Hour 2: Chris Vannini, The Athletic & Mike Griffith, AJC’s DawgNation

0:01 The pride, passion, and pageantry of college football lives here.

0:11 [cheering]

0:10 This is the Paul Finebaum [music] Show hour two podcast.

0:15 This might be college football heaven.

0:18 Hey, welcome back.

0:19 Second hour is live on what has already been

0:21 a very busy Monday as we approach the middle of May.

0:26 How about this headline from Chris Vannini?

0:28 The coaches want the conference championship games to end and [music] 24 teams.

0:34 This came out for a couple of days ago from the AFCA.

0:37 That's the uh group that That's over all the coaches.

0:41 It's not a surprise.

0:42 A lot of people seem to be moving in this direction.

0:46 Let's check in with Chris about what

0:47 he's hearing around the world of college football.

0:50 Hey, thanks, Chris.

0:51 Appreciate it.

0:51 So, this this seems like a uh a paradigm shift.

0:55 Uh coaches want to get in and uh get deeper into the story.

0:58 What What is their rationale?

1:02 Yeah, and you know, it's first to note

1:04 that the coaches association doesn't have any real power.

1:07 Like, they don't make any of the rules,

1:09 but there are coaches on various committees and things,

1:12 and the coaches have tried to stir rules creation in the past.

1:16 And I think the big part of this was mostly

1:19 that the coaches are actually most worried about the calendar.

1:22 Like, they didn't specifically say we want 24.

1:25 They say we want to maximize the number

1:26 of teams under the calendar we would like,

1:29 which is season over by the second Monday in January,

1:33 no conference championship games.

1:35 Basically, like try to make football back to being a one-semester sport.

1:40 I don't know if it can really happen for a number of reasons.

1:43 A lot of the things that they have asked to do require input

1:46 from all kinds of different people

1:47 from NCAA committees to broadcasters to whatever.

1:52 But, it just highlights that there remains

1:54 very much disagreement within the sport about

1:57 what the games and what the playoff and the post season should should look like.

2:02 This of course is no surprise, but it is an important month right now.

2:05 We're into the conference meetings ACC, Big 10, SEC in 2 weeks.

2:13 Beyond when we get through with all these meetings at five-star resorts,

2:16 do you think we'll have we'll come any closer to resolution?

2:21 A little bit.

2:22 I I think the SEC meetings in Destin are

2:24 going to be the big one as they often are.

2:26 I mean, we know what the Big 10 wants

2:28 and they're going to stick by what they've said.

2:31 I think what's most interesting in the SEC

2:33 how public some of the disagreement has been.

2:36 I mean, Greg Sankey is keeps referring back

2:38 to his previous statements about wanting a 16-team field,

2:41 while you have people within the SEC athletic directors

2:44 like Danny White at Tennessee saying we would like more.

2:47 And and that is kind of new for the SEC

2:50 where the schools aren't all necessarily falling in line.

2:53 There's a pretty big public disagreement over what they want.

2:56 So, I imagine those arguments are going to be had

3:00 in Destin and what is the message coming out of it.

3:02 Last year, Greg Sankey was able to get everybody together behind one message,

3:07 which was we don't want the all extra automatic bids.

3:10 But now when we're just talking the size of the field and you have

3:13 coaches who want to get in cuz it might help them save their jobs,

3:16 can you convince them 16 is better than 24?

3:20 We'll see, but that's going to be really interesting at the end of the month.

3:23 Yeah, I mean, not to sound antiquated here about the SEC,

3:26 but you it's always been a a unified

3:29 league even with bitter disagreements behind closed doors.

3:34 Chris, what what do you think if means if

3:35 anything that some of these ADs are coming out?

3:38 You had Byrne who just slammed the door in the commissioner's SEC title game.

3:43 You have Danny White.

3:44 You have coaches.

3:46 I'm not saying it it's it's a lot it's it's run a mug,

3:49 but it's certainly a change.

3:52 I I think with college sports

3:54 the the commissioners and especially the big conference commissioners

3:58 have maybe more power in the big picture

4:01 of the game than maybe they've ever had, but they also seem to have maybe less

4:05 power over their conferences than they've ever had.

4:08 We've seen this in other leagues.

4:09 Let's not forget Michigan tried to sue the Big 10

4:11 a couple years ago over the suspension of Jim Harbaugh.

4:15 And you have schools now that are

4:16 more and more responding to their own stakeholders,

4:19 their own fans, their own donors who are saying

4:22 we have to win, we have to win now.

4:24 Screw whatever the rules are, screw whatever the conference says,

4:26 we got to do what's best for us.

4:28 And that's why when you have things people in the SEC

4:31 saying like we need to make our own certain kinds of rules.

