Paul Finebaum reflected Wednesday on the ESPN layoffs, calling it the “worst day” of his tenure at the company.

The analyst remains a huge part of ESPN’s college football coverage, which includes the SEC Network. Some of his colleagues, on the other hand, aren’t so fortunate.

Roughly 20 on-air personalities were let go last week as the network continues rounds of cost cuts.

“College GameDay” contributors David Pollack and Gene Wojciechowski were among the casualties, as was NFL draft expert Todd McShay.

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Finebaum, who appeared on The Marchand and Ourand Sports Media Podcast, said the business aspect “can be cruel” at times.

“It’s pretty tough, and I say that loving my job and loving the company,” Finebaum said. “But it was the worst day in my 10 years at ESPN. I can’t explain Bob (Iger’s) thinking. I think you have to trust his track record, but it doesn’t really excuse the state of mind that a lot of us, if not all of us, were in.

“And I say as an employee nobody knew Friday. Especially those of us who were on the air whether we would be around at the end of the day. I’ll spare you a lot of the things that have been said on Twitter and on social media because (ESPN) is a special place to work. But it can be cruel, and I think because most of the names were very well-known — far better than mine — there’s a chirping out there, there’s a lot of schadenfreude from, ‘Hey, look what happened to him or to her,’ but it still hurts.”

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In the end, though, Finebaum said it was a business decision.

“Does it make you angry? Yes, but who can you be angry with? The people who were let go, they weren’t taken off the air because they were inefficient or incompetent,” Finebaum said. “It was a business decision. That’s the part that you have to understand when you work there, there’s good and there’s bad.”

The cuts are part of the plan by The Walt Disney Co. to lay off thousands of employees – including ESPN as part of a previously announced plan to eliminate 7,000 jobs this year.

The job cuts include entertainment, ESPN, parks, experiences and products. The company previously said that it doesn’t expect the job cuts to impact hourly frontline operations roles at its parks and resorts.

Disney CEO Bob Iger had announced in February that the company was going to cut about 7,000 jobs as part of an ambitious companywide cost-savings plan and “strategic reorganization.” The job cuts amount to about 3% of the entertainment giant’s global workforce.

Mark Heim is a reporter for The Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Mark_Heim. He can be heard on “The Opening Kickoff” on WNSP-FM 105.5 FM in Mobile or on the free Sound of Mobile App from 6 to 9 a.m. daily.