Fresh off an award for promoting racial understanding, Paul Finebaum is facing criticism for treating a black school differently than Alabama or Auburn. Finebaum eviscerated Alabama State University’s head football coach Reggie Barlow on Tuesday’s radio broadcast.

Like he never did that to Gene Stallings, Terry Bowden, Mike Dubose, Mike Price, Neil Callaway or Mike Shula.

Finebaum is an equal opportunity provocateur.

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The exchange Tuesday between Finebaum and Alabama State’s coach Reggie Barlow was contentious, but that is the danger of going on a show with either Finebaum or in the old days of David Letterman.

Part of the exchange is below. You can listen to it by clicking here.
“Coach with all due respect, how are you taking responsibility by blaming it on the other guy?” Finebaum queried.

“Well first of all Mr. Finebaum if you will allow me to answer your question that you asked me then I’ll give you the answer,” Barlow replied.

“Well go for it,” Finebaum said.

“I’m not blaming anybody,” Barolw retorted.

The exchange continued brusquely until Barlow terminated the interview by hanging up on Finebaum.

What precipitated the end of the interview? An exchange over the culture on the ASU campus. Finebaum asked Barlow what if anything had changed the culture of corruption. Barlow asked when the last time Finebaum had been on the campus.

Finebaum replied it was three-and-a-half years ago.

Barlow took exception to that.

“How can you speak about the culture. If you haven’t been on the campus in three-and-a-half years, how can you speak about the culture now?”

Barlow then thanked Finebaum for letting him appear on the show.

Finebaum then summarized the interview by saying: “Based on what he said, I’m not convinced the culture has changed. But again, it is not my problem. It is Alabama State’s problem.”

Unfortunately, when people like Joe Reed are on the board, it is everyone’s problem. And are you shocked that a member of the corrupt Alabama Education Association (AEA) is involved in a rogue college that can’t follow NCAA rules? After all, the two-year system is corrupt, and the AEA wants to keep it corrupt.

19 thoughts on “Finebaum taking heat over ASU interview”

  1. I wouldn’t be throwing stones out of that crimson-colored glass house, Cappy. To date, UAT is still the only schools besides SMU to face the death penalty from the NCAA. It always astonishes me when any UAT fan starts talking self-righteously about any other schools breaking the rules.

  2. What BS you spew.

    Baylor faced the death penalty in 2003 for violations in the repeat violator window.

    Kentucky basketball in the late 1980’s was also in the repeat violator window.

    Considering Auburn has more NCAA violations (7) than SEC titles (6)…that’s big talk about cheating there buddy!

  3. Kevin, where shall we place this latest observation on the list of things that astonishes you? I put it between remote controls, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches that you can buy in the store without the crust, and a few spaces after Donkey Kong.

    I didn’t read anywhere in Capstone’s article where he spoke for himself. He was merely recounting Paul Finebaum’s interview.

    But thank you for your post…once again proving that API has the most paranoid fanbase in the land. And, they do need to win another SEC title (we have 23) to tie their NCAA probation mark of 7.

    Nice work Cappy.

  4. Paul was very unprofessional. He all too often talks over his guests. When he forms an opinion he tends to be this way. It’s easy to smash a bug like ASU. Who really cares? In the Big picture, what difference would it make to shut down ASU.

    A good question would have been to ask the coach why he would stay with ASU after these discoveries. That would have been an interesting response. I guess will never know.

    This fiasco just shows that Paul has no BALLS at all! If he did he would get someone from SC on his show and address their NCAA situation. But NO. Paul would be a hospitable lamb.

    ASU is run by a bunch of crooks who not only ruined ASU but Montgomery as well. I like their coach however.

  5. “Considering Auburn has more NCAA violations (7) than SEC titles (6)…that’s big talk about cheating there buddy!”

    I have to call you out on that statement, Capstone.

    Technically, API of Opelika realistically only has 4 legitimate SEC titles.

    In 1988, LSU, their sharing partner, had more SEC wins than API did that season, and in 1989, Alabama, their sharing partner, ultimately had more SEC wins than API did.