4:35 I don't know how that's supposed to happen when you

4:37 have teams like Tennessee and Alabama and all these other places

4:40 or at least people within those places suing to overturn the rules

4:44 as they are because everybody's trying to do what's best for themselves,

4:47 less so the collective group.

4:49 And I think Greg is trying to see the big picture for everybody,

4:52 not just in the SEC,

4:53 but in all of college football, what is best for everything.

4:57 And I think he's going up against a lot of people

4:59 in his and other conferences who are kind of more looking out for themselves.

5:04 Chris, let me get you to what is is one of the hot stories of today,

5:08 this new Vanity Fair article out about who else but Lane Kiffin.

5:13 He says a lot in there,

5:14 but the quote that seems to have the most people upset is

5:18 the reference to racial problems or tensions at Ole Miss as be

5:25 I'll try to do this with a straight face as being one

5:27 of the reasons why he wanted to leave to go to LSU.

5:32 Yeah, I mean I I'm not from Mississippi.

5:35 I I'm from Michigan.

5:36 I'm not from the south.

5:37 So I can't speak my own experience on certain things,

5:40 but the idea that you know Ole Miss

5:42 and the Confederate flag and Colonel Reb and all

5:44 that stuff that that has been a topic

5:46 of conversation for a very, very long time.

5:49 Um, but I think with what with what Lane

5:51 Kiffin was able to do in the transfer portal,

5:54 he didn't have you know, the hardest of times getting kids to come there.

5:58 And and there are obviously you know,

6:00 racial tensions and some issues at at at schools not just in the south,

6:04 but other places in the country as well.

6:07 And so I can understand anybody from Mississippi or tied to Ole

6:10 Miss being very upset at the comments that Lane made there uh,

6:15 on his way out, which is very like him to do.

6:19 Yeah, I know.

6:20 I mean I I mean if we sat around and tried to come up

6:23 with the most absurd thing Lane Kiffin could say about Ole Miss versus LSU,

6:27 I mean this this might be it even though I don't think I would

6:30 have ever thought of it because I didn't really believe this was still an issue.

6:34 Um, How's that scene going to be there when they come back up

6:37 as if we already didn't think it was going to be an unbelievable,

6:41 potentially vitriolic place as we saw when Lane went back to Tennessee.

6:46 That this just ratcheted it up an a completely other

6:49 level that takes it to something even far larger than football.

6:53 And yeah, keep an eye out in Oxford in September.

6:58 And as someone who is from the south and who

7:00 grew up a couple of miles from the Mississippi border, Chris,

7:05 I mean you can't you can't get any more sensitive than throwing

7:08 gasoline on something that most southerners have tried to put behind them.

7:13 And and I'll give people in Oxford, Mississippi credit.

7:16 I mean they've worked very hard to undo the absolute atrocities of that era.

7:25 Yes, and and obviously there's been documentaries made about it and you know,

7:28 there's been stuff at Alabama back in the day as well.

7:30 So it's something that obviously is so

7:32 ingrained in much of the the culture there.

7:34 But I think I can't speak to to the mind of of a of a high

7:39 school kid or a parent on on what

7:41 it's like when they go to visit somewhere else,

7:43 but like you said, Ole Miss has you know,

7:45 banned Confederate flags and and and all the stuff that comes along with that.

7:48 And other parts of the South have tried to do that as well.

7:50 South Carolina had done that uh for but the state did.

7:53 So, it's it is as like you said,

7:55 it's as sensitive a thing as you can say really just offhandedly.

8:01 Like it wasn't tied to anything.

8:02 This wasn't like Lane was talking to a recruit and using it

8:06 as a negative recruiting type of way and he got caught and it came out.

8:09 He just said this to an interviewer.

8:12 And then you know, in the story he also tries to walk it back

8:16 a little bit and tries to have it come across as not as personal,

8:19 but you know, what was said was said

8:22 and I don't think anybody's going to forget that.

8:25 Well, that's who Lane Kiffin is.

8:26 I mean, he's he's always saying something

8:28 and then acting like he really didn't mean it.

8:30 I mean, that's that's his MO.

8:34 Yes, very much.

8:35 At every stop in his career, even mid I like I I've interviewed him

8:39 one-on-one before and sometimes he'll say something and then

8:41 he'll realize how it's going to be responded

8:43 and he tries to kind of walk it back.

8:45 But sometimes he's very aware of of the reaction he gets to everything he says.

8:50 He knows how it's going to come out.

8:52 Um, sometimes he backtracks, sometimes he doesn't.

8:55 We'll see on this one, but this is going This is a That is

8:58 a comment that is not going to go away anytime soon.

9:01 He's going to be asked about it probably the next time he talks to the media.

9:04 He's going to be asked about it leading into that game.

9:07 And we'll see what his answer is.

9:10 Yeah, can't wait.

