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Pete Golding officially named as the next Ole Miss football head coach

11by: Jake Thompson3 hours agoJakeThompsonOn3

While one era is ending at Ole Miss another one is beginning with Pete Golding named the 40th head coach of the football program.

Golding is replacing Lane Kiffin who announced on Sunday he is taking the head coach position at LSU, ending his six-year tenure in Oxford.

After three seasons as the defensive coordinator Golding is being promoted to head coach. The announcement was made during a team meeting held by Ole Miss athletics director Keith Carter with chancellor Glenn Boyce in attendance.

The Ole Miss spirit was told the meeting lasted around 15 minutes where Carter informed the team Golding would be taking over to lead the Rebels into the College Football Playoff and beyond.

Players filtered out of the Manning Center with one yelling out to the media “Pete’s the coach,” and another player exclaimed “The Pete Golding era!”

“Coach Kiffin and I met yesterday, and he informed us that he is accepting the head coaching position at another school,” Carter said in a statement sent out by the school. “For our program to begin preparing for its future – both the short and long term, he will be stepping away from the team immediately.

“With this development, we could not be more excited to announce Pete Golding as the next head coach of the Ole Miss Rebels. His tenure will begin immediately as he leads our program in the pursuit of a national title. Today’s team meeting was a clear indicator of his ability to galvanize our squad. All of our players and coaches are ecstatic and ready to lock arms for a playoff run.”

Golding came to Ole Miss in 2023 after a stint in Alabama from 2018 to 2022.

With Golding being promoted internally this allows most, if not all, of the current Ole Miss staff to stay in place for the CFP run. It was reported that Kiffin allegedly threatened to poach players and strip the staff on his way to Baton Rouge if he was not allowed to coach the team through the remainder of the season.

“I would like to thank Keith Carter, Chancellor Boyce and the entire Ole Miss leadership team for placing their trust in me,” Golding said in a statement. “Oxford is home, and it’s an incredible honor to lead one of the nation’s premier programs, and I can’t wait to get to work immediately and prepare this team to win a national championship.

“Ole Miss Football is special. Since the day I arrived, I’ve felt the passion, pride and unwavering support of Rebel Nation. This is a place where expectations are high, and football is woven into the fabric of the community.  Our mission moving forward is clear: we will play with toughness, discipline and relentless effort in everything we do. We will recruit at the highest level, develop our players on and off the field, and compete every single day to bring championships to Oxford. Most importantly, we will represent this university with class and integrity.”

Ole Miss is currently No. 7 in the CFP Top 25 rankings and on the heels of the program’s first 11-win regular season. The penultimate rankings will be released on Tuesday with the official CFP bracket and seeding announced next Sunday.

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