“Extremely Angry”: Paul Finebaum Shares SEC’s True Feelings on Kicking Out Lane Kiffin and LSU

LSU appeared to take some heat out of the Lane Kiffin controversy when the Tigers finalized their roster without Dae’Quan Wright and Zxavian Harris, both of whom had brief stints in the NFL. But apparently, Paul Finebaum doesn’t think the story is anywhere close to over.

The ESPN college football analyst believes the SEC remains furious with both LSU and Kiffin.

“I know a lot of people around the country last night said, ‘Okay, this is over. LSU did not put these two players on the roster, but it’s not over,’” Finebaum said on the First Take podcast. “The SEC is extremely angry at a number of different factors. They’re unhappy with Kiffin, and I think that’s the understatement of this millennium. But they’re even more unhappy with the people that run that university.”

The tension has already gone well beyond a disagreement over two players.

The SEC filed a federal lawsuit against LSU officials and Kiffin, arguing that LSU’s effort to roster former professional players violated longstanding conference rules and undermined the league’s right to enforce them. The conference had also approved penalties for violating its new professional-player eligibility rule, including substantial fines and coach suspensions, while giving Commissioner Greg Sankey authority to impose additional sanctions.

That set the stage for an even bigger confrontation.

The SEC was reportedly preparing to discuss whether LSU should actually be expelled from the conference. According to the Associated Press, removing LSU would require a two-thirds vote from the SEC’s membership. But Finebaum doesn’t expect the SEC to go all the way to the nuclear option. Still, that certainly doesn’t mean LSU is getting a free pass.

“Back to the issue: the SEC will not kick LSU out,” Finebaum weighed in. “They have the right after this vote tomorrow. But there’s another thing going on today in federal court. There’s a hearing. A judge may decide that whatever the kangaroo court in Louisiana ruled last week may be invalid.”

The Tigers’ decision to leave Wright and Harris off the roster helped avoid an immediate confrontation. LSU then turned its attention to football and delivered an impressive opening performance, crushing Clemson 51-10 while piling up 644 yards of offense. The Tigers subsequently moved into the top 10 of the AP Top 25.

But the strong start on the field hasn’t erased the questions surrounding the program off it.

Finebaum also suggested that Kiffin himself could face consequences, as he claimed that the SEC has compiled information on the LSU coach and suggested the dispute may involve more than what has already become public.

“I promise you, they have a file on Lane Kiffin that is deep. It is not only the Holly Rowe comment. That’s not it. There is more to the story than just that,” Finebaum said.

The SEC’s disciplinary framework does include the possibility of coach suspensions, meaning individual punishment for Kiffin cannot be ruled out. Finebaum even floated one hypothetical that would make the situation particularly awkward for Kiffin: a suspension covering this week and the following week, when he is scheduled to return to Ole Miss to face his former team.

For now, there is no indication that such a suspension will happen.

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