Who would’ve thought? Out of all the people in the United States, it had to be Paul Finebaum who’s now on the verge of crossing a very controversial — and political — line. College football’s grumpiest analyst, Paul Finebaum, broke the internet just a few days ago with his career-change aspirations. But a certain national analyst believes there’s more to his ongoing feud with ESPN.

Word on the street: Longtime ESPN host Paul Finebaum is in some hot water with his bosses because he’s thinking about running for a U.S. Senate seat in Alabama as a Republican. This whole drama kicked off after he told a conservative sports show that the murd-r of activist Charlie Kirk was a wake-up call for him to get into politics. The gossip went wild, claiming ESPN had benched Finebaum from some of their big shows, but the network basically said, “That’s cap,” and Finebaum showed up on air a couple of days later.

The whole thing is super awkward for ESPN, which has to deal with one of its most recognizable faces possibly jumping into the political arena. Finebaum has to decide by January if he’s going for it, which would mean ditching his gig at ESPN. Rumours started pouring in, that ESPN have kicked Paul Finebaum out from all their show. Clay Travis hopped onto X:  Per sources: Disney/ESPN has removed  finebaum from appearing on ESPN since his outkick interview expressing interest in running as a Republican for senate in Alabama. ESPN has canceled all network appearances on all shows, including some that have occurred for a decade plus.” But luckily, ESPN’s VP Bill Hoffheimer came in with and debunked the rumours and called out the source: “This is not true at all. The below is TOTALLY FALSE.”

However, according to college insiders, it’s all just Fugazy with Paul Finebaum’s motives. On October 7, college football insiders like Andy Staples, Ross Dellenger, and Steven Godfrey hopped onto ‘College Football Enquirer’ podcast and brought some light to Paul Finebaum’s controversy.

Andy started off with, “I don’t know that [Paul Finebaum] would want to leave to go into politics. Now, yeah, it does seem like the Paul thing is more serious. I know way too much about this particular Alabama Senate seat because I wrote a big story on Tubberville when he was exploring running for it.” Andy also pointed out that Alabama is a heavily Republican state, meaning Finebaum would have to run as a Republican to stand any chance. He mentioned that Finebaum’s recent appearance on Klay Travis’ show, which has a mostly conservative audience, might not be random, it could be somewhat calculated move to appeal to Republican voters.

Godfrey chimed in with a hot take, comparing the situation to WWE or any kind of professional wrestling.  He used the wrestling term “a work,” which refers to something staged to look real even though it’s planned in advance: “I would strongly encourage anyone to stay away from the idea that this is some sort of First Amendment issue or some sort of freedom of speech issue, or start comparing this to Jimmy Kimmel and what went on with the NextStar–Sinclair mergers and all that…This is not any of that. This is Fugazi…This is a well-calculated plan by one media individual to potentially make a career transition amid what might be some internal tension with his very large, very powerful employer [ESPN].” In Godfrey’s pov, this entire episode feels more like a media stunt than a genuine conflict.

He believes Finebaum might be deliberately painting himself as a victim of “corporate media” to rally public sympathy and build a following among ordinary people. In his view, Finebaum’s actions are less about fighting ESPN or standing for free speech, and more about crafting a narrative that makes him relatable to voters. Essentially, both analysts agreed that Finebaum could be leveraging this situation as a transition plan from sports media into politics, and everything happening now might just be part of that long-term setup. End of the day, it’s just his take, might be true or might not. However, that doesn’t stop Paul Finebaum from doing his work, which is bashing coaches.

Paul Finebaum goes all out against Bill Belichick

Paul Finebaum criticized Bill Belichick for his struggles as North Carolina’s head coach. Belichick, who used to be one of the best coaches in NFL history with the New England Patriots, hasn’t been able to find success in college football. His team, North Carolina, just lost badly to Clemson, where Clemson quarterback Cade Klubnik easily tore apart their defense.

Right now, North Carolina’s record is 2-3, and both wins were against much weaker teams (Charlotte and Richmond). Because of this poor start, fans and analysts have been very critical of Belichick. During ESPN’s “First Take,” Finebaum said that while Belichick was once the greatest NFL coach ever, he’s now on track to becoming one of the worst college coaches ever. He even called Belichick’s time at North Carolina “an abject disaster.”

North Carolina has a bye week before facing Cal on October 17, but the rest of their schedule isn’t looking easy either. They still have to play ranked teams like Virginia and Syracuse later this month. If Belichick and his team don’t improve soon, the Tar Heels could end up with an even worse record, possibly sitting at 2-6 by November.