Paul Finebaum reacts to the latest Lane Kiffin rumors surrounding the Florida Gators job

As the end of the college football regular season approaches, the coaching carousel will begin to turn even more. It’s already been pretty active thus far, with around a dozen open jobs with games left to play this season. The Florida Gators are among the schools currently looking for their next head coach. Furthermore, UF’s vacancy has centered mainly around current Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin.

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Paul Finebaum comments on the rumors surrounding Lane Kiffin

After beating Florida this past weekend in Oxford, Kiffin was mum on his future as his name circles around jobs like UF and LSU. As a result of that, the rumor mill is chugging along even faster. ESPN’s Paul Finebaum appeared on McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning on Monday to discuss many topics around the SEC. Florida’s courting of Lane Kiffin was one of those topics discussed.

“We all know Lane Kiffin equally well, and for whatever he has done in the past, the idea of him walking out on a football team is almost impossible for me to believe for the gain of a job that he can probably get whenever he wants,” Finebaum said. “The damage to him, his reputation and career, I think, and to the sport, quite frankly, would be beyond my words. I just can’t believe it. I think what Lane Kiffin and his administration have to figure out is how to navigate these waters. If he’s going to Florida, and that’s where the rumors are, then when is he going? And how do you do it?”

The Rebels rank No. 7 ahead of the updated CFP rankings this week. That has them play to make the 12-team playoffs. The possibility of Kiffin leaving before the playoffs and Ole Miss having a contract extension on the table has created many talking points about his future.

SEC programs like Arkansas, Auburn, and LSU are also looking for their next head coach. The current info that Finebaum has gathered so far has him feeling the most confident in saying, ‘[current Tulane head coach] [Jon] Sumrall is going to Auburn and Kiffin will be offered the Florida job’. Cole Cubelic followed that up by asking Finebaum what he thinks would keep Kiffin from taking the Florida job.

“I think the only thing that would prevent Lane from taking [the Florida job] would be just the situation where it would be too complicated, depending on the playoff situation,” Finebaum said. “Again, what Kiffin said after the [Florida] game is somewhat irrelevant. He knows he could have put an end to [speculation].”

Though Finebaum doesn’t view Kiffin’s noncommittal answers on his future after the game last weekend as relevant, the lack of clarity on his next move leads Finebaum to believe that he will ultimately end up in Gainesville.

“It’s pretty obvious he doesn’t want to put an end to [the speculation about his future],” Finebaum said. “I think, at this point, conventional wisdom would be, as long as he doesn’t blow up the entire place in departing [Ole Miss], he’s going to probably take [the Florida] job.”

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