Paul Finebaum Calls Nick Saban Out for “Rebuilding Year” Comment

After Nick Saban's comments on Wednesday morning on JOX 94.5's Mac and Cube Show about last season, calling it a "rebuilding year," ESPN radio personality Paul Finebaum criticized the Alabama head coach for what he said.

"This is very predictable if you follow Nick Saban closely," he said on ESPN's Get Up on Thursday morning.

Finebaum stated "Whenever he loses a game, like a national championship game, here comes the excuse, here comes the Nick Saban grievance tour. I mean sometimes I don’t know whether Nick Saban is trying to continue to be the greatest coach of all time or he wants Jimmy Kimmel’s job. I don’t really understand it because quite frankly, at some point, it’s not a great look. And I know that’s not a popular thing to say where I live because Nick Saban can do no wrong."

Last season didn't look like much of a rebuilding year to most football programs' standards. Alabama ended up going 13-2, won the SEC Championship and made it to the CFP National Championship game before losing to Georgia by a score of 33-18. The Crimson Tide also racked up multiple awards for their play last season, including Bryce Young winning the Heisman Trophy and Will Anderson winning the Bronko Nagurski Award for the best defensive player in college football.

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Finebaum continues by bringing up past comments that Nick Saban has said

"First it was NIL that he was complaining about over and over, and now he’s quibbling about what happened last year. Every time he loses one of these games: he called the Sugar Bowl a couple years ago a consolation game, he blamed the NFL Draft on the loss to Ohio State when Ezekiel Elliott was there. There’s always something with Nick Saban, but we still love him don’t we?" Finebaum said.

To Saban's point, last season did feel somewhat like a rebuilding year with 10 players from the 2020 National Champions getting drafted in the 2021 NFL Draft, including six players in the first round. The team last year looked young and inexperienced at many times, resulting in them being in five single-possession games during the regular season, including losing to Texas A&M in Kyle Field. However, what is probably the most important point in Saban's favor is that he called the 2021 Alabama team young and said that Alabama was rebuilding before the season even started last year.

Who knows whether Finebaum criticized Saban's comments because he actually believes that the Alabama coach makes too many excuses or because he knows that any mention of Saban will get a lot of attention. Either way, his criticisms might be one more addition of fuel to the fire for the Alabama revenge tour coming this season.