Paul Finebaum didn’t leave SEC Media Days in Tampa with softened opinions.
If anything, the ESPN college football analyst came out swinging in a one-on-one interview with Trevor Denton of WAAY TV, and his targets were two of the SEC’s most scrutinized head coaches: Alabama’s Kalen DeBoer and LSU’s Lane Kiffin.
Finebaum’s comments on DeBoer were blunt from the start. He pointed to where Alabama stood when DeBoer arrived and where the program sits now.
“They were closer to winning a national championship when he first got there than they are this year,” Finebaum said.
He made clear that his praise for DeBoer as a coach doesn’t change the standard at Alabama.
“I like (DeBoer) a lot. I think he’s an excellent coach.
But that doesn’t have anything to do with being successful at Alabama,” Finebaum said. “When you’re the coach at Alabama, you need to win on the field, and he has 8 losses (so far), and you also have to inspire your fan base.”
Finebaum then drew a hard line around what Alabama demands.
“We want to hear some respect to the program that you were hired to take over. And the respect is, win a (national) title. You don’t survive at Alabama unless you win a title,” Finebaum said.
From there, the conversation shifted to Kiffin, who had already met with reporters during his Media Days appearance earlier Thursday. Finebaum said the public version of Kiffin doesn’t quite match the real one.
“There’s the real Lane Kiffin and then there’s the Lane Kiffin that we imagine. Oh, he’s so funny on social media.
He’s really not that funny,” Finebaum said. “He’s an awkward guy who’s an introvert who plays a football coach on TV.”
Even so, Finebaum still sees big things ahead for Kiffin in Baton Rouge.
“He’s incredibly good at (being a coach). I know Lane very well.
The line that blew me away (during Kiffin’s media session) was that I don’t pay attention to the media,” Finebaum said. “There wasn’t one person in that room that believed that.
That’s just who he is. He’s got a shield around him.
“By the way, it doesn’t really matter what he said here. It matters what he does. I think he’ll probably win a national championship, not this year but within two to three years at LSU.”
Finebaum’s full remarks on both coaches were captured by Denton after the interview.
With Media Days in the rearview, Alabama and LSU now head into the fall with the usual pressure attached to their names, and with Finebaum’s words adding another sharp edge to the conversation around both programs.
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