Paul Finebaum on Lane Kiffin rumors: 'Everything seems to be pointing towards Florida'

On the field in Oxford, Ole Miss needed to avoid a close call against Florida. Off the field, all of the discussion was about Rebels head coach Lane Kiffin and if he could be on the move to Gainesville in the next few weeks.

Kiffin has found himself as the most desired coach in the country right now, and rumors are swirling around him. Those rumors became pervasive, and now Paul Finebaum seems to think they’re all pointing toward Florida.

“Yeah, I mean, Ole Miss has not played at the highest level lately,” Paul Finebaum said on The Matt Barrie Show. “But they’re getting by. I don’t understand Florida. Let’s not waste a lot of time on them. One week they take off. The next week they come back and look like a team that’s capable of making a run. Lane Kiffin is the story right now. As the week unfolded last week, the Kiffin rumors started going crazy.”

Lane Kiffin has been at Ole Miss since 2020, going 54-19 during that time. Despite not winning the SEC or going to the College Football Playoff during that time, he does have four seasons with double-digit wins. He’s also been involved in coaching rumors before, notably including the Auburn job before Hugh Freeze was hired. Now, schools like Florida and LSU have been rumored in connection with Kiffin.

“We’re not here to discuss rumors, but you could not avoid it, and everybody seems to know something. He is going to have a difficult time these next couple of weeks dealing with it,” Finebaum said. “Because everything seems to be pointing toward Florida. It appears the governor did a good job of taking Lane Kiffin out of the LSU situation. Now, how does he deal with it?”

An added element confusing this coaching search is now the College Football Playoff. Ole Miss sits at 10-1 and, even with an Egg Bowl loss, seems like a Playoff team. Seeing a coach leave a team headed for the CFP instead of staying to coach them would be a massive move and one that could throw the postseason itself into chaos.

“I asked somebody the other day in the circle of people that actually do know. What about the Playoff? I heard some crazy stuff about the Playoff and as important as it is to get to the Playoff, jobs are more important right now. So, I’m not saying anything is going to happen or could happen,” Finebaum said. “But I think we might be in for the wackiest postseason we have ever seen.”

Lane Kiffin reacts to coaching rumors after win over Florida

Lane Kiffin has certainly heard the coaching rumors. However, for the time being, he doesn’t want to talk about them publicly.

“I love what we’re doing here,” Kiffin said. “Today was awesome. To even talk about it right now would be so disrespectful to our players and what they did today. We’ve got a lot of things going on right now and we’re doing really well.”