Paul Finebaum Questions If We Can Trust College Coaches to Be Honest About Positive Coronavirus Tests

Fall football is still very much in the air, both professionally and collegiately. Paul Finebaum was on the Dan Patrick Show today to discuss what a college football season might look like in the midst of a global pandemic.

Finebaum brought up a good point that should send shivers down your spine when talking with Patrick: Can we really trust college coaches to be completely honest about players who test positive for COVID-19? Common sense and a basic faith in the decency of humanity would lead us to hope it's an easy answer, but for anyone who's paid attention to the college sports world over the last decade, it's anything but (1:54:25-mark):

"Can we trust college coaches to even be honest about these tests once we get to the season?" said Finebaum. "You talk about getting ready for the Michigan-Ohio State game, the Alabama-Auburn game, the Georgia-Florida game. Are coaches going to say, 'Oh, I'm sorry, my star player tested positive, I'm going to quarantine him and the offensive line?' College football is ripe with lying and cheating and fraudulence and deception, and I don't think this would be any different."

Again: one would hope that, despite the over-competitive nature of college athletics, coaches would recognize this is all much bigger than winning a game over a rival. Most probably will, if only because they recognize they would be immediately fired for lying about a positive test. Even if Jim Harbaugh finally beat Ohio State, he'd be packing his bags within days should news break that one of Michigan's key offensive lineman tested positive but Harbaugh kept it quiet because he needed the kid to play.

But assuming the best of everyone hasn't exactly worked out when it comes to coronavirus in the United States. Finebaum's point has validity, as much as we all wish it didn't.