Lane Kiffin, Paul Finebaum share playful jabs over firing at USC

Remember when Lane Kiffin was practically fired on the tarmac at USC? Well, Paul Finebaum remembered it well and the two had a friendly sparring match on the air Monday.

Finebaum, ever the critic when he wants to be, thought it was humorous that he could’ve been partly responsible for Kiffin’s firing. In fact, Kiffin actually agreed.

The two let each other have it on SEC Network.

“It’s a better story if I got you fired,” Finebaum said. 

That’s where Kiffin came in.

“You really did,” Kiffin said. “Because it is a true story that the athletic director and the president were on that trip. We were playing that night and you were on College GameDay and you had to make your big splash. They were watching it, because I know the other person in the room that was watching it with them. And you said, what a joke I was, I’m the Miley Cyrus of college football coaching and I should be fired. They looked at each other and later that night, I was fired.

“But hey, look what happened. I would never have gotten to work for Coach Saban. All of these other things wouldn’t have happened. So I appreciate you for helping getting me fired.”

Finebaum actually knows some of his pop culture. Miley Cyrus’ resurgence is arguably bigger than Kiffin’s!

“Look at what you’re doing today,” Finebaum said. “You’re predicted to go to the playoff. Look at Miley Cyrus. She’s had a nice comeback too.”

While it looked like Finebaum made a nice comparison, Kiffin actually called out the SEC commentator.

“So you were wrong on that,” Kiffin said. “I mean, you put me down with that. Really, I don’t know what you’re good at. You predicted Coach Saban was done, that didn’t happen. You basically said Miley Cyrus stinks and she’s still going.”

When Kiffin departed USC, he ended up on Saban’s staff at Alabama for three seasons. He parlayed that into the head coaching job at Florida Atlantic.

While with the Owls, Kiffin went 26-13, winning two Conference USA titles. In 2020, Kiffin started his first year at Ole Miss.

In four seasons, Kiffin is 34-15, has seasons with 10 and 11 wins, and is 2-2 in bowl games. Last year, Ole Miss finished 11-2 and with a No. 9 end of season ranking in the AP Poll.

As Finebaum pointed out, Ole Miss’ roster is stacked and the Rebels are projected to be a College Football Playoff and SEC contender in 2024.