Paul Finebaum has strong reaction to NCAA's sanctions against LSU

Paul Finebaum had a strong reaction to the recent NCAA sanctions against LSU’s athletic department.

That includes sanctions against former basketball coach Will Wade and the vacating of wins from former football coach Les Miles. Miles is now ineligible for the College Football Hall of Fame due to his new win-loss record.

Finebaum opened up on the lack of penalties against LSU on McElroy and Cubelic.

“I don’t think LSU got a scratch last week,” Finebaum said. “And the message is clear: cheat like crazy and don’t stop until you win. And I never thought I would say that but it’s the truth. It simply doesn’t matter anymore … Going back to Les Miles and Will Wade, these all happened before two years ago, when NIL went into effect. So what it means is you could cheat you could break the rules, you could stick your tongue in the face of authority back then and get away with it today. 

“Can you imagine what you can do now? I know people get confused. They think, Well, everybody’s cheating. It’s legal. It’s not legal. It’s just that nobody is doing anything about it. It’s easier to do than it used to be, you can camouflage it.”

Finebuam simply said the LSU sanctions, among many others, is just a slap on the wrist.

“I don’t like saying this because I was one to always believe in the rules and who spent my early part of my career looking into transgressions and thinking those who did it should be kicked out of the industry,” Finebaum said. “It just simply doesn’t matter anymore. To call the NCAA a complete and utter joke is an insult to organizations that are borderline jokes. I mean it’s a it’s a farce, they have no authority whatsoever.” 

That’s not to say Finebaum wants teams to cheat. Far from it. College athletics would be better off without situations like the LSU sanctions.

“And, and I don’t really mean to encourage people to cheat, you don’t have to encourage them, they’re going to,” Finebaum said. “But there are simply no rules anymore. And I am long passed getting outraged and upset that someone like Will Wade gets away with whatever he got away with or someone else because if it doesn’t matter to the people who govern the sport, and that by the way that includes everyone who sits in on these meetings and on these management councils.

“Then it’s certainly not going to bother me anymore.”