Paul Finebaum weighs in on possibility Lane Kiffin returns to USC

Following a three-year stint as the head coach at Florida Atlantic, Lane Kiffin made his long-awaited return to the SEC ahead of the 2020 season when he became the head coach at Ole Miss. Kiffin has SEC roots, having coached at both Tennessee and Alabama, but another position with which he is familiar has opened: the USC Trojans head coaching job.

After USC fired Clay Helton, could Kiffin return to Los Angeles after just two seasons at the helm of the Ole Miss Rebels?

Much to the displeasure of Ole Miss faithful, ESPN college football analyst Paul Finebaum thinks Kiffin would head to USC if offered the job today. As it stands, Kiffin is seen as far from a favorite to land the job, with his odds priced at +5000.

“I’ve heard from Ole Miss fans who are accusing me of trying to get Lane out of Oxford,” Paul said Sunday, speculating about a Kiffin-USC reunion. “I am going to lean on my legal fascination, my boyhood joy of reading constitutional law. I am going to cite you a precedent; it was in 2010, when Lane Kiffin left the University of Tennessee for Southern Cal. Do I think he would leave Ole Miss for Southern Cal? Yes I do.”

In just a season and a half, Kiffin has turned around an Ole Miss program that was slumping mightily under previous head coach Matt Luke, who failed to finish over .500 in three seasons at the helm. Kiffin started his tenure by going 5-5 in an abbreviated, SEC-only schedule in 2020, and the 2021 season has only been better — Ole Miss, ranked No. 12 in the AP poll, is 3-0, boasting wins over Louisville, Austin Peay and Tulane, each of which saw Ole Miss’ offense put up over 40 points. Perhaps Kiffin hopes to do the same at USC.

“I think he would leave with regret,” Finebaum said of the possibility Kiffin leaves Oxford for USC. “But using Lane’s own past as helping me guide through the future, I think he would. And quite frankly, he would be crazy not to. It’s a better job. You have to wonder about your ceiling at Ole Miss. It’s a fun program. It’s capable of getting to the top. Can it stay there as long as Nick Saban is around? I just think Lane knows that there was unfinished business in SoCal.”

Kiffin’s high-powered offense in Oxford is a big reason why the Rebels head to Tuscaloosa this weekend as a dark horse pick to beat the No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide. Playing against his former boss in Nick Saban, Kiffin will roll out an offense that features Heisman Trophy favorite Matt Corral, who has thrown for 997 yards — holding a completion percentage as high as 68.8 — and has thrown for nine passing touchdowns with no interceptions. Furthermore, Corral has gotten it done on the ground, as he currently ranks as Ole Miss’ third-leading rusher, going for 158 rushing yards on 33 attempts, along with five rushing touchdowns.