It wouldn’t be the first time Paul Finebaum took a call on his radio show from a coach’s relative.
Still, the SEC Network analyst could have been wading into uncharted waters — which is saying something for the Mouth from the South — Wednesday when “Dale from Boise” called in to support and defend Auburn coach Bryan Harsin.
The coach’s status has been a matter of debate for the past week as Auburn reportedly investigates the inner workings of his program.
As it turns out, “Dale from Boise’s” appearance on the “Paul Finebaum Show” had many people wondering if he is actually Harsin’s father, Dale Harsin. So much so that it took off on social media and left Finebaum questioning the same thing.
“First time caller on the show,” Dale from Boise started. “Anyway, on the recruiting portion of it, it said he didn’t recruit very well. Well, I think he did a pretty good job recruiting some of these players. They don’t have to be star-struck with five-star ratings. They can be good players. (He) went after good players that want to play the game and not star-struck with their stars and stuff.
“I thought he did a pretty dang good job: Kellen Moore, Leighton Vander Esch, Jay Ajai.”
Finebaum’s interest was piqued by the authoritative way in which “Dale from Boise” made his points.
“I got to Dale from Boise and he’s talking,” Finebaum said Thursday. “He’s saying a lot of very inside Boise State type of things. He mentions Kellen Moore and these other things I was aware of when Harsin was the offensive coordinator. The tone was that Bryan Harsin was responsible for all the success out there, and I didn’t object.”
As Finebaum is quick to point out, he isn’t an FBI voice analyzer. However, at the very least, you can’t help but notice the similarities in the voices. Or maybe it is the SEC football in us that loves a good pot-stirring narrative.
Check out Finebaum’s interview here (at the 8 minute mark). Here you can check a 2017 TV interview Dale Harsin did.
So, we made another call … to KTIK radio in Boise.
A spokesman for the station and “Sports Talk with Prater and the Ballgame” with Mike Prater and Johnny “Ballgame’’ Mallory said it is very much a topic of conversation in their market.
“This is where Harsin is from,” a station spokesman said. “Where his dad has a history of talking to the sports station, and (we’re) asking the same question. We feel pretty strongly that ‘Dale from Boise’ could have been Harsin’s dad.”
Multiple calls and messages left for Dale Harsin have not been returned. To be fair, there aren’t many in Dale Harsin’s position that would answer a text or a call from an Alabama area code these days.
Finebaum, meanwhile, said he just had a “weird feeling” after the call.
“I didn’t know his dad’s name was Dale until later, but I was going to be respectful,” Finebaum said about the call. “This guy, obviously, is fan of Harsin or knows Harsin. He’s calling from Boise. When he hung up, one of my producers said, ‘Man, someone on Twitter just posted that was his father.’ I said, ‘You know what? I wonder if it was.’ We thought about it. But again, it was early in the show, the show moved on.
“Then, last night and this morning, I started getting texts from media friends of mine who said they had friends listen to that and they think it is Harsin’s father. I’m like, ‘OK,’ so I got to the studio today and we listened to that and we listened to some other tape of him from a couple of months or a year ago. I’m a talk show host. I’m not an FBI voice analyzer, but it certainly sounds like the same guy who was on television as Bryan Harsin’s father.”
The conversation continued on the air when Finebaum pointed out that Harsin’s recruiting record at Boise speaks for itself, but can he recruit in the SEC?
“They want him to go after the five-star players, and you don’t always have to,” Dale from Boise explained. “Go after the players that want to play the game and want to be part of a team not be star-struck with all their stars. I hear guys griping about having to work too hard. He didn’t make them work too hard.”
I pointed out to Finebaum that “Dale from Boise” seemed very cool and calm for a father who was adamantly defending his son from career-damaging speculation.
“I’ve been around Bryan Harsin four or five times,” Finebaum said. “When I’m with him, he’s a very matter-of-fact person. That’s what this guy reminded me of. I’m sure he knew better, assuming it was his father.
“He was very calm about it, probably a lot calmer than I would have been.”
Finebaum ended the call with “Dale” by asking about Bryan Harsin’s reputation at Boise State.
“He has a great reputation,” Dale said. “There were no problems. He had a great reputation here. He did good. The team did good. They wouldn’t of beat Oklahoma, TCU and Arizona in the Fiesta Bowls if they hadn’t worked hard at it and hadn’t been recruiting right.
“All this stuff about not being able to recruit, you have to be given an opportunity to do it before they let you go.”
Finebaum certainly isn’t a stranger when it comes to getting animated calls from relatives of his verbal targets. He said there have been “legendary” encounters from former Alabama basketball coach Mark Gottfried’s wife “accosting me at halftime of the Alabama-Auburn game” to former Auburn football coach Gene Chizik’s wife to former Auburn great Pat Dye’s wife.
“Considering where we are in the (Bryan Harsin) story it is pretty amazing,” Finebaum said. “(Alabama defensive coordinator) Pete Golding’s dad called us a couple of months ago. That happens. I’ve had (former SEC commissioner) Roy Kramer’s wife call me once on the air to blast me. These things do happen. I can’t think of anything in the same context, while we are literally waiting with each tweet to see whether Harsin will stay or go with his having what could have been his father very steadfastly defending him is extraordinary.”
Finebaum said it is unlikely he will reach out to see if “Dale from Boise” is Dale Harsin.
“At this point, I’d rather not upset the apple cart,” he laughed. “If he’d like to call back, naturally, that would be fine.”
In a long and distinguished list of callers, will “Dale from Boise” take a place among the most memorable in Finebaum history?
“I’ve had some issues with mothers when the coaches were younger, but never really never had a problem with coaches’ dads before,” he said.
Stay tuned.
Mark Heim is a sports reporter for The Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Mark_Heim.
