Audio leaks from Ole Miss team meeting, Keith Carter introducing Pete Golding as head coach

Ole Miss introduced Pete Golding to the team as its new head coach on Sunday afternoon in a team meeting led by athletics director Keith Carter. Thanks to leaked audio, the general public now knows how that introduction went.

Carter spoke briefly, promising that the Rebels would go “on a run” in the postseason under Golding’s leadership. He then introduced the new head coach.

“I’m going to do what’s in the best interest of this institution,” Carter said. “The other thing that I do is I do things that are in the best interest of our student-athletes. Again, a little tumultuous time over the past few weeks, but when it came right down to it we have someone that is a leader of men that can lead you guys, and that man is Pete Golding.

“You guys know Pete. He knows this place, his passion is about this place. But also what comes with Pete is galvanization. We had a meeting earlier with our offensive group and these offensive coaches, they’re going to be here. They’re going to be here. And we’re going to go on this run in the CFP and we’re actually going to get that done.”

Here is the team meeting audio with Keith Carter and Pete Golding. Lane was not in attendance to formally tell his players he was leaving. pic.twitter.com/OeiFzivwFB

— Marshall Henderson (@marshlhenderson) November 30, 2025

That brought the room to round of applause, as Pete Golding took the stage and began his speech accepting the job. He was excited.

“Obviously unbelievable opportunity, and I think this comes from you guys,” Golding said. “Obviously the guys that came before you. But your work ethic, you hard work, your determination. The success that you guys have, that allows us to have success. So there’s a lot of guys, right, that could be up here right now, but I appreciate your hard work, right, in allowing me to do that.”

Pete Golding has some significant SEC experience that should help prepare him for the head coaching gig. Before Golding joined Ole Miss in 2023, he served as Alabama‘s defensive coordinator from 2018-22 under Nick Saban. Under Golding’s leadership, Ole Miss’ defense is only allowing 333.1 yards of offense per game this season, ranking 33rd in the country.

The new head coach will have the challenging task of keeping everyone focused, even with Lane Kiffin and others heading to LSU now. He appealed to their sense of loyalty from recruiting.

“What I can promise you is the same thing I told every one of you in recruiting,” Golding said. “I think especially when you know where you’re supposed to be. We’re all here for a reason. I think he brought y’all here for a reason and things happen for a reason.

“Nobody’s going to work harder at this job than I will. And I promise you this: The men in this room, these coaches, we’re going to surround ourselves with a lot smarter people than me. Which we already have in this room. My biggest thing in accepting this job is I want as many of these guys to stay here because they know this is where they’re supposed to be. And we’re here and we love it here because of you. You’re the reason why we’re here. You’re the reason why this place is so special.”

Pete Golding then went on to discuss the importance of alignment, which Ole Miss must now fix after watching the acting head coach depart for a rival. Can Golding get on board with Carter and the rest of the Ole Miss brass?

“I’ve been a lot of good places and won a lot of games,” Golding said. “And alignment has to be correct. It’s got to start with the chancellor. We have the best chancellor in the country. With the athletic director, with Keith Carter, right, you’re not going to find a guy that’s more committed to a university than Keith Carter. Then the head coach is just an extension of that.

“And I’ve never been around a better group of men and coaches in my life at any place than this staff. Then it’s the players. We’ve got enough in this room to go win it all. There’s not a doubt in my mind. And all it is is us coming together, not changing the things that we’ve done. The systems are going to be the same. The practice times are going to be the same. The structure’s going to be the same. All this right now is about going 1-0. That’s all the focus should be right now is to go 1-0. That’s it. This isn’t something new. This has already been started. Y’all worked your ass off to get us to this point. Y”all put us in this position. And y’all are going to get us to where we need to be. Right? I’m just going to help you do it. But y’all are going to be the ones to do it.”

Finally, Pete Golding got into the most moving part of his speech, rousing the troops before a playoff run. He’s ready to attack the opportunity.

“This isn’t Game 1, guys. This ain’t the offseason,” Golding said. “The guys that are going to continue to play right now are the ones that are going to want to continue to play. I’ve been to a million of these. When it gets late in the season teams are going to decide. Do I still want to play? Do I want to play that next down? Do I want to play that next game or am I done? Am I tapped out? That’s the decision that y’all have got to make.

“And we’ve got the right people in this room, right, that we want to play and we want to win the next game. We want to give ourselves that next opportunity. We’ve got the right guys in the room. So I appreciate everything about you, but don’t get this twisted. We’re about to go to work.”