9:11 Chris, thank you.

9:13 Thank you very much, Chris Vannini.

9:14 We'll talk more about the Lane Kiffin conversation next hour

9:17 with the person who wrote that story in Vanity Fair magazine.

9:23 We'll take a short break.

9:24 More of your phone calls straight ahead.

9:29 [music] You're listening to the Paul Finebaum Show podcast.

9:34 Okay, we are back.

9:35 We were talking to Tom in Georgia when we went to the break.

9:38 I want to make sure we finish that conversation.

9:40 Tom, you still there?

9:41 Yeah, I am and I'd like to know that 39 team you talked about.

9:45 It It In the bowl game, did it give up points?

9:49 14.

9:50 Okay.

9:51 So, Ole Miss went the entire season and played the number one team

9:54 in the nation in the bowl and didn't give anything up the whole season.

9:57 So, let's get over that and I'm people are probably sick of that.

10:00 Look, I would never call back twice,

10:02 but Lane Kiffin has got me so upset about this thing.

10:06 You know, the world seems to think that Lane Kiffin

10:08 is some kind of god that just drifted into Oxford,

10:11 you know, and he gave Ole Miss something they had never had before.

10:15 Yeah, recognition, national attention.

10:18 My god, this is unbelievable and we lost him.

10:22 No, that's Let me tell you something, there was a guy before Lane Kiffin.

10:25 His name was Johnny Bolt.

10:26 And if you'll go look up the percentage of Lane Kiffin over the last 6 years,

10:31 I think it comes to about 74.6% or something like that.

10:34 6 years he did that.

10:37 Guess who did it for 27 years?

10:40 Johnny Vaught.

10:43 Love you, Paul.

10:44 I'm out.

10:44 Thank you very, very much.

10:45 Trey is up next.

10:47 Hello, Trey.

10:49 Hey, Paul.

10:50 Thank you for giving me a few minutes today.

10:52 I do appreciate it and I wasn't going to talk about this, but I

10:55 have got to respond to Dane the idiot about Pat Murphy, if that's okay.

10:59 Can I respond to that idiot, Paul, please before I get into my conversation?

11:03 I mean, he I mean, he talked about serious about winning.

11:07 Paul, he had 49 wins.

11:08 That's the second most in college softball.

11:11 None against top 10 teams and then he complained about

11:16 pitching and Brister was the SEC pitcher of the year.

11:20 So, I don't know where this guy's coming from, but I'm going to tell you this.

11:24 Getting the number one seed was huge cuz if chalk plays out,

11:28 I think Oklahoma, Texas, Alabama make it to the World Series,

11:33 they avoid Texas or Oklahoma until the championship series.

11:38 So, that number one seed is huge.

11:41 And they had a caller the other day, Paul, and this really and you can tell me

11:45 if I'm wrong before I get into something else.

11:48 He complained about Arman letting AJ into a space or something like that.

11:53 I don't know why people care what other people do.

11:58 I mean, I like both of those guys.

12:00 But I think it shows you where and I and I'm

12:02 not putting words in Arman's mouth and he can correct me.

12:06 But I think it shows you where Arman is in his life,

12:09 just like G and myself and uh Arman.

12:13 I mean, when when you have health problems or or you're

12:17 thrown something at you and it totally disrupts your lifestyle,

12:23 your perception on life and how you handle things change.

12:29 And when you're able to forgive people for what they

12:32 have done to you or what they have said to you,

12:36 there's nothing more peaceful in this world to be able to do that.

12:40 It brings a peacefulness about you.

12:43 Like the Eagles said, it's a peacefully easy feeling.

12:47 So, I think that's kudos to Arman for doing that.

12:50 I give him props.

12:52 But Paul, I'm having heart surgery tomorrow.

12:54 I've been in A-fib for a long time.

12:57 A 5:30 in the morning, I'm having an ablation and a Watchman put in.

13:03 And they're very [laughter] successful surgeries,

13:05 but I have to come off my blood thinners again.

13:07 And last time I did that's when I had my stroke.

13:09 So, I've become a higher risk.

13:13 [laughter] So, I just want to tell you that I love you, man.

13:16 I love this show.

13:17 I love all the callers.

13:19 You know, and without you, I wouldn't have been able to talk to some

13:23 of these other callers personally off the air.

13:27 So, you and these callers and the people that answer your phone,

13:31 you're a blessing to all of us, but you have It's just such a blessing

13:35 in my life since the things that I have been through.

13:40 But anyway, Paul, I want to thank you for letting me do a little rant today.

13:45 I hope to talk to y'all in a couple of days.

13:48 I'll be trying to call in on Wednesday.

13:50 I hope y'all have a great afternoon, Paul.

13:51 Thank you.

13:52 Thank you, Troy.

