Paul Finebaum clears the air about Deion Sanders-USC rumors
Paul Finebaum finally admitted that he completely made up the rumor that Deion Sanders could potentially leave Colorado to replace Lincoln Riley as USC's head coach in 2025 and beyond because he got swept up at SEC Media Days.
“I don’t want to back away from anything I’ve ever said, but it was the first week of the SEC Media Days, and you guys have been there both,” Finebaum told the GoJo and Golic Show (h/t Heartland College Sports). “You start throwing things up against the wall, and Lincoln Riley, I probably got a little carried away. I think he’s a good coach. I don’t think he’s a great coach, and I think his record in big games speaks for itself. I just threw Deion out there, and that was prior to the reporting.”
For sharing complete hearsay, Finebaum certainly had some strong words to back up his made-up point.
"I think he's lost the momentum he had in that town," Finebaum said to Stephen A. Smith on ESPN's First Take (h/t BuffStampede). "You have to win in LA or otherwise, you lose badly. Instead of harping on Lincoln Riley, I've decided to come up with a solution. Maybe he does well, maybe he doesn't, but the answer is really moving forward, and I believe the answer after this season, is Deion Sanders. He's going to be tired of Colorado because quite frankly it's not Prime Time. He's done as well as he can with Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter, but you put Prime in Tinseltown and you have one of the greatest combinations in history."
Paul Finebaum cannot be believed anymore when discussing Deion Sanders
Finebaum admitted to making up a potentially harmful rumor to the Colorado football program. So essentially, he had an agenda to get Coach Prime out of Boulder and into Los Angeles...presumably so that he could make more money talking about Sanders?
Who knows his exact reasons. All we know now is that Finebaum cannot be listened to in the slightest when it comes to anything Coach Prime-related.
It's fair to ask if Finebaum can be listened to about anything for that matter. The man made up a rumor out of excitement during media days for an unrelated conference to both USC and Colorado. That's journalism malpractice at minimum.