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Auburn Tigers

Paul Finebaum explains what must happen at Auburn to settle the power struggle

Keith Farner

By Keith Farner

Published:

Paul Finebaum has a pulse on the inner workings of the power brokers across Alabama when it comes to the athletics departments at Alabama and Auburn.

Given the turmoil of the last week and the entire Bryan Harsin tenure, Finebaum, the ESPN commentator, weighed in on what has to happen at Auburn to end the power struggle. He shared his thoughts during his regular Monday appearance on “McElroy and Cubelic In the morning” on WJOX out of Birmingham, Alabama.

“It will take the right person in charge of the program that ends up staying a long time and builds his own power base,” Finebaum said. “A lot of what we’re talking about at Auburn existed at Alabama. It didn’t exist in the same way. There were just pockets of power brokers across the state. There was one in particular and it took Nick Saban to come in and say, ‘We’re doing it my way.’ But they did it his way and by winning so often and so many championships, he was able to coalesce his own group around him. But even if certain people didn’t like him, they had no authority or influence to say differently.”

Finebaum added that Saban also had a resume coming in, and he had support from Mal Moore, who as athletics director knew the system and helped Saban navigate those waters.

“The problem at Auburn is Bryan Harsin doesn’t have anyone,” Finebaum said. “Did we hear from Allen Greene over the weekend, no we didn’t hear from him because he has no authority. He is an athletic director with no power. He took one swing in hiring Bryan Harsin and in most people’s account, it failed.”

Keith Farner

A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.

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