Paul Finebaum Reacts To The Comments By Michigan’s President

There appears to be a disconnect between Michigan’s president and head coach on the topic of having college football amid the COVID-19 pandemic – and Paul Finebaum is is getting frustrated by it.

Harbaugh has said that he would be fine with the college season not featuring any fans in the stadiums. But by contract, Schlissel is reluctant to play football if students aren’t allowed on campus for classes.

Appearing on Monday’s edition of Get Up, Finebaum called the conflicting statements between Mark Schlissel and Jim Harbaugh “a seminal moment” in bringing football back. Finebaum explained that Schlissel’s remarks essentially showed that he feels the school doesn’t need college football.

Specifically, Finebaum found it strange that Schlissel considers football ‘a small part’ of their billion-dollar operation. From his own sense of things, Finebaum is pretty confident that Schlissel’s statement isn’t true.

Finebaum also found it noteworthy that there even is a difference of opinion between the two sides. He noted it was the first time that a head coach and a school president have differed on the issue.

Via 247Sports:

“I think it’s a legitimate concern here on Memorial Day because it is not going to be an even season,” Finebaum said. “An interesting moment, I would even call it a seminal moment in this process where you have one of the bluest bloods in the sport, and that’s what was so interesting about what the Michigan president said, he essentially said ‘we don’t have to have college football, the University of Michigan is a billion-dollar operation, and football is a relatively small part of that.’ He gave the number… that is in contrast to what most of us think, that you can’t have a University without a college football program. That is saying just the opposite.”

As we get closer and closer to the scheduled start of the college football season things are definitely getting very muddled.

At this point, the only thing that’s really clear is that nothing is set in stone.

Do you agree with Jim Harbaugh or Mark Schlissel?