Former Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin was introduced Monday as LSU’s new head coach.
Kiffin spoke for about 30 minutes and, true to form, it was an entertaining press conference. (Also true to form, it started about 30 minutes later than it’s 3:30 p.m. scheduled time.)
How much of what he said was true is a whole different matter, but the truth doesn’t matter much in a public relations battle.
Right now, Kiffin is trying to portray himself more as a victim than anything else. He put the blame on Ole Miss AD Keith Carter for not letting him coach Ole Miss in the playoff and talked about Ole Miss fans yelling and chasing him as he drove to the airport.
It’s not going to work because nobody thinks Kiffin is a victim in all of this, but that won’t stop him and LSU from trying. Even if it means saying nonsensical things like, “I don’t know what my contract is here.”
“I’m sure it’s really good,” Kiffin said. “I don’t know what it is, nor did I know at the other places what the numbers were because I told Jimmy Sexton, don’t tell me the numbers, okay? I want to make a decision that has nothing to do with money for me. Now, tell me the numbers in the plan for what the money is for the players.”
Finebaum reacts
That’s ridiculous. No way did Kiffin not know what his salary would be at either LSU, Florida or Ole Miss when the entire sports world knew it.
But don’t just take my word for how ridiculous it is. Take Paul Finebaum’s.
“I truly believe that is one of the most fraudulent things I have ever heard from a head football coach,” Finebaum said on ESPN’s First Take on Tuesday. “ ‘I don’t know what I’m making, I asked my agent not to tell me,’ nobody believes that because everyone in America knows what Lane Kiffin is making. It’s been reported in every publication and every broadcast that he could make $12 million from the three schools going after him.
“So, Lane, don’t try to con all of us like you’ve tried to con some of us in the process that you’re doing the right thing, you’re trying to win the Noble Peace Prize because you care so much about your players at Ole Miss, which you just abandoned as they’re trying to get to a playoff for the first time in history. So, it’s a great story. It sounds good but it use pure balderdash and, I’m sorry, but I’m not buying anything Lane Kiffin says anymore.”
"That is one of the most fraudulent things I’ve ever heard from a head football coach" – Paul Finebaum on Lane Kiffin claiming he doesn't know his LSU contract details pic.twitter.com/S4yPYioE95
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) December 2, 2025
And nor should anyone else believe anything Kiffin says. I wrote it once and I’ll write it again, but whenever Kiffin talks about players and doing what’s best for them, just remember how he bailed on his own players ahead of a historic accomplishment.
