Paul Finebaum has never been shy about taking aim at Lane Kiffin, and on Wednesday he turned the LSU coach into a full-blown celebrity comparison.
Speaking on the What A Day podcast, Finebaum labeled Kiffin the “Kim Kardashian of college football,” tying that image to the chaos and attention that seem to trail him everywhere.
“First of all, Lane Kiffin is the Kim Kardashian of college football. Wherever she goes, or he goes, there’s destruction and carnage in his place. His history is too long to recall,” Finebaum said.
He didn’t stop there.
“It’s as simple as this: he was the head coach at Ole Miss last December, they were in the College Football Playoff for the first time. They had a shot at winning the national championship!
And he walked out on them. It had never happened before, there’s no precedent for this, but he wanted a better job.”
The comments come as the wider off-field drama around LSU has eased for the moment, with the SEC not moving to punish the Tigers right now and attention drifting back toward the season. Still, the Kiffin storyline has stayed loud.
That’s hardly surprising. Kiffin has built a reputation as one of the sport’s most talked-about figures, whether he’s on camera, dropping cryptic posts online, or simply leaning into his own brand of chaos. The attention follows him.
Finebaum’s criticism also taps into Kiffin’s long track record of headline-grabbing moves and controversies. His departure from Ole Miss after leading the Rebels to the College Football Playoff added another major entry to that list, and it gave his critics plenty to work with.
Whether the comparison lands or not, Kiffin has clearly become the kind of coach who can dominate the conversation without even coaching a game. A post, a quote, a move - that’s usually enough to set things off.
For LSU, the next step is obvious. If Kiffin wins, the noise starts to fade. If not, the conversation around him is going to keep growing, and so will the drama that comes with it.
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Pete Golding Explained Ole Miss Costly Late Coverage Bust
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Pete Golding spent his postgame media availability walking through what went wrong and why the coverage failed to hold up. The explanation centered on the structure of the call and the responsibility that did not get executed, leaving Lincoln Kienholz with a throw that found Lawayne McCoy free and put an ugly finish on a frustrating defensive snap. [Read more 🡒]