Awful Announcing

Paul Finebaum: ‘I’m going to bow at the feet of Jim Harbaugh for pulling off this scam’

"I wanted to label him as a pathological liar, as someone who is delusional. But I can't do it anymore."
ESPN's Paul Finebaum has dramatically shifted his stance on Jim Harbaugh, from fervent critic to reluctant admirer and back again. Credit: ESPN’s ‘Get Up’
College FootballESPNNFLBy Sam Neumann on

Paul Finebaum has eaten crow before when it comes to Jim Harbaugh.

In the aftermath of Michigan winning a National Championship earlier this year, the ESPN college football analyst opined that he doesn’t think he’s been more wrong about someone than he was about Harbaugh, which is saying something because Finebaum had been one of the more prominent Harbaugh haters in sports media since the former quarterback took over at Michigan.

But nearly two weeks later, he took back that praise. And then, he explained why Harbaugh leaving Ann Arbor for the Los Angeles Chargers was actually a “positive” thing for college football. While it’s nearly seven months after the fact, Finebaum wants you to forget that he ever had anything to say about Harbaugh.

“It’s an Oscar-winning performance, Greeny,” Finebaum told ESPN’s Mike Greenberg in response to Harbaugh claiming Monday he won’t apologize for Michigan’s alleged NCAA violations. “I had a lot of different emotions. I wanted to throw all kinds of adjectives up on the board. I wanted to label him as a pathological liar, as someone who is delusional. But I can’t do it anymore. I think he, in many ways, is the Jack Nicholson of coaching. He’s a man for all seasons.”

“He has so many different lanes, and you really just can’t get mad at the guy,” Finebaum continued. “You can’t say he ran a program into the ground because they won the National Championship. Yeah, he left a stench behind, but as we’ve said, it’ll get cleaned up with very little penalty. He’s making a fortune with the Chargers. And I’m going to bow at the feet of Jim Harbaugh for pulling off this scam and then acting like he didn’t do anything wrong.”

Greenberg responded that Finebaum’s points were exceptionally well-made. He then joked that people might call him incredibly naive or gullible for believing Harbaugh’s claims but that such accusations might be justified.

“I’ve known Jim Harbaugh for 32 years,” said Greenberg. “If he was on trial right now, and he, in his own defense, made that statement exactly that way in the witness box. He did not plead the fifth. He could’ve pleaded the fifth, taken the fifth — he didn’t. I would acquit him. I would vote to acquit. I’d be the holdout juror in this group…Call me what you will; I believe him. I don’t know why. I recognize that it probably makes me sound ridiculous. But just the way he said it, I believe him.”

Perhaps only time, and maybe a jury of Mike Greenbergs, will reveal the truth behind what actually transpired under Harbaugh’s watchful eye in Ann Arbor.

[Awful Announcing]

About Sam Neumann

Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.

View all posts by Sam Neumann
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