Paul Finebaum puts Lane Kiffin on blast for 'pathetic' claim he doesn't know his salary at LSU

ESPN’s Paul Finebaum put Lane Kiffin on blast for his “pathetic” comments regarding his salary at LSU. Kiffin said in his introductory presser that he didn’t know numbers nor did he want to know numbers when it came ot his contract.

That’s what he claimed he told agent Jimmy Sexton and wanted to keep it about the situation and the players. Kiffin said as much while he was still at Ole Miss and said he would not make a decision based on money.

Finebaum didn’t buy it to say the least. Especially considering On3’s Chris Low and others reported his contract figures, so it is public knowledge.

“The big picture take is you saw in that clip of Lane Kiffin why so many people despise him, because that was one of the most disingenuous comments I have ever heard,” Finebaum said on Get Up. “Lane Kiffin with a straight face saying, ‘I don’t know what I’m making. All I care about is the player.’ Everyone knows what he was making. He could get $12 million from Ole Miss, $12 million from Florida, or $12 million from LSU. 

“So Lane, you may have conned some of your friends around college football who have been speaking out for you, but it won’t work in the real world. That was really pathetic, what I just heard there.”

As confirmed by Low, after reporting as well by Wilson Alexander at the Advocate, Kiffin will be on a seven-year, $91 million contract, around the mark of $13 million a year in salary, with the Tigers. That will make him among the highest-paid coaches in all of college football, with Georgia’s Kirby Smart being the only one currently set above that average with a close second going to Ohio State’s Ryan Day.

That figure is noteworthy as they’re two of the three active coaches who have won a national title with their teams having won three of the last four national championships in the College Football Playoff. Kiffin is looking to become the latest at his new stop.

However, incentives-wise, Kiffin could become the highest-paid coach in the nation. Winning a national title of his own would, at this time, get him over the top as far as salary goes. That was before further reporting that LSU will pay Kiffin what he would have earned in incentives on his last deal pending how his former team performs in the CFP.

According to the term sheet, acquired by a public records request, as well, Kiffin will be owed an 80% buyout, to be paid monthly through the remainder of his deal, if fired, but with no clause for mitigation or an offset, by LSU. That’s also of note considering how the firing played out over the past month for Brian Kelly, with the Tigers now set to pay him his full buyout of $54 million.

For reference, Kiffin was within the top-ten or top-fifteen or so with his reported salary at Ole Miss. That’s as he was being paid around $9 million per year by the end of his tenure with the Rebels.

Sam Gillenwater contributed to this report