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Lane Kiffin Calls Paul Finebaum An ‘Angry Little Man’ After Recent Comments About NIL Hypocrisy

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Lane Kiffin speaks at the 2022 SEC Media Day Event.

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Lane Kiffin is barking back at SEC radio host Paul Finebaum. The college football personality took aim at what he called “hypocrisy” when discussing Kiffin’s view on NIL and the transfer portal.

The Ole Miss head coach didn’t take kindly to Finebaum’s words, retaliating with a harsh post on social media.

In that tweet, Kiffin quoted NCAA president Charlie Baker. At the Future of College Athletics Summit, Baker discussed NIL in the NCAA, saying he believes it was a mistake to not do a framework around name, image, and likeness when given the opportunity.

“I think it was a big mistake by the NCAA not to do a framework around NIL when they had the opportunity to,” Baker said. “I think there were too many people in college sports who thought NO rules would work really well for them. And what everybody’s discovered is NO rules, NO transparency, NO accountability, NO framework, doesn’t work well for anybody.”

The introduction of NIL has come with both pros and obvious cons.

While it’s great to finally see student-athletes reaping the benefits of their hard work, coaches and administrators have often compared the new landscape in college sports to the Wild, Wild West.

We’re seeing more transfers than ever before with players quick to hop in the portal as they gauge interest from other teams. The highest bidder in those cases can often win, meaning they get the benefit of a player’s talents after another program spent two or three years developing said prospect.

Then there’s the issue of tampering which seems to be running rampant as programs reach out to prospective players before they even enter the portal.

Many coaches around college football credit this activity to the lack of guidelines surrounding NIL.

Making things even more difficult, what regulation we do have is now differing from state to state as lawmakers do their best to benefit their in-state schools.

States like Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma have also introduced new legislation that could benefit local programs in recruiting. And many of these laws push to “prohibit enforcement from the NCAA.”

Lane Kiffin recently spoke about the lack of consistency with NIL in college sports, calling the current state of college football a “disaster.”

Paul Finebaum took that moment call Kiffin a hypocrite following his SEC Media Day appearance, but now, the head coach is biting back.

Lane Kiffin blasts “Angry Little Man” Paul Finebaum.

Last week, Finebaum called Kiffin a hypocrite given his prevalent use of the transfer portal. In fact, both of his potential starting signal callers in Jaxson Dart and Spencer Sanders began their careers at other schools, as did projected backup Walker Howard.

Finebaum also called Kiffin out due to his history of hopping jobs.

“I find everything that Lane says to be humorous,” the radio host said. “But nothing more than the hypocrisy of calling college football a disaster today because players can leave at a moment’s notice considering he walked out on Tennessee in the middle of the night for USC. And especially last year when he was secretly negotiating with Auburn while his team imploded- losing last four games as a result. And then managed to leverage that for $10 million a year deal.”

Lane Kiffin didn’t take too long to respond as he absolutely blasted Paul Finebaum for his take.

Grab your popcorn, folks. We should be in for an entertaining season in the SEC.