SEC Media Days: Lane Kiffin Blames Paul Finebaum For Phillip Fulmer's Firing At Tennessee

ATLANTA – Sometimes you can’t fake chemistry, and that's exactly the case between Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin and SEC Network host Paul Finebaum, who put on a clinic Monday in what will be the funniest interview you might see this summer. 

It's no secret that Finebaum and Kiffin shared a disdain for each other, dating back to when Lane was fired at USC on a tarmac, which the pair had previously discussed. The tension between the two was palpable in the early years of Kiffin's return to the SEC as offensive coordinator at Alabama and then as head coach at Ole Miss. 

But, just like any good show, sometimes you have to put down your guard for the sake of great television, which has certainly been the case for Kiffin over the years. 

On Monday, that goofy chemistry was on full display, as Kiffin joined the Paul Finebaum Show as an unannounced guest, or as Lane called it, "getting plucked from the transfer portal" during SEC Media Days. 

Based on their past, some would think it would be hard for these two characters to get along, but it's almost as if we are watching an episode of "Starsky & Hutch", as the pair engage in dark-comedy banter. 

Now, none of this is new, as they both enjoy putting on a show, especially on live television. But, what we witnessed on Monday evening, as Kiffin was set to leave Atlanta with the Ole Miss contingent, was pure gold. 

While most of the folks inside the College Football Hall of Fame were caught up in the early morning hours of the day wondering what Greg McElroy was talking about when he said Nick Saban could return to coaching, based off a conversation with a well-sourced person, it was Lane Kiffin that actually got the final laugh. 

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"I miss my ex-boss. He's coming back to coaching," Kiffin jokingly mentioned. "It's been boring around here, so I guess I said ‘Hey, Nick Saban's coming back'. It's malpractice for him not to be in coaching."

But, it didn’t stop there, between the conversations surrounding his family moving to Oxford, and how Finebaum was always starting up the rumors of Kiffin potentially taking another job. 

Lane Kiffin Says Paul Finebaum Was Reason Phillip Fulmer Was Fired

While the pair discussed his history in the sport, the best part came when Kiffin was discussing his time in the NFL, which ultimately led to him replacing Phillip Fulmer at Tennessee. 

"I screwed up so I could make sure to get fired and get the Tennessee job," Kiffin jokingly said of his firing from the Raiders. "You didn’t know that. I think you reported one time that I got Phillip Fulmer fired, and Phil Fulmer never spoke to me because you reported that. 

"Never once. I tried to reach out to him, tried to go over and meet him, and he wouldn’t talk to me because he was convinced Paul Finebaum said I got him fired. I was in Oakland, kicking 76-yard field goals." 

In what was one of the funniest interviews in recent memory, Finebaum finished it off with an appropriate line, as the pair shared a fist-bump before the segment ended. 

"Phillip Fulmer doesn't talk to me either, don't worry about it."