Paul Finebaum on evolution of Alabama, Auburn rallying around their basketball programs

With Alabama and Auburn once again near the top of the SEC basketball standings, Paul Finebaum shared praise for the two schools’ commitment to success on the hardwood in recent years.

Of course, the Crimson Tide and Tigers are longstanding football powerhouses with fans’ whose lives revolve around the Iron Bowl played each November. However, SEC Network host Paul Finebaum is noticing that passion bleeding over into hoops lately. When speaking with Cole Cubelic and Greg McElroy on their radio show this week, they discussed the rare appetite for basketball SEC fans have had lately.

“Well, I think it has to start with a commitment, and I’ve lived through a couple of iterations of this, Greg,” shared Finebaum. “In the 80s, you had three schools in the tournament every year. That happened a little bit in the 90s, and then once or twice in the early 2000s. But it’s not something that has happened very often.”

For both schools, finding the correct coach was a huge development. After a long time with Avery Johnson at the helm, the Tide ultimately moved on and found a fast riser in Nate Oats.

“If you look, especially Alabama and Auburn, it’s a commitment at Alabama with the coaching,” adds Finebaum. “I think that for too long Alabama stayed the course and allowed certain coaches to remain probably longer than they should. The Nate Oats decision was by far one of the best I have seen by anyone in a very long time — and for that, Greg Byrne is owed all the credit.”

In just a handful of seasons, Oats has led the Crimson Tide to multiple SEC championships and even the No. 1 overall seed in 2023. Meanwhile, Auburn also found success with a coaching change when they switched to Pearl, which wasn’t such an obvious decision given his status at the time, explains Finebaum.

“At Auburn, I think it was taking a chance. It was 10 years ago that Auburn went a little bit against the grain and hired Bruce Pearl. There was a lot of objections. He was considered heavy baggage by almost everyone, and they went for it, and they continued the commitment to upgrade facilities.”

However, it’s those two coaching hires — Pearl and Oats — who turned the ship around for hoops in the state of Alabama.

“That’s really been the difference. I think, as a result, you have two programs who are really at the epicenter of the SEC,” Finebaum added to close.