Last week, during SEC Media Days, Paul Finebaum made headlines by calling out USC head coach Lincoln Riley for what he called “one of the worst coaching jobs [he’d] ever seen.”
“I think he has an enormous amount to prove because, quite frankly, I think he’s been a disaster,” Finebaum said. “He ran away. He did not want to deal with the Southeastern Conference at OU. He took what he saw was an easier course, so he goes out to Southern Cal. He takes Caleb Williams. Good first year, but since then everything has gone wrong. I thought last year was one of the worst coaching jobs I’ve ever seen.”
In Caleb Williams’ final year of college football, Riley and the Trojans went 8-5 and 5-4 in Pac-12 play, ending the year in disappointing fashion after a promising Year 1.
However, Finebaum think’s he’s seen enough to this point, saying he would’ve already fired Riley after seeing what the USC defense was — or wasn’t — capable of in 2023.
“Quite frankly, had I been the Athletics Director at Southern Cal, I would’ve fired Lincoln Riley because he’s yet to show, after many years as a head coach, that he knows anything about defense,” Finebaum said. “He’s gone through defensive coordinators. He just simply couldn’t handle it. And now things are going to be five times worse in the Big Ten.”
Now, Finebaum is going a step further with the take. Instead of just relieving Riley of his duties with the Trojans, Finebaum now has what he believes is a perfect replacement for the job at USC.
“To me, it’s about trajectory, and I think he has lost the momentum,” Finebaum said. “You have to win in LA, otherwise you lose badly. And I think he’s losing badly. Instead of harping on Lincoln Riley, I decided to come up with a solution. The answer is moving forward, and I believe the answer after this season is Deion Sanders.
“He’s going to be tired of Colordao because, quite frankly, it’s not Prime Time. … You put Prime in Tinseltown, and I think you have one of the great combinations in history. I think Sanders, as the coach at USC, is the answer to the problem. Sanders exudes exactly what that community is all about.”
Just last week, Finebaum was having a conversation about Sanders’ squad in Boulder, saying that the Buffs are irrelevant in college football.
“There are so many misconceptions out there. Deion Sanders is the best salesman I’ve ever seen. I personally love the guy for what he stands for. But the program looking out has a ridiculously inflated view of itself. I heard Shedeur Sanders, who is a fabulous quarterback, say last week, ‘We are everyone’s Super Bowl.’”
“Shedeur, you are not,” Finebaum continued. “You are an easy win nowadays. You got off to a phenomenal start last year, beating a couple of mediocre teams that had big names. And quite frankly, you haven’t done anything since other than crash and burn.”
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