13:52 We we will all be thinking of you uh in the morning.

13:55 Thank you so much.

13:56 Dr.

13:56 Mel is up next.

13:59 Hey, coach.

14:00 How are you, sir?

14:01 Okay, Dr.

14:02 Mel.

14:04 Yes, I was actually I heard the information in regards to the lying

14:10 on Jax couple of hours ago and and and and coach Paul,

14:15 I'm just really really taken back.

14:18 And course you know my history, uh teenage civil rights whistle too.

14:23 And I can say this on behalf of the great state of Mississippi,

14:28 Randall Pippen uh coach Randall Pippen uh was the head

14:33 coach at Northwest Community College there in Senatobia, Mississippi.

14:38 I served as his chaplain and his counselor for the team, the football players.

14:45 I traveled back and forth from uh Birmingham to Mississippi quite a few times,

14:52 spent there summers, uh spring practice in the dorm with these guys.

14:57 And and Paul, these people there in the state of Mississippi the kindest,

15:03 lovingest people that you ever want to meet.

15:06 Never one to spare to no racial epitomes, epithets.

15:12 Those people treated us like royalty the whole time we were there.

15:18 And and and so it just really really uh took me back.

15:23 I was at the restaurants, the golf course,

15:25 spent many nights at Coach Pippen's home, played golf there.

15:30 And And I I just think that this is the most absurd thing that I ever had.

15:36 And I hope and pray that Lane can, you know,

15:40 get some wet seats prayers and get his head on straight.

15:45 Dr.

15:45 Mel, thank you very much.

15:47 Uh your prayers will be helpful, but probably not successful.

15:51 Uh [laughter] Bash is up next in Boulder.

15:57 I didn't hear what his prayers were for, Paul.

15:59 If it's for the Auburn football season next year,

16:01 they should go straight to the trash.

16:03 But Trey, thoughts and prayers to you to your surgery tomorrow.

16:06 And Paul, I wanted to run by a theory I have

16:08 about this this vanity uh article came out about Lane Kiffin.

16:13 So, we already know, Paul, that he has the entire country making LSU

16:17 the number one enemy of the whole nation.

16:20 Do you think that with this statement that he made,

16:23 it's extra bulletin board material for the other teams?

16:26 But in hi in the aftermath of it,

16:29 it is going to add more eyeballs to the games that he'll have next year.

16:33 So, what do you think, Paul?

16:35 Do you think it's a ploy for him to get more NIL deals for his players?

16:40 Cuz that was the main reason why he left Ole Miss to come to LSU.

16:44 Not about how much money he was making, you know, that's what he said.

16:48 It's about how much money his players can make.

16:51 No.

16:53 I I really don't believe Lane Kiffin uh thought this out.

16:57 He had a 4-hour interview.

16:58 And And And Bash, you spend that much time around a reporter,

17:03 and I have, and you're on your you're

17:04 always concerned you're going to say something.

17:08 I didn't interview him I don't know if

17:09 you remember the article last summer in The Athletic,

17:11 this profile of this show and me.

17:15 And I spent days with this guy, and I'm like,

17:17 and I said some things that I couldn't believe I said.

17:21 But you're trying to be honest.

17:23 Now again, I was just trying to tell him some some facts.

17:26 I wasn't trying to be pathological about why

17:30 I did the most obvious thing in the world.

17:32 I left a contender for a school

17:35 that would be a national championship possibility.

17:38 And we all know why Lane Kiffin went,

17:40 but Lane Kiffin is not is never comfortable with just the facts of the matter.

17:44 He always has to add something completely absurd to the mix, which he did here.

17:51 Do you think that he added that because of the success

17:54 Ole Miss had in the playoffs that he wasn't expecting?

17:58 No, I just think he he he saw us he saw

18:03 something where he was he is which is LSU and decided

18:07 to over saturate this writer from New York by the way

18:14 with a little bit of juice about this is such a great place.

18:18 I'm in Southern Louisiana.

18:19 I'm in Baton Rouge, the bastion of civil the civil rights movement.

18:24 And I think he just he he he completely whiffed

18:28 on it because most people and by the way, not everyone,

18:31 but most people who have been to Oxford know where that program

18:35 was under the great Johnny Vaught and where it is now.

18:41 And where it is now is honestly one

18:43 of the best positions it's been in the last decade,

18:45 Paul, since I mean they had Eli Manning going there.

18:48 But if let me ask you this hypothetical question to land on this.

18:51 Say Lane Kiffin stayed at Ole Miss and didn't go to LSU.

18:56 Would there be an LSU coaching candidate, Paul,

18:59 that is better than Lane Kiffin today if he stayed at Ole Miss

19:03 and continued his reign and that program getting it into where it is today?

19:08 Well, no.

