Paul Finebaum speculates on Lane Kiffin next head coach job

Paul Finebaum speculated on Lane Kiffin’s future in coaching after Ole Miss’ latest loss, this time to Florida.

As far as major college openings next year, Finebaum isn’t sure of where Kiffin could go, barring anything unforeseen at Auburn or Florida. Maybe the NFL?

The ESPN host acknowledged Kiffin was pretty smart though and maybe will have to ride it out at Ole Miss after, most likely, falling short of the College Football Playoff.

“I think you’ll hear Lane Kiffin’s name,” Finebaum said on The Matt Barrie Show. “I don’t know if there’d be any legitimate openings this year, but I think at some point he’s going to have to take a deep, long look. I almost went to Auburn, he would say to himself, I thought about Florida. Do I continue here? Do I look to the NFL? I don’t know but I guarantee Lane Kiffin, once he wraps up the Egg Bowl, will have to do some soul searching.”

Kiffin is now 42-18 at Ole Miss but could end the year with at least 10 wins, which would be the third season in five years he’s done so. But have the Rebels peaked?

“Lane Kiffin is a really smart guy,” Finebaum said. “He knows this was his shot. And I’m sure if you’re an Ole Miss fan, you say, ‘Oh, what do you mean? I mean, we can come back.’ I don’t know about that. I mean, to me, it’s not that easy for Ole Miss to be the best team in the country, which I thought they were yesterday before that game. 

“I want to make it clear I think Lane Kiffin is an excellent football coach … People told me close to that program, when I was there a few weeks ago, that the one reason they were playing better against Georgia than they were against Kentucky, that with so many free agents, it takes a while, and finally they got the rhythm. So there’s just no excuse.”

With close losses, everyone tries to find a common thread. It’s simply just football to Kiffin.

“It’s football. It happens,” Kiffin said postgame. “The year before, it was the opposite, right? Sometimes the ball goes that way. We have opportunities to make plays. Situations. That’s a pretty easy story. They’re 2-2 in the red zone. We’re 0-3.  We outgain ‘em by 100 yards but we don’t win the turnover margin. So again, shows how irrelevant yards are compared to scoring in the red zone and turnovers.”