Paul Finebaum: ‘Without the University of Tennessee I wouldn’t have done what I did’

Paul Finebaum has enjoyed a distinguished journalism and media career in the Southeast as a sports columnist and radio and TV host, currently with stints at the SEC Network and ESPN, among others.

But his career got off to an inauspicious start in the mid-1970s, when he was a student at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville and saw an advertisement in the student newspaper, the Daily Beacon, for a volunteer reporter. Although he had never written more than a few simple book reports and theses, this position aroused his curiosity.

“I was going through my existence aimlessly, and I said maybe one day I’ll walk through that,” he recalled recently over the phone. “It just sounded fun.”

He did inquire and told the editor that he had no experience, so they tried him by writing what they thought was a simple, everyday story. But what was almost a prophetic sign of future success became much more than that.

“They gave me a complicated story. It was about a shuttle service to the airport, and it had been stopped,” he said. ‘I had never written a story in my life, but I was literally on the brink of a scandal. I found out that some gains had been made, and before you knew it, the editor said, “We gave the man some busy work and he came back with the scandal of the year.” That’s why they hired me.”

This story about a discontinued ride service ultimately became the start of his own foray into a successful career that included a variety of stops and even transitions into different media.

The Shopper News concludes two part series on Finebaum after being contacted with the help of longtime Knoxville friend Larry Silverstein and graciously agreeing to an interview.

Finebaum said his arrival at UT came after a dark period in his life.

His father had died of a heart attack when the future journalist was only fifteen and growing up in Memphis, but he was able to get some financial support to attend the University of Tennessee. He thought he might become a lawyer or maybe work for the government, but instead he would work as a member of the media trying to find out the truth and get it out.

After continuing to cover topics such as student and city government and even the 1976 mayoral race at the Daily Beacon, he quickly switched to sports when Randy Tyree was elected. As a former humble schoolboy athlete, he thought that was where the action took place.

He eventually became senior sports editor in 1977-78, noting that this was quite an achievement for someone who had never written an article and barely knew how to type just a few months earlier.

“I had an innate ability and curiosity to report, but I had no fundamental or practical skills,” he said.

A lot happened while he covered UT sports at the time, with football coach Bill Battle resigning in 1976 and being replaced by high-profile alum Johnny Majors.

The exciting Ernie (Grunfeld) and Bernie (King) show also took place with UT basketball. Coach Ray Mears later had to resign for mental health reasons, and the Vols struggled under interim coach Cliff Wettig after the two stars left.

Finebaum’s blunt writing style of honest criticism — which has since been adopted in his radio and TV work — generated a lot of attention among UT’s sports administration, he recalled.

“I wrote controversial things, and no one had ever done that before on a school campus,” he recalled with a chuckle. “I competed against anyone and everyone. No one said you couldn’t be critical.”

He majored in political science, but eventually took several journalism classes, with the Daily Beacon being his main focus. He made the newspaper sound almost like a fraternity to some students, although female sports reporters like future Lady Vols sports communications director Debby Jennings were also on the staff.

“I had a lot of help,” he said of the paper’s editors in polishing his work. “It was like a group of brothers.”

Deciding he likely wanted to pursue journalism as a career, a conversation with then-News Sentinel sports editor Tom Siler informed him of an opening at the Bristol Herald-Courier. He was seriously dating a girl from nearby Kingsport, so he thought it would work out well.

He brought best friend and talented fellow student journalist Joey Ledford to the interview, and he remembers that they seemed more interested in Ledford. However, he did receive an offer.

But he had also sent resumes to other places and had an offer to work for the Shreveport, Louisiana, Times as well. While he was thinking about marriage but wondering if he was ready, he decided to take the job in Shreveport.

“In my gut I knew I had to get out and build my career,” he said, adding that his girlfriend dropped him after about three months and soon married someone else.

Although he married his current wife more than a decade later, he would also remain happily married to the field of journalism, soon moving to newspapers in Birmingham and Mobile, Alabama, as well as beginning on-air work. His investigative pieces and columns attracted many negative reactions, but also admirers in the field of journalism.

One place he really likes and has only positive comments about is the Daily Beacon when he was there. He even tries to come back and talk to the current staff once a year, including on the Friday afternoon before Tennessee’s recent win over Alabama when he was in town with the SEC Network.

“I know I wouldn’t have done what I did without the University of Tennessee and especially the UT Daily Beacon,” he said. “It is literally embroidered into the tapestry of my life and career.”

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: How ‘SEC Nation’ host Paul Finebaum was formed while studying in Tennessee