19:09 We went through it last fall.

19:11 Who who were the other candidates?

19:12 Eli Drinkwitz?

19:14 Uh I'm trying to think of some of the some

19:16 of the other guys who were mentioned for the job.

19:19 I mean, there was not Clark Lea, who would be a very solid choice.

19:27 There there weren't a great deal of great of choices.

19:30 So, so yeah, I mean, they they hit the home run.

19:33 That's why Lane Kiffin really, I mean, by the way,

19:36 I know people that are working on opuses

19:38 on Lane Kiffin that he hasn't given an interview to.

19:42 I'm talking about serious projects.

19:44 The fact that he gave an interview to Vanity

19:46 Fair told me he thought it would be cool.

19:49 He probably thought his girlfriend would think it's chic.

19:53 I think he probably thought you know,

19:56 his former friends in in Hollywood thought would but but I

20:00 don't think he I don't think he went into this going,

20:02 you know what, I'm going to make a civil

20:03 rights statement about where I was and where I am.

20:06 Up against the bright Mike Griffith will join us next.

20:10 Some changes with the Georgia schedule coming up here.

20:14 We'll talk about that after this.

20:19 You're listening [music] to the Paul Finebaum Show podcast.

20:25 And we are back here.

20:26 Don't forget the author of the Vanity Fair article join us in an hour.

20:29 How about this headline from Dog Nation,

20:32 Georgia Florida State not Georgia Florida but Georgia

20:36 and Florida State call off a home and home.

20:38 We've opened possible neutral site game.

20:40 Mike Griffith covers the dogs among other things and joins us now.

20:46 Mike, good afternoon.

20:47 So, what's happening here?

20:49 Yeah, well, I mean, look, this is a reality of the nine-game SEC schedule, Paul.

20:54 I mean, where they look at the number of losses instead of the quality of wins.

20:57 And if you're Georgia and you're already playing

21:00 an annual game against a power four opponent,

21:02 Georgia Tech, which suddenly has teeth, why would you add another game?

21:07 And if you don't believe me, ask Texas,

21:09 which was punished for playing at Ohio State last year,

21:12 losing by a touchdown and being left out of the playoff with three losses.

21:16 Had they scheduled lighter, only a two-loss Texas team probably gets in.

21:22 So, Mike, what what what happens now?

21:24 I mean, it's a big topic.

21:26 Everybody's juggling this.

21:27 Some games are staying, some are leaving.

21:30 What do you What do you see as being the end result?

21:33 Well, you know, we had the opportunity

21:34 to talk to Greg Sankey today here in Birmingham,

21:37 Paul, and we can only deal in the now and the reality of it.

21:39 And the now and the reality is that Josh Brooks, the Georgia athletic director,

21:43 has discussed a potential neutral site game with Florida State.

21:47 When I read the press release,

21:48 I don't I don't think he just threw that out there.

21:50 I think that, you know, that would seem likely to me.

21:53 Maybe not every year.

21:54 You can't play this game every year, but maybe if you play another power four

21:58 team every other year in a neutral site game,

22:01 which obviously would have some financial benefits to it.

22:04 And in this era of NIL, you're always looking to make an extra buck.

22:08 You're also looking to prove your conference in non-conference games,

22:12 show the SEC muscle, flex that muscle.

22:14 Maybe I'm not suggesting they'll beat Florida State 63-3

22:19 like they did the last time the teams met,

22:21 but certainly it would bode well for Georgia as it did when they beat

22:25 Oregon a few years back or Clemson in a non-conference game to start the season.

22:30 So, Greg Sankey met with the APSC earlier today in Birmingham.

22:35 What what what else can you share with us that he told the group?

22:39 Well, I mean, it was at the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame,

22:41 and it was a part of the APSC sports editors convention.

22:45 And certainly we appreciated the commissioner taking that time.

22:48 We're going to have a lot of more time to talk to him here in Destin.

22:51 You'll have a chance to sit down with him as as well

22:53 as athletic directors like Scott Stricklin once we get down to Florida.

22:56 But today was an open Q&A session.

22:59 And uh predictably, Commissioner Sankey does not overstep his bounds.

23:04 He only speaks on things that he has information

23:06 on and that he has done some research and analytics on.

23:11 And and I think that's frustrating, Paul,

23:12 because right now there's a lot of things that are being thrown out there.

23:17 A lot of people are identifying problems,

23:20 and yet there is no one-size-fits-all solutions.

23:23 There's different states with different laws.

23:25 There's different conferences coming at it from different angles.

23:28 And there's obviously different television

23:31 networks paying different television contracts.

23:33 So, you know, it's not a one-size-fits-all solution, and as much as, you know,

23:38 Greg Sankey would like to have all the answers, those answers don't exist.

