Pete Golding did not disappoint during his SEC Media Days debut, at least the talk in Tampa has suggested.
The Ole Miss head coach, heading into his first regular season in that position, was authentic, humorous, and even off-script when discussing changes he’s made since taking over the Rebels program, his thoughts on tampering, and even his relationship with Lane Kiffin.
How the program has changed since Golding took over
When Golding first became head coach, continuity was imperative. From keeping staffers who had accepted jobs at LSU with Ole Miss through the playoff run to keeping practice times and structure the same, the Rebel coach believed it was important to avoid reinventing a wheel that had yielded tremendous success. But in the offseason, he’s had the opportunity to modify the program to his liking.
Elevating the physical strength of the Rebels was Golding’s top priority once he had time to evaluate the role he would be playing as head coach. With former Ole Miss strength coach Nick Savage following Kiffin to LSU, Golding needed to find a new leader to ensure his players were improving in the weight room. To do that, Golding turned to a familiar face, Paul Constantine, to lead the charge.
Constantine and Golding worked together at Alabama, where Golding was defensive coordinator before he took the Ole Miss job. The strength coach elevated in the industry, assuming the associate director of strength and conditioning gig with the Atlanta Falcons. His professional experience enticed Golding to give him a call to reel him back to the collegiate ranks. To Golding, the college game has changed so much that current players better benefit from NFL training.
“I don’t think it’s old school college, and it’s not all the way to the NFL,” Golding said to a full room of reporters at SEC Media Days on Wednesday. “So, I thought it was really important to get an NFL mind that’s been in this conference and had success and also been in the NFL and be really smart on how to set up the offseason, not only in the weight room from a strength and conditioning standpoint, but from a football intelligence and football school and the spring model and all that.”
An additional change has been having staffers focus on balancing players’ weight training with the mental aspect of the game, with the overarching goal of daily improvement. This is a change Golding is confident will make his players both stronger and smarter on the field, limiting mistakes that were born of improper preparation.
“To me, when you’re recruiting all these guys want to get developed at their craft, so we look at it every day that there is an opportunity for guys to come into our building and develop and improve at their craft. In order to do that you have to have something every day,” Golding said. “When our players are on campus our coaches are on campus, and that’s a model I changed from previous places I had been.”
How Golding has changed since becoming head coach
Personally, Golding has had to shift from being a hands-on defensive coordinator into more of a CEO, where he has to delegate responsibilities to others.
To help him manage the team while continuing to call the defense, Golding hired Austin Thomas as general manager and former Delta State head coach Todd Cooley as an assistant. He has also given former Rebel quarterback turned associate AD for player development Tom Luke an elevated role in running certain daily operations that once fell on him.
“The delegation piece has been a process for me throughout it,” Golding said. “Really, what are you going to take your hands off and let them go do their job get the hell out of their way and not micromanage everything and everything has to be perfect and all those things.”
The shift in management style has been a positive one to Golding. He alluded to there being an understanding among staffers of the role each plays and how it affects the entire team. All hands, per the Ole Miss coach, are pulling in the same direction.
“That piece to me was really, really important. So now your staff meeting is a little bigger than your unit meeting was. Team meeting is a little bigger than your defensive unit meeting was, but the principles are the same. I think it’s unique for me that I had already been there three and a half years,” Golding said. “They know why I came and I was staying regardless of the role. So that buy-in has been a little different.”
Golding’s relationship with Lane Kiffin
During his time at the podium on Wednesday, Golding was asked about his relationship with Kiffin, and justifiably so. Kiffin’s unprecedented departure has ignited a heightened rivalry between Ole Miss and LSU fans, with those supporting the Rebels airing out grievances against their team’s ex-coach. For Golding, however, Kiffin’s exit paved the way for him to become the program’s frontman.
Outside of that, Golding added that he went to Ole Miss for family reasons, not because of a previous relationship with Kiffin, because such did not exist. The two served on Nick Saban’s staff at Alabama, but not at the same time. But when they were together in Oxford, Golding said Kiffin was courteous to him and his family, and that he gleaned on things he picked up from his former boss.
“I have no ill will toward him at all and wish him the best of luck,” new Ole Miss head coach Pete Golding said of his relationship with Lane Kiffin during SEC Media Days.
