Paul Finebaum has not shied away from sharing his criticism of Lane Kiffin over the years, but the Ole Miss coach is showing he can take tough evaluations in stride.
Ole Miss football coach Lane Kiffin continues to heap praise on ESPN’s Paul Finebaum for his indirect role in “getting me fired” from USC more than a decade ago.
Kiffin joined Nick Saban’s staff at Alabama in 2014 after he departed Southern California.
In 2013, Finebaum characterized Kiffin as “the Miley Cyrus of college football.” On that same day, Kiffin was relieved of his head coaching duties at USC.
“How did someone like Lane Kiffin ever get these jobs?” Finebaum said at the time. “How did he land the Raiders job? At Tennessee? And particularly the one at SC? People think it’s because of his father, Monte, the great defensive wizard. In some respects, Lane Kiffin is the Miley Cyrus of college football.”
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Finebaum quickly pointed out the difference between Kiffin and the music star, noting the coach had “very little talent.”
“He has very little talent, but we simply can’t take our eyes off him,” Finebaum said.
Kiffin, who coached Ole Miss to an upset win over the Georgia Bulldogs Saturday, was a guest on Finebaum’s ESPN program Wednesday. Kiffin jokingly credited Finebaum for playing a part in his job ending in 2013.
Kiffin suggested he would not have landed subsequent roles at Alabama, Florida Atlantic or his current position had it not been for Finebaum’s critical remarks all those years ago.
“Somebody else is going to get the Finebaum love somewhere else,” said Kiffin in reference to his complicated history with Finebaum.
“And I’m OK with that when you take the shots. We’ve talked about this before. It makes you better. It makes you overcome things. When you got me fired at USC, we’ve said that before. Now, I’m saying I wouldn’t have been here and to have the Georgia win if you hadn’t gotten me fired. I wouldn’t have gotten to work for Coach Saban. So I’m grateful to you Paul. Thanks for that day. Thanks for the Miley Cyrus comment.”
Finebaum congratulated Kiffin for earning a signature win last week and said he was “happy” to see the coach succeed.
“Thank you coach for always remembering that,” Finebaum said. “And congratulations again. We’re all very happy for you. Whether we have to be reminded of Miley Cyrus or not.”
Ole Miss was slotted in the 11th position in the latest College Football Playoff rankings. If the postseason started today, the Rebels would match up with the Penn State Nittany Lions.
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