    That’s just a common fact that people seem to overlook. Why they precariously claim national championships belonging to us, that were clearly legitimate, are illegitimate, they seem to carelessly ignore the fact that they have no legs to stand on when it comes to unanimous titles.

    And just for the record, prior to the AP/UPI era, the Rose Bowl champion was automatically considered “national champions” of that season (look up the history behind college football if any of you AUtards fail to believe me). After that era, the AP and UPI systems were the deciding factor as to who was national champions for then until the introduction of the BCS. They base their facts upon unreliable and uneducated sources (ninth graders who are clueless when it comes to the history of college football).

  6. Alabama State University > Alabama Polytechnic Institute

    Either way, they both lead the NCAA in all time violations and infractions; however, the world’s finest sociology department can only be found in one city: Aubarn, Alabama.

  7. JuicyJ,
    Your name alone is a gross image.
    Auburn’s past NCAA issues are not a drop in the bucket compared to Alabama’s last violation.

    Cheating for a competitive advantage is what Alabama does best. You must be very proud to know that Bama has gotten away with murder!They have beaten the system in the past and they are beating the system today. It’s only a matter of time. Just wait.

  8. Why is Finebaum even worthy of a topic on CR? I’m more surprised that anyone knew he interviewed the coach. No one listens to him anymore. At one time, I enjoyed his show, but, since he’s been at WJOX, his show has been terrible and not worth listening to. You can tell what kind of audience he has by the sub-par class of callers that call the show. Nothing like it was when he was at WERC.

    Rather than asking the coach how he is going to rectify the problems at ASU, someone needs to ask Finebaum how he is going to rectify the problems with his show!

    And get rid of the “Top 12” line. That was years ago.

  9. The whole interview was conducted for entertainment purposes and not for journalistic reasons. Finebaum took his overbearing path just to give everybody something to talk about. It’s all showmanship.

    If it were September and not May..Coach Barlow wouldn’t have been allowed on the show and the topic of ASU football would have never even been brought up.

    If Finebaum had wanted to do a journalistic type interview he would have done some research on the topic and instead of getting theatrical he would have asked some real questions and allowed the coach to answer.

    But Finebaum doesn’t really care about this subject or this coach. He is just using the subject to draw attention to his show. And now he wants to have the coach back on and wants to dress up and go to the Magic City Classic. Its all just radio schtict.

  10. I like listening to Paul in the afternoon, but I’m not consumed by sports. But listening to the exchange, I think Paul wanted Coach Barlow to actually state that the Board of Trustees are corupt. He knows that, Paul knows it, hell, I know it. But the coach would only say that if he’s got another gig lined up. So c’mon Paul! Keep the expectations reasonable.

  11. I usually refrain from commenting on response boards. However, I feel that it is necessary to clarify a few things about Finebaum. He is what he is – a dangerous man on the air. Everybody knows that. ASU sent a sheep into the lions den and he was eaten. By the way, ASU called and asked for air time. Barlow simply wasn’t ready for prime time. In fact, I doubt most of people are, including the gutless wonders who take shots at Paul behind his back. I’m going to say this one time and one time only – if you want to slam F-bomb, call his show and take your best shot. Are you man enough?

  12. “capstonereport Said:
    May 14th, 2008 at 8:30 pm
    What BS you spew…….Considering Auburn has more NCAA violations (7) than SEC titles (6)…that’s big talk about cheating there buddy!”

    It sickens me when $puat fans run and hide behind comments like this. Let’s just try and gain a little perspective on the vast difference in the violations, particularly Auburn’s most recent probation. Eric Ramsey received ONE division I scholarship offer, and he took it. And how did Mr. and Mrs. Ramsey thank Auburn? By BEGGING the coaching staff for some money to feed a starving family, all the while making tape recordings of the conversations with the coaches intending the entire time to burn down the Loveliest Village on the Plain. Helping a kid feed a starving family vs. paying in excess of $100,000 to entice a recruit to come play football at the $puat. Yea, that’s the same.

    True, Auburn has been placed on probation a number of times; however, the $puat lost more scholarships in its two probations than Auburn lost in all of its combined. So many of you people seem to have forgotten what Yeager said: that the $puat’s violations were “some of the worst, most serious that have ever occurred” in NCAA history and claimed that the Crimson Tide were “absolutely staring down the barrel of a gun.”