23:42 So, I think most notably today, though,

23:45 he made it very clear that while the SEC does have a challenge

23:48 on its hands with a nine-game conference

23:51 schedule and a contracted SEC Championship Game, those things aren't going away.

23:57 And there have been SEC teams in the past that have risen to the challenge.

24:01 And he cited history.

24:02 And and certainly you had a front-row seat for this, as as did I,

24:06 when Roy Kramer introduced the SEC Championship Game,

24:09 and there were a lot of people saying the SEC

24:11 will never win another national championship if you have this game.

24:14 And yet still the SEC did, and other conferences followed suit.

24:19 Now, things have changed since then,

24:20 and I shot that back at him today in the Q&A session in the forum.

24:25 Um clearly the NIL has leveled the playing field a bit

24:28 more than I dare say it was in the 1990s.

24:31 Uh attrition is very real.

24:33 The depth is not the same.

24:34 There's scholarship limits.

24:36 Uh but my takeaway was, yeah, it's tougher in the SEC,

24:40 and that's not going to change anytime soon.

24:43 Talking to Mike Griffith about a number of things.

24:46 Um so, Mike, let me let me change gears away from Sankey

24:49 to what has been the story of this day here and probably elsewhere.

24:53 And that's the Lane Kiffin interview with Vanity Fair.

24:56 He said a lot of things, some of them fascinating,

24:59 but the one that's getting the most buzz is the connection

25:02 between Ole Miss and Baton Rouge in relation to the past,

25:08 the segregation of the past, and the current state of college football.

25:11 What did you take away from that?

25:13 Uh you know, I took away from it that Lane is a bit of a loose

25:16 cannon and and probably didn't think those statements

25:20 through clearly and how they could be perceived.

25:22 I think that, you know, we live in an era where perception can become reality.

25:26 I'm sure this was uh you well, you know it's not well received in Oxford.

25:31 Um you know this heightens the third game

25:34 of the season for these teams even more.

25:36 Certainly, I would consider this and yet

25:38 another bridge being burnt by Lane Kiffin.

25:41 Um you know, he he he's he's blunt,

25:43 sometimes he's funny, and and sometimes he's reckless.

25:47 And I think his statements were reckless.

25:50 Um I don't think that there was enough

25:52 background given here when he made these statements.

25:55 Now, you pointed out and and I think you're going

25:57 to have the the author on your show in a bit,

25:59 so I'll let them speak for themselves,

26:01 but uh to me it was a very small snapshot of what he said.

26:04 I I don't know how much depth there was to it or how much thought was given.

26:08 I don't remember him saying that he had these issues

26:11 recruiting at Ole Miss before when he was there, Paul, unless I missed that.

26:14 It's awful convenient to say that now that he's somewhere else.

26:18 Um but it look, it's Lane Kiffin,

26:20 and this is a guy that speaks off the cuff and and sometimes uh you know,

26:25 we applaud that for entertainment value.

26:27 Sometimes we appreciate his blunt comments,

26:31 uh but in this case on a issue of uh this is such a a serious nature,

26:37 I I think you have to be very careful with what you say,

26:39 how you say things in respect to communities,

26:43 uh and especially in light of of the Oxford, Mississippi that I personally see.

26:47 But again, perception is is in the eye of the beholder,

26:50 and everyone has their opinions.

26:53 Well, of course they do, but you said it was reckless.

26:55 I want you I want to expand on on that because

26:58 I don't really care what the context is.

27:00 The quote speaks for itself.

27:03 It doesn't matter whether it was you know one

27:05 one line out of a out of a 4-hour interview.

27:08 He still said it and we all know what he meant.

27:13 Yeah, and what I think is reckless about that is you know casting

27:17 into such a wide opinion based on I don't know a handful of recruits Paul.

27:22 I don't know.

27:23 Again, I'm not in the room with Lane Kiffin and that

27:26 Michael, of course you're not.

27:27 I'm just asking you from where you're sitting right now,

27:29 what you took away from that statement.

27:32 Well, what I took away was that you know Lane Kiffin likes the seat

27:36 Griff, I don't need the equivocating.

27:38 I know Lane Kiffin pretty well.

27:39 I just know I want your opinion.

27:41 Yeah, I thought it was reckless.

27:42 I thought it was unnecessary criticism.

27:44 I thought it was something that you know didn't necessarily

27:48 I When I watched I'll put it like this Paul.

27:51 When I watched Old Miss play Georgia,

27:54 I I didn't see a problem with talent acquisition.

27:56 I didn't see guys that didn't want to be out there representing

27:59 their school or their community or that were there as a second choice.

28:03 I saw one hell of a football team put it all

28:05 together for the Old Miss on the side of their helmet.

28:08 So his comments didn't represent the effort or the level

28:11 of accomplishment that I saw from Old Miss athletes.

