Paul Finebaum reveals what ESPN's recent round of firings was like for on-air talent

Paul Finebaum, a college football analyst for ESPN known for covering the SEC, recently opened up about his perspective on the recent round of layoffs of on-air talent.

This comes after ESPN moved on from numerous big names in its coverage last Friday, several of whom shared the college football space alongside Finebaum. That included David Pollack, Gene Wojciechowski, and Todd McShay among other notable names.

“I’ve had plenty of people text me over the weekend, ‘Are you okay?'” Paul Finebaum said. “In fact, you asked me about Friday and I got off the subject. I went out at lunch, I got in and we saw some of the names.”

. @finebaum describes what last Friday was like for ESPN's on-air stars.

Listen to the Marchand & Ourand Sports Media podcast here:
Apple: https://t.co/ilNU5z7ZHx
Spotify: https://t.co/Sq4hx8zLFT
Google: https://t.co/bmvnTXCWU3 pic.twitter.com/Ps6i6BvWzh

— John Ourand (@Ourand_SBJ) July 5, 2023

“I went out to grab a smoothie for lunch. This was no day to be gone for long and as I’m walking out of the Smoothie King, which is around the corner from our office, a lady walked up to me and said, ‘Are you Paul Finebaum?’ I said, ”Yes, ma’am.’ She said, ‘I watch your show.’ I said, ‘Well, thank you very much,’ and as I was getting in my car, she said, ‘You haven’t been laid off yet,'” Finebaum said.

“And I’m like going…but that’s part of it. ‘Not yet.'”

Paul Finebaum was clearly frustrated by the entire situation. He explained that it made things difficult on Friday, as he and his team tried to produce a show, to focus on the task at hand.

“And I got back to the office a minute later and we learned of more people. You know, our guys who were in that day producing, yeah, you’re preparing a show but you’re also — how can you not be looking and seeing what is happening around you?”

Rece Davis responded to David Pollack being fired by ESPN

ESPN’s college football coverage lost one of its biggest names when David Pollack, a co-host on College GameDay, was let go by ESPN. This led to Rece Davis, the host of College GameDay who worked closely with Pollack, responding to the firing on Twitter.

“Class personified. I’ve joked for years that @davidpollack47 is the little brother I never wanted. Truth is, he’s as good a man & as good a friend as I could’ve ever hoped for. He’s a brother to me for life. He’s a man of God. He’s a selfless teammate, an exemplary family man,” Davis tweeted.

“Tough day. But as he alludes to in the video, who can be against him. (Romans 8:31). And whatever is next for David, he will crush it.”