    For you people who’ve forgotten, here are some links for you to take a quick refresher course on how dirty the $puat program was:

    https://goomer.ncaa.org/wdbctx/LSDBi/LSDBi.MajorInfPackage.ProcessMultipleMajors?p_Multiple=0&p_HeadingTerms=ThisIsADummyPhraseThatWillNotBeDuplicated&p_SummaryTerms=ThisIsADummyPhraseThatWillNotBeDuplicated&p_PenaltyTerms=ThisIsADummyPhraseThatWillNotBeDuplicated&p_PublicTerms=ThisIsADummyPhraseThatWillNotBeDuplicated&p_AppealTerms=ThisIsADummyPhraseThatWillNotBeDuplicated&p_Multiple=526

    https://goomer.ncaa.org/wdbctx/LSDBi/LSDBi.MajorInfPackage.ProcessMultipleMajors?p_Multiple=0&p_HeadingTerms=ThisIsADummyPhraseThatWillNotBeDuplicated&p_SummaryTerms=ThisIsADummyPhraseThatWillNotBeDuplicated&p_PenaltyTerms=ThisIsADummyPhraseThatWillNotBeDuplicated&p_PublicTerms=ThisIsADummyPhraseThatWillNotBeDuplicated&p_AppealTerms=ThisIsADummyPhraseThatWillNotBeDuplicated&p_Multiple=487

    https://goomer.ncaa.org/wdbctx/LSDBi/LSDBi.MajorInfPackage.ProcessMultipleMajors?p_Multiple=0&p_HeadingTerms=ThisIsADummyPhraseThatWillNotBeDuplicated&p_SummaryTerms=ThisIsADummyPhraseThatWillNotBeDuplicated&p_PenaltyTerms=ThisIsADummyPhraseThatWillNotBeDuplicated&p_PublicTerms=ThisIsADummyPhraseThatWillNotBeDuplicated&p_AppealTerms=ThisIsADummyPhraseThatWillNotBeDuplicated&p_Multiple=160

    You people better hope and pray that the big red elephant machine has figured out new, more clever ways not to get caught cheating. Again. Do you think $aban cares ONE IOTA what happens to the $puat? He doesn’t have a buyout – he can fly any time he wants to without owing the $puat a dime. But it gets better: If you want to be rid of him, you’re going to have to pony up the full amount of his contract. Considering the fact that the $puat doesn’t have the $cratch to rid itself of the worst basketball coach in the SEC, it’s a safer bet than Big Brown you people have no where near enough to send $aban off in style. Of course, none of that really matters right now because most of you people are still as punch-drunk as Colette Connell over having $aban as your coach. The sobering process will begin in late November when Auburn runs the streak to seven. If $aban breaks tradition and hangs around for his third year at the $puat, win number EIGHT in a row probably will shock a great number of you people into realizing you’ve paid $4 million a year for another mediocre football coach. Perhaps by then you’ll have saved enough to buy $aban out. Watching all this unfold will give me great pleasure.

    The REALLY funny thing in all this is that if you people had done what you should’ve done after unceremoniously pushing $tallings out the door — that is, hiring Tommy Tuberville instead of that blockhead Dubose — I probably wouldn’t have to be sitting here spelling out what is painfully obvious to the rest of the college football nation. Now, that’s a shame.

  13. sixdownnow7 Says:
    May 15th, 2008 at 8:15 am
    JuicyJ,
    Your name alone is a gross image.
    Auburn’s past NCAA issues are not a drop in the bucket compared to Alabama’s last violation.

    Cheating for a competitive advantage is what Alabama does best. You must be very proud to know that Bama has gotten away with murder!They have beaten the system in the past and they are beating the system today. It’s only a matter of time. Just wait.

    you sir, are 1 idiot.wishful thinking on your part because tubby got his arse handed to him in recruiting. we are about to start a streak of our own,and awburn knows it!

  14. What the hell does this have to do with the Capstone?

    Maybe you should change the name to “I sux Finebaum’s little cock Report’

    I know we are in a dead period but this was stupid.

    jj

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