Bob Finley graduated from Fayette County High School and received his degree from the University of Tennessee.

Following graduation, Finley worked as an assistant at Walker High School and Fayette County before landing in Birmingham.

Finley accepted a position as an assistant coach at W.A. Berry High School (Hoover) in 1963 under Larry Wilson. He also served as the head basketball coach. Finley would spend 27 of his 30 years in athletics and education at Berry.

Finley became the head coach at Berry in 1968. His first team finished with a 9-2 mark. The following season was even better as the Bucs finished 11-1, losing only to Robert E. Lee of Montgomery in the State Championship game.

Over the next 26 seasons his teams won 198, lost 87 and tied 5 games. They also won two state championships, one in 1977 and the second in 1982 when the Bucs tied Enterprise 10-10 in the championship game.

The Bucs shutout Walker 21-0 in the 1977 title game. Berry also finished as runner-up in 1988 when they were beaten by possibly the best team in Alabama high school football history, Vigor, 41-7.

His teams won seven area tittles and 18 playoff games in 14 appearances. Finley took over the duties as the girls basketball coach in 1984 where his teams made 12 playoff appearances and reached the final four on eight occasions.

He was inducted into the Alabama High School Athletic Associations Hall of Fame in 1992. The football complex at Hoover was named in his honor in 1979. Finley died suddenly after mowing the grass on the football field on July 31, 1994.