amongst the nation’s elite.
I remember covering the 2023 Peach Bowl and what Kiffin said about Franklin that he marveled at the consistency Penn State was able to reach all the major bowls with a high frequency and Franklin’s ability to keep his team together and intact saying Penn State was the “model” for all programs.
That professional peer recognition isn’t always said at the highest of levels, but it goes to show the respect Franklin has amongst his peers who understand the grind of the job.
Obviously, Franklin’s goals are higher. Vicariously through achieving them, Franklin will mute Finebaum and he will then have to figure out somewhere else to run his mouth because his kind isn’t welcomed in Happy Valley.
