Paul Finebaum Addresses Nick Saban-to-ESPN Rumors, Believes He’d Enjoy Calling Games

The now-retired Alabama coach has been connected to jobs at the network for years.

While he currently makes a weekly appearance on The Pat McAfee Show, there is no member of the football media that Nick Saban is more tied to than another ESPN personality: Paul Finebaum.

For at least a decade, Saban to ESPN has been treated as a fait accompli. Finebaum is among those who subscribes to the theory,

The SEC Network host appeared on the Sports Media with Richard Deitsch podcast, and was asked about Saban eventually becoming his colleague. He rehashed a moment 10 years ago when he saw Saban meeting with ESPN brass, signaling that these talks have been in the works for a long time.

ESPN’s Paul Finebaum (left) is among the media members that knows former Alabama coach Nick Saban (right) the best :: Adam Hagy/USA TODAY Sports

While many have posited that the recently-retired Alabama coach could join the College GameDay crew, and while that would keep him in the team-like environment that he loves, Finebaum doesn’t think that would be the role that Saban would enjoy most.

“He’s always been fascinated by being part of things. In the million times I’ve asked him about retirement, he said ‘I’ve been a part of a team my whole life.’ That fills some of that need,” Finebaum said, before casting doubt on Saban as a GameDay analyst. “The thing that I wonder about is, there’s a great deal of excitement but there’s a lot of boredom.”

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Finebaum agrees that Saban would be “great” on the show, but again emphasized that he’s “not the most patient person,” given the amount of downtime on a show like that. “Is he going to want to hear anybody else’s opinion?” Finebaum asked rhetorically.

The role Finebaum believes Saban would prefer: calling games.

“I think he would probably enjoy doing games more,” he argued. “‘OK, I’ve got Alabama-Georgia this week, I get to look at film all week, I get to dig down. On Friday, I’ll talk to the coaches.’ As opposed to GameDay, which is totally unorthodox at times.”

Finebaum and Deitsch agree that ESPN will probably let Saban do whatever he wants with the network, but the idea of him sliding into the network’s roster of game broadcasters is certainly interesting, especially since he’d demand prime assignments from the start, even with the Chris Fowler/Kirk Herbstreit team locked in as the No. 1 unit.