Paul Finebaum covered Nick Saban for his entire career as head coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide, and he has no doubts that Saban will be an “unbelievable” broadcaster.
In an interview on Sports Business Journal’s The Sports Media Podcast released Thursday, Finebaum detailed what will make Saban so great as he joins the College GameDay panel this fall — as well as one potential risk with Saban at ESPN.
“He will be the most prepared person on that GameDay set, and he will be clearly the most knowledgeable,” Finebaum explained. “I think really the issue will be if everyone else can be themselves. I could not be myself. I’m rarely intimidated, but he scared me to death.”
Finebaum already got a taste of Saban the media man this summer at SEC media days, where he cohosted an hourlong show with Saban from Dallas.
Even as a radio veteran who needs no reminder of how smart the nine-time NCAA champion is, Finebaum was pretty starstruck.
“I just marveled at everything he did,” Finebaum said. “It was intimidating. When Laura Rutledge asked me to comment on Alabama’s football season, and I can reach out and touch the man who recruited every one of the players, I thought about it for a second and said, ‘Laura, why don’t we ask Coach Saban about that’ … I’m not a genius, but I knew better than to try to answer in front of him.”
Rather than just buttering Saban up, Finebaum brings up great points about Saban. He will prepare as well as anyone, like a true head coach, rather than just coasting. And while his brilliance will shine on College GameDay, it will be fascinating to see whether the likes of Desmond Howard, Kirk Herbstreit and potentially even Pat McAfee can stay comfortable with a legend in their midst.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.