Firecracker Pete Golding brings his passion to Ole Miss sideline

Golding was promoted from defensive coordinator with the Rebels to head coach the same day (Nov. 30) Kiffin announced he was choosing LSU over returning to Ole Miss or taking the job at Florida after a much-publicized courtship.

Everyone wanted Kiffin, no one viewed Golding as a head coaching candidate, and so here we are, and Golding is just fine with that.

“The room got a little bigger, but nothing else changed. I’m not changing who I am. I ain’t changing what the hell I wear,” Golding said on a Zoom call with reporters this week.

“... I am who I am. We’re gonna roll, we’re gonna do this thing the right way.”

Team-first focus

Golding’s first decision was to put the attention back on his Ole Miss players, who will be hosting a first-round College Football Playoff game against Tulane at 3:30 p.m. Dec. 20, with hopes of advancing to play Georgia in the CFP quarterfinal at the Sugar Bowl.

That’s why the 41-year-old Golding declined to have a news conference announcing him as head coach and, very much unlike his predecessor, avoided social media.

“I’m not a Twitter guy, won’t be a Twitter guy, right?” Golding said. “So, I got my new contract. They can fire me at any point; my ass will be at the beach, all right?”

That said, Golding said he couldn’t even tell you all of the numbers in his new contract, which is reportedly worth $2.61 million annually.

To Golding’s point, Kiffin’s coaching drama had taken center stage in college football.

Fans knew more about Kiffin’s family taking chartered flights to Gainesville, Florida, and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, than they did Trinidad Chambliss’ 3,000-yard passing season and his climb from the Division II ranks.

There was more chatter about Kiffin’s conversations with Nick Saban and super agent Jimmy Sexton than Kewan Lacy’s run for the Doak Walker Award.

“For a month and a half, all the focus was on everything that didn’t matter, Golding said. “The focus wasn’t on a team that went 11-1 and (played hard) and did everything right to put themselves in an unbelievable position.”

Those distractions, Golding suggested, cost the players the individual recognition they deserved after putting the team first in winning 11 regular-season games for the first time in Ole Miss history.

Golding background

Ironically, Golding has made himself somewhat of a story with his casual flair and selfless approach to the head coaching position.

Ole Miss waited a week into Golding’s head coaching tenure — permanent, not interim — before making him available to answer questions.

Most already knew his background as a former walk-on player who started all four years at Division II Delta State from 2002-05, racking up 285 tackles to finish third in school history and making nine interceptions to rank fourth.

Golding’s coaching career path started at Delta State as a graduate assistant (2006) before he went to tiny Tusculum College in Tennessee (2007-09), returned to Delta State (2010-11) and made stops at Southeastern Louisiana (2012-13), Southern Miss (2014-15) Texas-San Antonio (2016-17) and Alabama (2018-22).

Wherever he’s been, Golding’s appetite for competition has been the same.

“I mean, obviously you probably don’t know me well, but I don’t care if I’m coaching football or playing my wife in tennis, like I’m trying to (win),” Golding said. “So I really get focused on the task at hand and what we need to do and how do we do it better than anybody else?”

Golding notes “the play callers haven’t changed” with offensive coordinator Charlie Weis Jr. still with the team, so Ole Miss isn’t going to “reinvent the wheel” as it surges toward its CFP game against a Tulane team it beat 45-10 earlier this season.

“So I think getting back to our normal routine of what they’re used to up to this point is really, really important,” Golding said.

Catching the Green Wave

So now it’s Tulane on-deck, and Golding, in good nature, shared how he has already given Green Wave coach Jon Sumrall — who is splitting his time as the new Florida head coach — a hard time.

“I told him he better (go now) to Gainesville,” Golding said of his old friend. “He’s gonna be losing all these players over the next two weeks if he’s not down there trying to save that program, so I’ll just mess with him and really just congratulate him.”

Golding doesn’t want any congratulations or celebrations.

Ole Miss is where it’s supposed to be, and he just happens to be the coach who was right place, right time, to get the job in a program yearning for continuity.

So, Golding was asked by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution if the Rebels are better off with this blue-collar-focused version of him coaching the team into the playoff rather than Kiffin.

“I think Ole Miss is better with the players being properly prepared and preparing the right way and practicing really well,” Golding said. “And having really good plans on both sides of the ball with consistency and play-callers and the development of the positions.”

Meanwhile, Golding directed the team mindset in a meeting with the leadership council last week.

“If you want to have a party, blow balloons up and have food, I’m good with it, but you’re not going to decide that,” Golding said he told them. “So, we’re having a party after the game, and they are all on board. … So, you know, this is not a celebration of getting in the playoffs and (lose).

“You put yourself in a really good position to be able to finish this thing right away and make sure we’re controlling what we control, and that’s our preparation and our plan and holding them accountable to play really well.”

The messaging and tone have changed at Ole Miss, but Golding, in his own colorful way, is doing his best to ensure the program’s winning ways remain the same.