Paul Finebaum didn’t hold back when he weighed in on Lane Kiffin’s move from Ole Miss to LSU, and his message was blunt: trust with Kiffin is always going to be a problem.
Kiffin’s departure already gave this SEC storyline plenty of juice. Ole Miss just finished its best season of the College Football Playoff era, rolling to a 13-2 record and earning its first CFP berth. Kiffin coached 12 of those games and went 11-1, putting together his fourth double-digit-win season in the last five years before leaving after the regular-season finale against Mississippi State.
Once he accepted the LSU job, Ole Miss kept him off the playoff sideline and elevated defensive coordinator Pete Golding to lead the team through the postseason.
Since then, Kiffin has taken public shots at Oxford. This offseason, he said in an interview that recruiting to Oxford was difficult because of a lack of diversity and that recruits’ families would not let them attend Ole Miss. He argued that’s part of why he believes he is positioned for more success at LSU.
Finebaum, speaking on "The Paul Finebaum Show," made clear he’s never bought into Kiffin’s act.
"I just have to accept it, and the only thing that really frustrated me for the last two or three years was it had to do with Ole Miss fans believing him," Finebaum said. "I don't mean to paint with a broad brush, but I will; nobody can believe Lane Kiffin.
He's out for himself. That isn't a shot.
It's the truth... he's always going to be the star in his own movie. It's not his players.
It's not his university. It's him."
Now Kiffin gets the LSU stage, along with the kind of resources and recruiting advantages that come with it. But the expectations are bigger too. The Tigers are expected to chase SEC championships and College Football Playoff spots, and Kiffin has been handed the roster and backing to make that happen.
That means the scoreboard will do the talking from here. His comments about Ole Miss will linger, but his real answer has to come on Saturdays.
For the moment, Finebaum’s criticism just adds another sharp edge to a coaching move that already had plenty of it. Kiffin left Ole Miss at the peak of its momentum, and now LSU will decide whether that gamble looks brilliant or reckless.
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