On Nov. 30, 2025 Lane Kiffin shockingly left Oxford, Mississippi. Coming off of a 38-19 Egg Bowl victory that put the Rebels at 11-1, Kiffin still decided to take a new role and join LSU’s coaching staff as the new head coach.
Everyone was shocked by this considering the situation Ole Miss was in and how this was now the greatest season they have ever had. Although, they didn’t look very far to find their new guy. Ole Miss turned to the guy who had been running their defense for the past three years now and has proven himself as a solid coach, Pete Golding.
Stepping into the head coaching role for a National Championship contending team was something Pete Golding could’ve never expected coming into this year. Although this is a tough task Golding was no stranger to knowing what it takes to win.
His coaching career began in 2006 as a graduate assistant at his alma mater, Delta State, where he quickly rose to defensive coordinator a year later. Over the next decade he became a defensive genius coaching at plenty of schools. Coached at Tusculum, Delta State, Southeastern Louisiana, Southern Miss, UTSA, Alabama, Ole Miss.
Over his 19 years of coaching college football he has been a defensive coordinator, defensive backs coach, safeties coach, and now a head coach. He has led a team to a Division ll National Championship appearance, set a record 11 win season at Southeastern Louisiana, helped turn around Southern Miss’ program, had a UTSA defensive unit ranked 7th nationally in total defense, and over five years at Alabama won three SEC Championships and 1 National Championship.
Now as the head coach of the Rebels, the fans had plenty of questions still despite his previous coaching history. Fans were wondering if Kiffin’s electric offense was going to die down without him there. People also wondered if a career coordinator could step in and fill the shoes Kiffin left behind.
Golden didn’t offer anything super special, he is just a committed coach willing to do whatever it takes to win. The rebels were no longer just a playoff team, they were Pete Golding’s team. Golding didn’t have time to look back at all. He now needs to go out and win.
Now it was time to shine for Golding. His first match up as a head coach, playing against Tulane. Golding and the Rebels didn’t struggle even a little bit, winning 41-10. Trinidad proved to everyone that the offense didn’t change one bit. Matter of fact their offense had played some of the best they did all season. Next is Georgia in the Sugar Bowl. This will be a true test for Pete, being single handedly the biggest game he has ever coached in. This doesn’t faze him though, breaking the spirits of all of the Georgia fans winning 39-34. Now Golding has made it to the College Football Semifinals, against a powerful defense in Miami. After a hard fought game Golding and his team fell to the Hurricanes in a tough 31-27 loss.
Although Pete Golding didn’t win the National Championship he proved to the entire nation that he is an amazing coach. He took over a team that was distraught they lost their head coach and pulled one of the craziest upsets in College Football Playoffs against Georgia.
