Paul Finebaum calls out Lane Kiffin for decision-making process in coaching carousel

Ahead of one of the biggest and most impactful weeks of the college football season, where multiple College Football Playoff spots are on line, speculation about the future of Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin remains the prevailing topic of conversation throughout the sport.

Rebels athletic director Keith Carter added fuel to that fire last Friday when he released a statement revealing Kiffin would make a formal announcement about his future plans this Saturday following the Egg Bowl regular-season finale on Friday. In the midst of Ole Miss’ own Playoff push, Kiffin is being heavily pursued by Florida and LSU to take over their respective football programs.

It’s created a rather untenable situation within all three SEC fanbases, especially for No. 6 Ole Miss (10-1, 6-1 SEC), which is in the midst of its greatest season in a generation and on the verge of making the program’s first-ever College Football Playoff appearance with a win Friday vs. Mississippi State. Given all the uncertainty around Oxford, and the potential to create a distraction within the Rebels’ locker room, ESPN’s Paul Finebaum called out Kiffin for turning the coaching carousel into “an absolute circus.”

“Yes, it has been handled very poorly. And for the main reason, I thought college football was about the young people that play for the respective teams. Instead, this has turned into an absolute circus created and orchestrated and directed by Lane Kiffin,” Finebaum said on Wednesday’s First Take on ESPN. “It’s not all that difficult. If you don’t want to stay at Ole Miss, you just simply pick up and leave. Or if you are going to stay, and he keeps giving these nuanced answers as if he wants to be there and doesn’t want to leave, you simply announce you’re going to be there. It’s not hard. It happens in every profession, including this one.

“But Lane Kiffin seems to walk to his own beat, he seems to have the entire college football world – if not sports world – revolving around him on his axis. He seems to be enjoying it, even though he doesn’t act like he is. But ultimately he’s going to have to make a decision, and no matter what he chooses, it is going to be met with great resistance elsewhere.”

Earlier on Wednesday morning, Finebaum did his part to pour gasoline on that already-engulfed house fire in Oxford when he appeared to suggest Saturday’s announcement might not be the end of things.

Paul Finebaum suggests Lane Kiffin announcement could be delayed by ‘other dominoes’ in coaching carousel

During an appearance on ESPN‘s Get Up, Finebaum suggested Kiffin could try and delay his decision on his future in order to keep his options open as other dominoes on the coaching carousel continue to fall.

“Well, it’s very difficult because we think that’s what’s going to happen,” Finebaum said on Get Up. “Now, we’re also talking about Lane Kiffin here, who is one of the most difficult people in America to guess and predict accurately. So, that is the conventional wisdom. He’ll say something Saturday. His son has a high school football game on Friday night. So, he’ll go from his game to his son’s game.

“But what if he doesn’t? If he doesn’t announce on Saturday, watch out,” Finebaum aded. “Because then he may be waiting for other dominoes to fall. Let’s say a certain other team loses and maybe that coach goes somewhere else. You never know with Lane Kiffin.”

— On3’s Dan Morrison contributed to this report.