SEC Network and ESPN radio host Paul Finebaum paid a whirlwind visit to campus on April 23 that culminated in the 2025 Buchheit Family Lecture.
It started with a meet-and-greet session with students. Finebaum took the time to carefully listen to each student’s questions, whether they were about sports or career concerns, and to give a thoughtful response.
The Carolina News team took advantage of the opportunity to conduct three separate on-camera interviews with Finebaum.
Another portion of Finebaum’s afternoon was spent speaking with the lead instructor for the college’s new sports media major, associate professor Kevin Hull, about courses being offered in the program.
In the opening minutes of the evening lecture, Finebaum circled back to that conversation.
“Kevin told me about some of the classes here and about one in particular, SEC Sports, and I thought ‘How did I not get that job?'” said Finebaum.
With his signature candor, Finebaum spent the next 30 minutes sharing anecdotes and evincing his love of journalism as a craft.
He got a cheer from the audience when he stated that good writing ability is still the core skill that new journalists need to bring to their first job.
For the last half of the lecture, Kevin Hull joined Finebaum on stage for a discussion that covered topics ranging from the creation of the SEC Network to the impacts of Name Image Likeness on college sports.
It would have been impossible for Finebaum to visit campus and not get an audience question related to the university’s football program. He gave an optimistic outlook on USC’s 2025 season with LaNorris Sellers as one of the “top two or three quarterbacks in the country.”
Finebaum also praised USC Head Football Coach Shane Beamer for his “ability to connect with the fanbase” — a crucial skill for coaches in today’s rapidly evolving football landscape.
“People think that college football is about the games,” said Finebaum. “It’s really about average fans who show up in droves driving across their states to celebrate life through what happens both on the field and off.”
In the Q&A at the end of the lecture, a student in the audience asked Finebaum for suggestions on securing that first job. His advice was to “badger” people like him (within reasonable limits, of course).
“If I’m making a hiring decision at a television station or digital publication, and I have someone that is driving me crazy,” said Finebaum. “I’m thinking that might be a good reporter.”
About the Buchheit Family Lecture
This annual lecture is sponsored by the Buchheit Family Endowment, which provides undergraduate scholarships and graduate and doctoral fellowships to students of the USC School of Journalism and Mass Communications.
The Buchheit Family Lecture Series was created in 2000 in honor of the late Phil Buchheit, who was the former president and chairman of Mid-South Management Company and the former publisher of the Spartanburg Herald-Journal.