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“Lane and I are good. I did not know Coach Kiffin prior to taking the Ole Miss job. Everybody assumes Alabama, Alabama. I wasn’t at Alabama when Coach Kiffin was. I didn’t come to Ole Miss because of Coach Kiffin,” Golding said. “I came to Ole Miss to be at Ole Miss to raise three kids. So our relationship really grew in those three and a half years and he did a lot for me and I was very, very appreciative how he treated me and my family. I learned a lot from him.”
Adding to that, Golding said he and Kiffin continue to talk — frequently. He said Kiffin reaches out to him regularly, and that he has no bitterness toward the former Ole Miss head man. Now, with that in mind, Golding will view Kiffin and his LSU team as enemy No. 1 when the Tigers roll into Oxford on Sept. 19, but because his competitive nature trumps his affection for a colleague.
“I have no ill will towards Coach Kiffin. He texts me on a regular basis and there are certain things we’ll talk about and certain things we don’t talk about. He’s very competitive just like I’m very competitive. So obviously a lot of this went a different direction,” Golding said. “Now he has a new job with new responsibilities and he’s going to be super competitive to be the best he can at that job, which is his job.”
His thoughts on tampering
Golding was asked about tampering, largely because Ole Miss has been at the forefront of the conversation about staffs reaching out to players when they’re not allowed to do so. Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney had a press conference about Golding and company nabbing Luke Ferrelli, a linebacker who had enrolled in classes at Clemson before transferring to Ole Miss, against league rules. The NCAA is reportedly investigating the tampering claims.
The Ole Miss coach gave a polished answer when first asked about tampering.
“We got a compliance department. They get paid to do their job. They do a really good job,” Golding said.
He then went unscripted, admitting that what he was about to say was not how he was coached to answer such questions. Golding discussed what he perceives to be flaws in the rules as it relates to contacting players in the transfer portal, and how tampering is a commonality rather than an exception in the college football world.
“Like coaches, we’re under contract. You don’t think other ADs are calling us during the year? Same ones that are [expletive] about all this stuff are the same ones calling coaches to come to other schools, so it’s ever where in every profession. I am not saying I have all the answers. We go by the rules of the program and the flow. Like when you’re on the interstate and people are flying by you, what are do you start doing? Damn right. Or you’re going to get hit,” Golding said.
“In this profession you’re going to get fired. I’m not saying that. But I think there are a lot of people doing an unbelievable job, Greg being one, to make sure everything is catching up. College football is always changing. Hopefully we’ll all decide on what’s fair for everybody.”
His outlook of the 2026 Ole Miss football team
Going into the upcoming season, Golding is confident in the work he and his staff have done to build a roster that can replicate the success that was had in the prior campaign. From retaining key players like Trinidad Chambliss, Kewan Lacy, Will Echoles, and Suntarine Perkins, among others, to hauling in a nationally acclaimed portal class, Golding believes he has the right pieces in the right places, though he said there is always room for growth.
“It’s really important for us,” Golding said. “From a personnel standpoint, I think we’ve created a lot of depth across the board on both sides of the ball to make sure we’re using those pieces effectively and hold them accountable.”
Beyond that, the bigger piece to the puzzle was staff retention. Some former Ole Miss staffers went to LSU with Kiffin, but Golding was successful in keeping a litany of position coaches. Notably, quarterbacks coach Joe Judge, defensive line coach Randall Joyner, offensive line coach John Garrison, and special teams coach Jake Schoonover elected to remain in Oxford instead of pursuing another venture.
The retention, along with the addition of an offensive coordinator in John David Baker, who runs a similar scheme as Kiffin and Charlie Weis Jr., is what Golding is certain will keep the train rolling at Ole Miss, just with a different conductor at the helm.
“Now when you keep stability in schemes and recruit really good players and hold them accountable, the winning takes care of itself,” Golding said.
The only question mark Golding has about his team overall is its ability to weather the inevitable storm of adversity. How well Ole Miss bounces back from a gut punch will soon be determined, with 46 days remaining until the team’s Sept. 6 opener against Louisville. And until then, Golding said he will do all in his power to ensure that his team is as ready to face adversity as possible.