Pete Golding on canceling introductory press conference: 'We're talking about the wrong s***'

Far less attention has been paid to this actual season at Ole Miss over the last seven weeks with what happened off the field with Lane Kiffin. Now, though, as Pete Golding takes over, he wants his tenure to start with the focus back on this team for the Rebels.

During his press conference yesterday after the team’s selection into the College Football Playoff, Golding addressed his decision to cancel what was supposed to be his introductory press conference as the next head coach in Oxford. He said he did so because, after almost two months of distractions, he felt it was time for the attention to be back on this year’s team at Ole Miss.

“Yeah, for me, it was, you know, we’ve been through about a month and a half, right, that all of the focus was on everything that didn’t matter. And the focus wasn’t on a team that went 11-1, that busted their a**, that did everything right to put themselves in an unbelievable position to have players, right, that had really elite years because of team success that should be able to get individual accolades and aren’t,” said Golding. “We’re talking about the wrong s***.”

“So, like, for me, at that point? Like, this has nothing to do with 2026. Like, this is 2025,” Golding said. “In a normal situation, I’d be the interim coach, and we’d be celebrating this team, this town, this university having the ability to host a playoff game. Why the hell would we make it about me, when it really doesn’t matter? They don’t give a s*** whether I run them out or not.”

Again, since the jobs opened at Florida and then at LSU in October, so much time was spent on the candidacy of Kiffin at places other than Ole Miss, who, at that point, was still vying for a spot in the CFP. That only escalated the last week since Kiffin officially decided to leave the Rebels for the Tigers, with his place since taken by Golding.

However, for all that spotlight elsewhere, on the field, Ole Miss is one of the best teams in all of college football at 11-1. Regardless of how they could perform now following this coaching change, the Rebels are still the No. 6 seed in the field, will host a playoff game with that as No. 11 Tulane will come to Vaught-Hemingway on December 20th, and will still have a chance to win the national championship from there in the CFP.

This all played out in a very public way, as it resulted in what was a massive coaching change from one program to another in the SEC. However, as for his chance because of it to be a first-time head coach, Golding wants all that to wait, as he says he has a duty to finish this team’s season first with all that’s still in front of them.

“Let’s put the focus back on the players, where it should be. Let’s get ready to finish this thing the right way. And then, if you want to have one in January, have one in January, and let’s charge everybody to do it and make it in rev-share, or whatever, and let’s go get better players, alright,” said Golding. “But, like, this does not matter right now.”

“We’re worried about the wrong stuff,” Golding said. “There’s a bunch of kids in that locker room right now that need to get the focus back on them because, at the end of the day, alright, they’re going to determine whether we’re going to win this game or not, right, by their execution and their preparation. It ain’t going to have nothing to do with what’s the head coach’s name. I can assure you that.”