Paul Finebaum: Jim Harbaugh 'looks like a liar' but 'got away' with NCAA violations
Former Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh received a four-year show-cause order for “unethical conduct” from the NCAA earlier this week. It’s a punishment that would be substantial if Harbaugh was still coaching in college football.
However, since he’s off to the NFL, it really means nothing, according to Paul Finebaum.
“What’s so absurd is that the NCAA is letting Jim Harbaugh off the hook,” Finebaum said Thursday on ESPN First Take. “I mean this is a guy who has lied and obfuscated. He’s displaying sociopathic behavior. But instead, everyone loves him.
“We’re wrapping our arms around Jim saying, ‘Way to go Jim. You made the NCAA look like the fools that they are.’ And that’s really the tragedy in this.”
Jim Harbaugh has consistently claimed that he is innocent, which is a claim that Paul Finebaum doesn’t believe. However, in the end, it really doesn’t matter if he’s telling the truth or not, per Finebaum.
“I think he looks like a liar. I think he looks terrible. But the public is not seeing it the same way we are. I mean we’re critics. We know when these people are lying and we actually care,” Finebaum said. “College football fans don’t. And I think he’s going to get away with it. I mean in most polars of this country right now, people are attacking the same people we are attacking and that’s the NCAA.
“So in the end, I hate to be the jury here but I’m going to be. Jim Harbaugh won. It doesn’t matter how many rules he violated. It doesn’t matter how despicable his character has been. It doesn’t matter how many times he has lied. He got away with it. And his statement the other day was basically the middle finger to everyone. And he’s living happily ever after out there on the West coast.”
Finebaum doesn’t trust what Jim Harbaugh says and believes he certainly broke some rules. However, he feels that the NCAA screwed up the handling of the situation so much that more people are focused on the NCAA’s issues than Harbaugh’s lying.
“They look like the fools that they are,” Finebaum said of the NCAA. “I mean essentially Jim Harbaugh ran a stop sign and they came back with a judgment that you’re going to get the death penalty. You’re going to the chair, the guillotine, the gas chamber.
“But, I mean, we are out of words and adjectives to describe the dysfunctionality of the NCAA. But where they really missed the boat here, yea we’re laughing, we’re having a good time, because of the absurdity. Because Jim Harbaugh is never coming back to college. That’s why he left. He won the national championship. The NCAA must have missed that.”