Joining The Paul Finebaum Show Monday afternoon, Ole Miss football coach Lane Kiffin rekindled a near decade old gripe with the radio host, making for an uncomfortable moment.
Kiffin rehashed the time Finebaum called him “the Miley Cyrus of college football,” less than a 24-hours before he was fired by USC.
“Let’s make sure everybody knows, you still owe me,” Kiffin said. “Because you did get me fired at USC that Saturday morning by saying I’m the Miley Cyrus of college football.”
Seemingly caught off guard, Finebaum didn’t attempt much defense, admitting he was wrong for making the comparison, and now beginning to blush because Kiffin called him out on it.
“For those of you who didn’t see this, I’m blushing even beyond the normal blush of makeup,” Finebaum noted. “I said that on College Gameday. It was my first year at ESPN, and coach, I was trying to make a name for myself. And unfortunately, you just happened to be the next victim. I do feel badly about that.”
The incident took place Sept. 28, 2013. “In some respects, Lane Kiffin is the Miley Cyrus of college football. He has very little talent, but we simply can’t take our eyes off him,” Finebaum told College Gameday’s national audience. Doing himself no favors, Kiffin led USC to a 62-41 loss to Arizona State that day and was later fired by USC at the airport, five games into the season.
Kiffin treated the insult as if Finebaum took a wrecking ball to his coaching tenure at USC, but I’ve heard analysts do much worse than compare a coach to Miley Cyrus. Realistically, Finebaum wasn’t the reason Kiffin was fired when he hopped off the plane at LAX, he just didn’t fit in.
Brandon Contes is a former reporter for BSM, now working for Awful Announcing. You can find him on Twitter @BrandonContes or reach him by email at Brandon.Contes@gmail.com.
