Paul Finebaum criticizes Nick Saban for his take on Lane Kiffin move after history at Alabama

Paul Finebaum is giving the smoke to anyone who he believes deserves it. Lane Kiffin and Nick Saban were the latest on his hit list during an appearance on The Dan Patrick Show on Wednesday. 

Many wanted to see Kiffin finish out the season with Ole Miss, even after deciding to take over at LSU. Saban called for it on College GameDay, as well as pundits like Kirk Herbstreit, among others. 

However, Finebaum believes that idea would’ve been nonsensical, and Saban championing that narrative makes him a bit of a hypocrite. The SEC Network analyst harkened back to when Kiffin accepted the Florida Atlantic gig while serving as Alabama’s offensive coordinator, which led to Saban firing Kiffin from his role prior to the 2017 National Championship Game.

‘It’s pretty obvious they just did not trust Lane’

“It’s pretty obvious they just did not trust Lane. I don’t want to get in trouble with Nick Saban, but the precedent was really set in 2016,” Finebaum explained. “Everybody knows what happened. Kiffin was on the Alabama staff. He got hired by Florida Atlantic. He remained, but he did such a poor job. I had several people come up to me this weekend in Atlanta and say, ‘I was on the field with Kiffin,’ and Kiffin — during a practice. Not after practice or during warmups. Kiffin’s over there in the corner on the phone trying to get his coaching staff together. He was not paying attention. 

“Saban got so fed up he fired him, but then Saban was out there saying, ‘Lane should be at Ole Miss.’ I think the Ole Miss people just did not want that. They didn’t believe Kiffin could be trusted with the passwords to the computer, where all the secrets were with recruiting and everything else, even though he had just been there the day before. It was a mess. But, it’s Lane Kiffin. You always expect some theatrics.”

Despite the optics, Finebaum believes Kiffin made the correct decision when you boil it down. He’s thinking the head coach can win a championship in Baton Rouge, and that was far from guaranteed if he remained in Oxford. 

‘I think he can get a national championship at LSU’

“He’s going to have to win a national championship. … I don’t know if Lane goes back to the NFL at some point. I think, now that Al Davis has been dead and buried for a number of years, I think the reverberations from that are over. But I think, ultimately, he’s just never going to be happy anywhere,” Finebaum added. 

“But I think he can get a national championship at LSU. Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but Les Miles and Ed Orgeron both won national championships at LSU. The two of us could walk in off the street and win a national championship down there. It’s not that hard.”

Saban might not appreciate Finebaum’s vernacular, but history isn’t a liar. It remains to be seen whether or not Kiffin can reach some unprecedented heights at LSU, but it was always a bit obvious that the Rebels weren’t going to let him finish what he started at Ole Miss if he wanted out.