Lane Kiffin absolutely eviscerates Paul Finebaum at SEC Media Days

Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin has been known to be a lightning rod whenever he steps behind a microphone. SEC fans saw a much more subdued Kiffin at SEC Media Days , but the Rebels head coach made headlines in an awkward interaction with Paul Finebaum.

Kiffin joined Finebaum following his podium appearance on Monday to discuss Ole Miss' expectations for the 2024 season and the loss of his father Monte Kiffin. However, right before commercial break Kiffin produced one of the most uncomfortable segments in television history by verbally decapitating Finebaum.

Finebaum brought up Kiffin's firing at USC in the middle of the 2013 season. It's important to note that USC was always Kiffin's dream job. College football fans will remember him leaving Tennessee high and dry and bolting for Los Angeles following his lone season in Knoxville.

During Kiffin's turbulent 2013 season at USC, Finebaum took shots at the current Ole Miss coach on ESPN's College Gameday. This is how it all went down:

Kiffin: "You got me fired at USC," Kiffin said tongue in cheek. "I got myself fired at USC, but you didn't help."

Finebaum: "It's a better story if I got you fired."

Kiffin: "You really did. Because it is a true story that the athletic director and the president were on that trip. We were playing that night and you were on College Gameday and you had to make your big splash. They were watching it, because I know the other person in the room that was watching it with them. And you said, what a joke I was, I'm the Miley Cyrus of college football coaching and I should be fired. They looked at each other and later that night, I was fired."

"But hey, look what happened. I would never have gotten to work for Coach Saban. All of these other things wouldn't have happened. So I appreciate you for helping getting me fired."

Although Kiffin was probably half kidding, it would be difficult for anybody to forgive somebody tearing you down on national television ahead of your departure at your dream job. But if that wasn't awkward enough, Kiffin threw one final barb before Finebaum stumbled into a commercial break.

"I really don't know what you're good at," Kiffin told Finebaum. "You predicted that Coach Saban was done, that didn't happen. You basically said Miley Cyrus stinks, she's still going."

Lane Kiffin is a national treasure and Ole Miss is incredibly lucky to have him.

Kiffin handled this interaction better than most would have considering Finebaum's comments at the time which are now over a decade old. Now that Kiffin has gotten that off of his chest he can shift his focus to more important matters such as leading Ole Miss to its first ever College Football Playoff appearance.