28:14 That's how I took it.

28:15 Now other people are going to take it differently,

28:18 but you know I I kind of you know shrugged my shoulders.

28:22 there was a time I'll tell you I did an interview 25 years ago and and said

28:26 similar somewhat similar things that perhaps Old

28:29 Miss wasn't in the most advantageous recruiting position.

28:32 That was 25 years ago.

28:33 And oh by the way, 3 days after I did that interview,

28:37 they darn near beat the Tennessee team that I

28:39 was covering with David Cutcliffe as their head coach.

28:41 So just as I looked back on that interview

28:44 with regret 25 years ago and said man, did I have that wrong.

28:47 You know, these these kids are excited to be here.

28:49 That's a heck of an environment.

28:51 I didn't see any sorts of the things that Kiffin referenced on that trip there.

28:55 That was 25 years ago.

28:57 That's why I'm saying,

28:58 when you're in Lane Kiffin's position and you hold this much power,

29:01 I think you've got a responsibility to your words and you

29:04 have to reflect on how that's going to affect several people,

29:06 not just from where you sit on your high

29:08 horse with your $14 million salary at a school

29:12 that just paid out 54 million for a coach

29:15 and it's throwing $40 million at players.

29:16 I think it was a convenient stance and therefore I thought it was reckless.

29:20 Well, but that's but that's at the heart of it all.

29:23 Everyone The question you asked is No no no no one believes he

29:26 went there because he thought Oxford and Ole Miss was a segregated place.

29:31 He took the money, he ran because the opportunity was self-explanatory.

29:35 I think that's everyone's problem outside of the Baton

29:38 Rouge area code with what he said.

29:41 I think that's a fair statement, Paul.

29:43 That's why I say it's reckless to throw that out there.

29:45 I don't I think it's again, unfortunate.

29:47 I I would expect an apology from Lane Kiffin before this all plays out.

29:52 You know, again, I haven't had time to put a lot

29:54 of depth and research into the background of this story.

29:57 I haven't read the article.

29:58 I saw the same quotes.

29:59 I think the Jackson Clarion Ledger already has a story up.

30:02 I'm sure there's going to be plenty of reaction.

30:05 From from what I understand, Stephen A.

30:06 Smith had made some comments along the same vein when Lane was first hired.

30:11 But again, this is this is out of my expertise.

30:13 Stephen A.

30:13 Stephen A.

30:14 Smith made the comments to me last fall during during an episode.

30:19 But what one thing Stephen A.

30:20 Smith did though, he went to Oxford in January.

30:24 He was invited by Coach Yo.

30:27 He spent the day there.

30:28 He talked to Trinidad Chambliss.

30:29 He talked to a number of people.

30:31 I told him he was wrong.

30:33 And I think he he learned because sometimes

30:36 you do have to go someplace to understand.

30:38 We've all made ridiculous and reckless comments.

30:40 Thank you, Mike Griffith, joining us here talking about a number of issues.

30:45 We'll talk to the author of that article here in 45 minutes.

30:49 Can't wait for that.

30:50 We are coming right back.

30:53 You're listening [music] to the Paul Finebaum Show podcast.

30:59 And we are back, and let's check in with Julie in Mississippi.

31:04 Hey, Julie.

31:06 Hey, can you hear me, Paul?

31:07 I sure can.

31:09 Okay.

31:10 I'm in the car, so nobody can hear.

31:12 I wanted to talk about Lane Kiffin,

31:14 who seems to still think he's coaching at Ole Miss.

31:17 And he just needs to understand that he doesn't have to let

31:21 everybody know that he used to coach at Ole Miss all the time.

31:24 He needs to go on to LSU, and he needs to show how great he is

31:28 on the field when he shows up on September the 19th.

31:32 That's what he needs to say.

31:33 But he's not going to do that.

31:34 He's going to burn us down.

31:35 He's going to burn Ole Miss down.

31:38 And while he does it,

31:39 he's going to burn down he's going to establish burn down Lacy.

31:42 He's going to burn down Kotaro.

31:44 He's going to burn down the women's basketball team.

31:47 He's just going to burn it all down because he

31:49 has gone from being a narcissist being a total psycho.

31:53 I mean, this is ridiculous.

31:54 He knows good and well he does not believe this.

31:57 Nobody believes this.

31:58 No player on that football team will tell you this because it's not true,

32:02 and he knows it's not true.

32:03 And for some reason, he has this this thorn in him that just really bugs him,

32:08 and he's just got to destroy Ole Miss.

32:10 Okay, destroy it.

32:11 Come on on September 19th or whatever it was 17th or whatever it is,

32:15 and just go ahead and then show us what you got.

32:18 Show us your quarterback.

32:19 Show us your running back.

32:20 Show us your wide receiver.

