Paul Finebaum ponders Lane Kiffin's future at Ole Miss, predicts he'd win national championship at Florida

As of Sunday morning, Billy Napier remains employed as Florida‘s head football coach. But amid various reports about his pending ouster in Gainesville, much of the Gators fanbase has already turned its attention on another SEC head coach — Ole Miss‘ Lane Kiffin.

That now includes SEC Network host Paul Finebaum, who boldly suggested the 50-year-old Kiffin would win a College Football Playoff national championship at Florida during his weekly appearance on The Matt Barrie Show podcast.

“I think … Lane Kiffin at Florida would win a national championship,” Finebaum said Sunday morning.

That declaration came after Finebaum poured cold water on Kiffin accomplishing that same feat in Oxford. Kiffin is in the midst of his sixth season at Ole Miss, and has the fifth-ranked Rebels off to a 6-1 start overall and 3-1 in SEC play following Saturday’s 43-35 loss at No. 9 Georgia.

“I think it’s getting more difficult (to win a championship at Ole Miss). And Lane Kiffin has been on the precipice of leaving (Oxford for the last few years) – not to revisit ancient history – but he was headed to Auburn a couple of years ago. That is not in debate, and then his daughter got in the way. That story has been confirmed. He was looking at Florida last year,” Finebaum added Sunday. “It’s a tug of war with him right now, because I think he really does love where he is. But Lane Kiffin is a fierce competitor and he has to wonder: can he do much better than what he did last year (at Ole Miss)?”

Paul Finebaum: ‘A higher likelihood’ Lane Kiffin leaves Ole Miss if Rebels don’t make CFP

Last season, Kiffin had Ole Miss on the verge of making the College Football Playoff but a late-Novemeber loss at Florida ultimately doomed the Rebels’ postseason chances. Kiffin still managed to finish the 2024 season with 10 wins (10-3, 5-3 SEC), it’s third 10-win campaign in the past four years under Kiffin — a feat that hasn’t been accomplished in Oxford since legendary coach Johnny Vaught roamed the sidelines in the early 1960s.

“That team was outstanding on both sides of the ball and this team is good, probably not quite to the (same) degree, but it’s not far from it. It’s capable,” Finebaum concluded. “But let’s say they drop this (next) game at Oklahoma, his path to the Playoff is going to be difficult. The one thing about that though is if Lane Kiffin is not in the Playoffs this year, I think there is a higher likelihood that he could leave.”

Ole Miss hits the road again next week at No. 14 Oklahoma (6-1, 2-1 SEC) in what is currently the Rebels’ final ranked game of the 2025 regular season. That includes a Week 12 home game vs. unranked Florida (3-4, 2-2 SEC) on Nov. 15. Whether or not Napier is on the visiting sideline in Oxford remains to be seen.