Paul Finebaum admits he was 'in awe' of Nick Saban during SEC Media Days coverage

It’s going to take a while for Paul Finebaum to get used to Nick Saban behind the analyst desk. During an appearance on “McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning,” Finebaum pulled back the curtain on his interactions with the former Alabama head coach at the 2024 SEC Media Days.

“I was just in awe,” Finebaum said. “The weirdest thing is you’re sitting there on that desk — and Laura [Rutledge] goes to Coach Saban, then goes down to Greg and whoever else was with us, and they get to me and I’m thinking to myself, ‘Do I really want to answer this question with Nick Saban sitting five feet away from me when I’m talking about his former team?’

“I found myself almost after being asked a question, asking him the same question. And Greg, I don’t know about you, he seemed more than happy to answer.”

Saban retired on Jan. 10 after leading Alabama to another appearance in the College Football Playoffs. Only 28 days later, ESPN announced that Saban will be a host on College GameDay in the upcoming season.

Saban will bring a wealth of college football knowledge to the show. Saban coached 50 years at the collegiate level and won seven national titles, the most ever by a collegiate coach. Finebaum isn’t the only one who found it odd to see Saban in front of the camera.

“It was strange,” Greg McElroy said. “He would make a comment and you’re expected to follow up. Not necessarily disagree, but maybe take it in a different direction because it feels like he should have the final word.

“He should have the first word and the final word. We can fill in and color in the blanks because we’re TV people.”

While Saban is new to his role at ESPN, Finebaum expects the hall-of-fame head coach to approach the job with the same intensity as any of his occupations. Further, Finebaum believes Saban will demand the same intensity from his co-workers.

“I think he had fun with it,” Finebaum said. “He was in coaching mode and even when we were doing the show we were doing, he had the rundown in front of him. He had all the notes, and he noticed very quickly that we didn’t do what we were supposed to do.

“I had a great time with it. But, I wonder how he’s going to react with the producers because he is a perfectionist, and they better be as well.”