32:21 Show us your team.

32:23 That's not the team that made it to the playoff last year.

32:26 That would be the what do you call it, the a grown-up thing to do.

32:30 But no, it's more fun to do this to to put himself out there in there.

32:34 Get get the get the national audience against Mississippi.

32:38 Why don't I do that while you're at it?

32:39 My husband like we're living in the 60s again.

32:43 So, anyway, I'm very angry at Lane Kiffin right now.

32:45 I used to love the guy.

32:47 Don't love the guy anymore.

32:48 He showed his true colors and watch out LSU.

32:52 You got him.

32:53 You can have him.

32:54 Anyway, that's all I got, Paul.

32:56 Thank you, Joey.

32:57 You'll be well.

32:57 You take care of yourself.

32:58 Abraham is up next in Miami.

33:00 Hello, Abraham.

33:02 Oh, how you doing this afternoon?

33:03 Listen, first thing I want to do is send respects

33:06 and prayers out to Trey Ford uh procedures on tomorrow.

33:10 My wife had two of them.

33:12 Two other things I want to mention, Paul.

33:14 In ninth grade, I played left linebacker

33:17 on our flag football team and the halfback

33:22 from the other team kept running around

33:23 the other side and got his cooking kitchen.

33:26 Out of frustration, I ran over there and I tackled him on the play,

33:30 got ejected, never got to play anymore during the rest of the season.

33:35 I think we had a couple of games left.

33:38 That's a good That was a good lesson for me.

33:41 Wembanyama did something similar to that last night

33:45 with his reaction to what was taking place on the court.

33:48 It'll be a great lesson for him in his youth to know

33:54 and realize that if they lose the season if they lose this series,

33:59 it'll be because he attributed to it when they had things pretty well in hand.

34:06 And it might make him dig in and play uh a little harder.

34:11 The other thing I want to mention and and I'll be through is

34:13 that unforgiveness is like taking poison

34:18 and thinking somebody else is going to die.

34:20 You have to be in this life,

34:22 you have to be able to forgive yourself and to forgive others.

34:26 Have a great day, Paul.

34:27 Love you, man.

34:28 Well done.

34:28 Thank you so much.

34:29 Great to hear from you, Abraham, always.

34:31 Chris is up next in South Carolina.

34:36 Oh man, we miss you, brother.

34:38 Hey man, there's nothing like the Fireball bomb,

34:40 but I'll take any 32 oz just to have the Fireball show.

34:45 Thank you.

34:46 Is there anything that Lane Kiffin won't do to get a competitive advantage?

34:52 Is there anything he won't do?

34:54 At this point, man, I want Go ahead.

34:57 Uh no, no.

34:58 I mean I mean Lane Lane is Lane.

34:59 I mean I I know that's pretty trite,

35:02 but you know him and I know him and we all know him.

35:06 He's a scumbag, bro,

35:08 and this thing I disrespect and this thing that makes me so angry.

35:11 I can see if this man

35:12 was bringing championships after championships after championships.

35:16 All he do is spend his daddy credit card to get the players in there.

35:21 He ain't coaching to do nothing to win nothing.

35:23 So, I don't understand why they think he's so

35:26 great and why LSU is selling out for this scumbag.

35:30 Because thing about it is he he wasn't saying that when

35:32 he was getting all them old miss players to come there.

35:35 I guarantee you he wasn't.

35:35 [clears throat] But now he want to bring that up.

35:38 That means that man got no character.

35:40 The man got nothing.

35:42 He got no integrity.

35:43 I don't understand why they they want to win that bad.

35:46 At least they could have found a cheater that can

35:48 win or a man that got no morals that can win.

35:52 Because Lane Kiffin ain't it.

35:54 He ain't nothing but using this coaching

35:56 job to get girlfriends or whatever he doing, but he's a scumbag, bro,

36:00 and I got no respect for him and I hope

36:02 Dabo put both his fists up his ass in September.

36:05 Have a nice day.

36:06 Well, Dab- Dabo will have to get the foot out

36:09 of his own before he can put it up somewhere else.

36:12 So, anyway, we've had a busy show.

36:14 We're halfway home.

36:15 The Kiffin story continues to reign.

36:17 Sankey had some comments today that we'll continue to talk about.

36:20 More of your calls.

36:21 It has been a busy one, but but we will talk.

36:25 First chance for you to hear from the writer

36:28 who did the Lane Kiffin story in Vanity Fair.

36:31 Chris Smith will join us 30 minutes from now.

36:34 We look forward to doing that.

36:36 Very controversial article.

36:37 We'll talk to him when we come back.

36:43 [music] Thank you for listening to the best of the Paul Finebaum Show podcast.

36:48 Watch the Paul Finebaum Show weekdays from 3:00

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