Paul Finebaum goes scorched earth on Lincoln Riley, who he wants to personally fire

It has been a while since I last saw Paul Finebaum get fired up like this. Yes, he was hyper-critical of Michigan's national championship run, one that is still marred my controversy and an evolving scandal. However, Lincoln Riley seems to be running a clean program over at USC. The only problem is Finebaum expects way more out of Southern Cal. He has run out of patience with Riley's schtick.

During an appearance on ESPN's First Take on Monday morning live from the Omni Hotel in Dallas for SEC Media Days, Finebaum went scorched earth armageddon on the Trojans head coach. When asked if Riley has something to prove in year three, he definitively said yes before tossing Riley out of the frying pan and into the fire. He pretty much said Riley is a coward who does not care for defense.

He started by saying Riley running away from the SEC once Oklahoma was joining to be a big red flag.

"I think he has an enormous amount to prove because quite frankly, I think he's been a disaster. Let's go back three years. Oklahoma and Texas joining the SEC. It was announced at this moment in time. What did Lincoln Riley do? He ran away! He did not want to deal with the Southeastern Conference at OU. He took what he thought was an easier course, so he goes out to Southern Cal. He takes Caleb Williams. Good first year, but since then, everything has gone wrong.

He continued by saying that last year's 8-5 season at USC was borderline coaching malpractice.

"I thought last year was one of the worst coaching jobs I have ever seen. Quite frankly, had I been the athletic director at Southern Cal, I would have fired Lincoln Riley because he has yet to show after many years as a head coach he knows anything about defense. He's gone through defensive coordinators. He just simply couldn't handle it.

Finally, Finebaum finished up by saying that things are not going to get easier for USC in the Big Ten.

"And now, things are going to be five times worse in the Big Ten. On top of that, a number of his top players are bailing out. This is a guy who owned L.A. for about a half a minute, and quite frankly next year at this time, I think he'll more than likely be an assistant in the NFL, if he's that lucky."

Here is the entire clip of Finebaum going off on Riley during his latest appearance on First Take.

Look at his ESPN's colleagues Robert Griffin III and Heather Dinich's reactions to Finebaum's rant.

Paul Finebaum destroys Lincoln Riley during his First Take appearance

I am not going to be one to defend Riley. He cuts corners and avoids facing his problems head-on. While he did not deserve to get harpooned like a whale in early 19th century New England waters, he also did this to himself. He is the grown-up version of that kid you used to be friends with in middle school, the one who slapped your controller when you pick off his pass during a game of Madden.

In between screaming timeout, turning the console off and scarfing down half of the slice of pizza you wanted, only to leave the crust behind because he doesn't do crust, you decided at 14 years old to stop being friends with this guy. To me, Riley is a Kliff Kingsbury who interviews better. He needs to prove to me that he is more than an offensive wunderkind to have any staying power over at USC.

While I would not have fired him after last season, he cannot enter the Big Ten running a rinky-dink pop-gun Air Raid offense. He needs to embrace defense for once in his life and run the ball down the opposition's throat. There is nothing wrong with trying to win like Wisconsin. Too bad Luke Fickell actually thinks running a Phil Longo Air Raid is going to work in Madison in the second half of the year.

Truth be told, it all comes down to how well he gels with new athletic director Jennifer Cohen. She left a really good gig at Washington to replace Mike Bohn. You don't even know?! What I am getting at is she inherited Riley, and not the other way around. She was the one responsible of replacing Andy Enfield with Eric Musselman on the hoops side of things. That hire was a slam dunk. So was another...

See, she was the one who hired former Fresno State head coach Kalen DeBoer to replace an ineffective Jimmy Lake in a post-Chris Petersen world. Lake didn't take, and now he is my problem in Atlanta. Rise up forever! Anyway, Cohen has a keen eye for coaching talent. Better yet, if a head coach stinks and becomes a problem, she will swiftly move on from them because she is an adult.

Simply put, it is time for Riley to grow up. Long gone are the days of being an offensive guru. He needs to evolve into a CEO-type because that is how you win prolifically in this day and age of college football. You need to recruit out the wazoo, as opposed to being arrogant enough to think you can out-scheme someone's 20-somethings with your 20-somethings. Well, what if theirs are way better?

That is exactly my point! This is USC, the best program in the state of California by a country mile. You should be able to sell all that USC has to offer to prospective recruits all over the West Coast and in other pockets in the country. This is a program where winning national championships is the gold standard. It may be mislabeled as a glamor program, but the thing was built on blue-collar players.

For every Reggie Bush and Matt Leinart out there, you have a Brian Cushing and a LenDale White. The Troy Polamalus of the world built USC back up into what it once was, not some money-grabbing transfer for god knows where. We can only hope that Riley is a changed man, but old habits die hard. I hope the team rallies around Miller Moss more than they ever did under Caleb Williams. USC needs it.

I am not going to fire Riley just yet, but I am watching what he does this season at USC very closely.