Paul Finebaum clarifies his statements about Nick Saban's legacy

As SEC Media Days got underway Monday, a clip of SEC Network host Paul Finebaum made its way across social media for his answer on ESPN’s First Take about Nick Saban. The question was whether Saban’s legacy is on the line this year after missing the College Football Playoff a year ago, and it generated plenty of reaction.

Tuesday morning on McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning, Finebaum clarified what he said.

Finebaum made it abundantly clear he doesn’t think Saban’s legacy is at stake this year, three years after his last national championship. Although Alabama might not finish atop the SEC, Saban has done enough through his career to cement his legacy regardless of what happens in 2023.

“Nick Saban’s legacy is not on the line this season or any time throughout the rest of his career,” Finebaum told Greg McElroy and Cole Cubelic. “His current status in the SEC in real time will be debated, depending on what happens. But that’s absurd for anyone to suggest that not by making the playoffs, his legacy will be severely effected. I realize that may sound contradictory, but it’s not. Sometimes, and this sounds funny coming from me, circumstances of an interview dictate responses. And that was the case yesterday. I would invite people to listen to the entire interview, some of the other things that weren’t regurgitated. … I understand it, and I understand social media. I’m not about to sit up here and go, ‘Oh my goodness.’ [I won’t] pull a Charles Barkley and say I was misquoted in my own autobiography. That’s not the case.

“I think anyone who doused me just needs to have followed my career for the last 17 or 18 years, mostly in Birmingham and later at ESPN and the SEC Network, and all the things that I’ve said, written, regurgitated and broadcast about Nick Saban. There was a time not long ago, I was accused of living in his guest house. I invented the word ‘Sabanologist.’ So I just find it hilarious when clickbait comes after me for something that, regardless of how it may have sounded in a short tweet, is absolutely not how I feel. And that’s all there is to it.”

Finebaum: Nick Saban has set a standard of winning at Alabama

Alabama isn’t necessarily the favorite to win the SEC this season amid questions at the quarterback position, and Finebaum noted that’s not an ideal situation for Saban and the Crimson Tide. That said, considering what Saban has done the last 15 years — winning six national titles, eight SEC championships and four SEC Coach of the Year awards — back-to-back playoff absences shouldn’t change his standing in the big picture.

“Do I think circumstances could be different this for him? Yeah. That’s obvious,” Finebaum said. “I’ve said that last year and I’ve said it here, and I’ve said it anywhere. It was said to Nick Saban’s face on the national championship broadcast, as everyone knows.

“These are things that happen when you don’t win every year, and that’s the standard that Nick Saban has set. Nobody has ever done what he has done from 2008 through the last season, he’s been ranked No. 1 at some point every year. Sometimes, it took until the final game. That’s a streak I’m intrigued and interested in this year. Will he make a playoff? All these things that will be talked, Greg and Cole, about ad nauseam are part of the conversation. But his legacy? No, that’s not in question.”