Paul Finebaum: Never 'been more wrong about anything' than Michigan football's Jim Harbaugh

Michigan’s 34-13 victory against Washington in the College Football Playoff championship game Monday night left little doubt as to what team was college football’s best during the 2023 season.

It was so convincing, in fact, that it was even able to mentally and emotionally sway one of Wolverines coach Jim Harbaugh’s biggest, most outspoken critics.

In an appearance Tuesday morning on ESPN’s “Get Up!” longtime college football pundit Paul Finebaum offered a mea culpa to Harbaugh. He noted that he had been wrong about Harbaugh and added that the Michigan coach has “silenced all those who doubted him in the early days.”

MORE: Buy Michigan championship gear with Fanatics

“I was cheering for him last night and I can’t explain it,” Finebaum said, to the visible surprise and amusement of his fellow panelists. “I’m sure it’s some weird thing back when I was a baby, but I don’t know if I’ve ever been more wrong about anything in my entire life. I didn’t think the guy would ever beat Ohio State, I said on your show a couple of years ago, if I live to be 150 and I’m getting close … but the point being: This is truly remarkable.

“I don’t want to be wrong about something. You never want to be wrong. But if you’re ever going to be epically wrong, out of this constellation, out of this universe wrong, I’ll take it.”

The national championship was Harbaugh’s first. It marked the first time Michigan had won at least a share of a national title since the 1997 season.

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Jim Harbaugh-Paul Finebaum feud

Those comments were notable not just because of the sentiment they expressed, but who said them.

Since Harbaugh’s hiring at Michigan after the 2014 season, Finebaum has regularly poked at the Wolverines coach, leading to something of a longstanding feud between the two.

As Finebaum mentioned, he had previously said that Harbaugh was “incapable” of beating rival Ohio State. The Michigan coach proved the ESPN commentator wrong in that instance, too, beating the Buckeyes just three days after those comments.

He dubbed Harbaugh “the Donald Trump of college football” early in 2016 for Harbaugh’s outsized role in dictating the news cycle.

In September 2019, after a 35-14 loss to Wisconsin, Finebaum said Harbaugh was no longer an elite coach and that he had become a “total fraud and charade.” A year earlier, following a 20-17 win against Northwestern, Finebaum said Harbaugh “just cannot develop an offense” and chose the Michigan coach when asked on ESPN’s “First Take” who he believed could potentially be fired that season.

The spat between the two reached a head in 2017, when Finebaum accused Harbaugh of cheating for hiring Michael Johnson Sr., a high school coach and the father of top 2019 quarterback recruit Michael Johnson Jr., to the Wolverines’ staff. He described it as “blatantly disregarding the spirit of the NCAA rule" (Johnson eventually ended up signing with Penn State).

Harbaugh shot back at Finebaum, calling him “Pete Finebaum” in a tweet and labeling him as “the unabashed SEC water carrier.”

Michigan fans! Celebrate the national title with our two commemorative books: "Blue Reign: The Story of the 2023 Michigan Wolverines' Legendary Run to the National Championship" and "Maize & Grand: Michigan’s Epic March to the 2023 National Title" — Preorder now to save! You can also buy a commemorative copy of the front page of the Detroit Free Press from the morning after U-M's historic championship victory, and purchase our four-page special Stadium Section. 

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: ESPN's Paul Finebaum says he was wrong for critiques of Jim Harbaugh