Paul Finebaum sounds off on NCAA for causing college football chaos: ‘They were too stubborn, too archaic’

College football’s future remains one of the hottest topics in all of sports. According to Paul Finebaum, the problems facing the game as a whole today didn’t appear overnight.

In fact, the longtime ESPN analyst believes the NCAA laid the groundwork for much of the chaos currently taking over the sport. During an appearance on First Take, Finebaum pointed directly at the NCAA while discussing ongoing battles surrounding conference power and the push for Congressional intervention. 

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Leaders from the SEC and Big Ten continue exploring ways to regulate college athletics. Finebaum argued many of these issues could have been avoided years ago.

“That’s one thing that’s very important in this Ted Cruz bill,” Finebaum said. “What college athletics desperately wants is antitrust protection.”

Moreover, the conversation comes as lawmakers continue discussing federal legislation that could create national standards for college athletics. One proposal, backed by Sen. Ted Cruz and Sen. Maria Cantwell, includes provisions addressing athlete compensation, governance and even coaching movement.

Finebaum acknowledged that antitrust concerns remain one of the biggest obstacles preventing conferences and schools from working together more directly. He elaborated.

“The Big Ten and the SEC control the sport,” Finebaum added. “They could do whatever they want, as long as it’s legal, but ultimately they have to get through this period. … The thing that concerns me the most, and I don’t want to go backwards, is if you go back 10 or 12 years, if the NCAA, which I truly believe is one of the most corrupt and hypocritical organizations in history among entities such as this, they could have allowed players to make $1,000 a season and they could have solved this problem.

“But they were too stubborn, they were too archaic, and they created this mess,” Finebaum continued. “That’s why there is such a tug of war about now having to go to Congress to bail them out.”

Alas, his latest comments come only days after sounding alarms at the SEC Spring Meetings. Finebaum warned that college football could be headed toward even greater instability if lawmakers fail to act.

Discussions surrounding conference-led governance and potential breakaway models have intensified in recent months, with figures like Georgia coach Kirby Smart openly supporting the idea of conferences creating their own rules.

Meanwhile, another provision included in Cruz’s proposed legislation, dubbed the “Lane Kiffin Rule,” would prohibit schools from hiring head coaches or coordinators while their current teams are still competing.

For Finebaum, however, the bigger issue remains the same. As college football searches for solutions, he believes many of the sport’s current challenges stem from years of NCAA resistance to change. Now, administrators, conferences and lawmakers are left trying to solve problems that may have been preventable all along.