Paul Finebaum has earned a reputation as a serious college football analyst, generally taking an earnest approach. However, during a recent appearance on The Paul Finebaum Show, he showed a lighter side when Missouri football coach Eli Drinkwitz, known for his humor, joined him.
Drinkwitz (aka “Coach Drink”) posed a thought-provoking question to Finebaum, who is turning 70 in July: “Before you get back into it, what’s your process every year to decide whether or not you’re going to keep going?” Finebaum humorously replied, “It’s been suggested to me to retire immediately, but I enjoy it, I really do. As long as there are people like Coach Drink to kick around, I’ll keep going.” To which Drinkwitz quipped, “Hey, there are 16 of us, and you’ll do a better-than-average job of kicking us when we’re down.”
Finebaum has been tough on nearly every SEC coach he’s encountered at some point, having had well-documented squabbles with former Alabama head coach Nick Saban and similar encounters with Georgia coach Kirby Smart. Despite this history, he confessed to Drinkwitz that he feels he has softened over time: “In self-analysis, I’m not as tough as I used to be. I used to be a coach killer. I know those days are over because I’m a cheerleader for the coaches now.”
In a light-hearted comment, Drinkwitz noted, “Paul, what do you think, the SEC’s gotten a little soft? Last year we didn’t have a single head coach fired; we only had one offensive coordinator change. What do you make of that?” Finebaum replied, “Well, it’s pretty devastating for me, of course. No coaching changes.”
After checking his sources @CoachDrinkwitz only has one question: are we headed for the Finebaum Retirement Tour? pic.twitter.com/H0FqFwwXuB
— Paul Finebaum (@finebaum) March 20, 2025
As the conversation wrapped up, Drinkwitz joked, “We’re a basketball conference now.” Finebaum countered, “I tell you what, you coaches don’t start getting back in the National Championship Game, we will be firing a few of you.”
