Lane Kiffin’s move from Ole Miss to LSU has already become one of the biggest storylines in college football, and Paul Finebaum doesn’t see another jump coming any time soon.
Kiffin spent six seasons in Oxford and put together a strong run, going 55-19 and winning double-digit games in four of his final five years. His last Ole Miss team went 11-1 and helped push the Rebels to their first College Football Playoff appearance.
Even so, he never got to finish that ride. Kiffin left to take over the Tigers, a program built to chase championships.
Ole Miss kept going without him, beating Tulane and Georgia to reach the College Football Playoff semifinals before falling in the final seconds to Miami.
Now Kiffin is focused on 2026, and the challenge in Baton Rouge is obvious: LSU doesn’t just want to compete, it expects to win big. The Tigers have claimed three national titles since 2000, and Kiffin’s task is to show quickly that the move was worth it.
On “The Paul Finebaum Show,” one caller floated the idea that Kiffin could eventually leave again, this time for Alabama if that job ever opened. Finebaum acknowledged that Kiffin had wanted the Crimson Tide opening before Kalen DeBoer got it after the 2023 season, but he pushed back on the idea that Kiffin is angling for another escape.
"I don't think that Lane Kiffin could find a better job than what he does right now," Finebaum said. "You would argue that LSU is one of the top three or four jobs in college football.
The thing that is so attractive about it is everyone is behind the program. I have no doubt that Lane Kiffin talks to the governor every morning.
That's a big guy to have in your corner."
That’s the real intrigue here. Kiffin didn’t leave Ole Miss because he had hit a ceiling there. He left because LSU gave him a bigger stage and a chance to chase an even higher level.
From here, it comes down to results. If Kiffin turns LSU into a steady playoff team and eventually a national title threat, talk about his next job might fade fast. He would already be sitting in what Finebaum sees as one of the best positions in the sport, with a program that matches his ambitions.
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