Paul Finebaum and Lane Kiffin might just do this dance forever.
Kiffin is in his first year at the helm of the LSU Tigers, and if he knows anything, ESPN and SEC Network host Paul Finebaum is going to be talking about him and his program.
That’s been the case for years, from Kiffin’s solo season at Tennessee to his disappointing USC tenure to his time as an Alabama assistant to his head-coaching revival at FAU and Ole Miss, and certainly during the controversial way he left that program to take over LSU.
Paul Finebaum: “[Lane Kiffin is] a child. He’s a 51-year-old man behaving like a 16-year-old… There are no adults in the room… If the presidents of the SEC took a vote today, they very well might vote to kick LSU out of the league.”pic.twitter.com/616W3nMCbf
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) September 5, 2026
Finebaum has been working Kiffin over on his show and TV appearances leading up to his Tigers debut against Clemson. After LSU’s 51-10 dismantling of Dabo Swinney’s team, it appears that Finebaum’s takes have turned. And Kiffin understands that’s all part of the game.
Lane Kiffin and the @LSUfootball is getting a ton of love on Monday after dismantling Clemson.
Last week @finebaum was blaming Lane for everything except high gas prices, now the sentiment has turned.
How does Lane and LSU handle that going forward?
pic.twitter.com/qPWI6mAEJN— Michael Cauble (@Cauble) September 7, 2026
“I like Paul, I really do,” said Kiffin. ” And he knows that. He said something one time to me about being like the ex that texts, and you respond back. I don’t think of Paul like that. [Media pundits] have a job to do, and I understand that. Those things used to make me mad and upset. And then I realized, ‘Okay, they have a job to do.’ Especially when two people go on a show, usually they’ve got to take opposite sides. It’s just Paul’s shtick.
“And really, if you study over time, if Paul’s on you, you’re probably doing really well — or you’re about to do really well. Because I always remember with Paul, every other year at Alabama, it was, ‘Saban’s done, the dynasty’s over. He can’t coach, he can’t keep up anymore with the tempo offense.’ Paul would kill him every other year, and then he’d go win a national championship. So when Paul does it, I like it because it usually means something good’s about to happen.”
Kiffin then turned to one of Nick Saban’s favorite phrases when describing the media, explaining why he wants Finebaum talking about his team.
“He is the definition of rat poison,” he continued. “He sent me today his own thing where he said, you know, we’re the hottest place to go and, you know, every recruit should want to come here and everything. And so I responded back to him, ‘Thanks for the rat poison,’ because that’s what your players read. And then all of a sudden they think, okay, we’ve arrived.”
Like any good talking head who knows how the game works, Finebaum appreciated the commentary.
Thanks for watching, Coach. https://t.co/QnGmysclei
— Paul Finebaum (@finebaum) September 7, 2026
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