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Paul Finebaum calls out Steve Sarkisian for 'whining and complaining' after viral Ole Miss comments

FaceProfileby: Thomas Goldkamp2 hours ago

Texas coach Steve Sarkisian made headlines earlier this week when he took a shot at Ole Miss for its transfer portal practices and academic standards. He included an offhand remark about “basket weaving” being an acceptable course credit for the Rebels.

To ESPN analyst Paul Finebaum, the comments were out of touch. He explained on Get Up on Thursday morning.

“The Sarkisian thing is even more amazing,” Finebaum said. “The fact that any college coach is whining and complaining about anything… Steve Sarkisian makes about $12 million per year and not one person on his roster is going to the University of Texas for the curriculum. They’re going for the money.”

So what were Sarkisian’s original comments? Well, they came in an interview with USA TODAY Sports.

“At Texas, we will only take 50% of a player’s academic credit hours,” Sarkisian said, via Matt Hayes. “You may be a semester from graduating, but you’re going all the way back to 50% if you play here and want a degree. But at Ole Miss, they can take you. All you have to do is take basket weaving, and you can get an Ole Miss degree.”

The comments quickly circulated on social media, with many fans getting a kick out of the shot at the Rebels. Of course, others pointed out that there are some potentially prickly issues for Steve Sarkisian.

Namely, that his quarterback is named Arch Manning. ESPN analyst Heather Dinich was quick to point that out on Get Up.

“With Sark we’re talking about what coaches and ADs say all the time on background, which, to me, is more light-hearted mud-slinging in the SEC, which I personally think is fantastic in the offseason as a reporter,” she said. “Oh, and by the way, there were some Mannings that went to Ole Miss who had some pretty good seasons there, and Sark has a quarterback with the same last name. So I’m also wondering how that might play out in the locker room.”

In all probability, the story started by Steve Sarkisian will likely blow over soon enough. But it certainly made for some levity during the long offseason.