Georgia head coach Kirby Smart will lead No. 2 Bulldogs out of Vaught-Hemingway Stadium’s visitors tunnel on Nov. 7 to meet the No. 10 Ole Miss Rebels led by head coach Pete Golding. Both coaches will share the field this Saturday, but the similarities between the two do not stop there.
Smart was a defensive back for the Georgia Bulldogs from 1995 to 1998 but went undrafted. After being signed and cut by the Indianapolis Colts, Smart bounced around several teams as a coach.
Among Smart’s stops was LSU in 2004, where he served as the defensive backs coach. In 2005, he was the Georgia running backs coach, and he was the 2006 Miami Dolphins safeties coach before he landed in Alabama, where he rose to the defensive coordinator position under legendary coach Nick Saban.
In December 2015, Smart took over the Georgia program as the head coach. Since taking the position at his alma mater, Smart has led the Bulldogs to two National Championships and four SEC Championships.
Golding, on the other hand, now coaches not far from where his football career began as a safety for Delta State University, located just 100 miles west of Oxford.
From there, Golding shifted around the South and made stops coaching defensive positions at Tusculum, Delta State, Southeastern Louisiana, Southern Miss and the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA).
After UTSA, Golding was recruited by Saban as an Alabama defensive assistant for the 2018 season. Eventually, Golding was promoted to defensive coordinator and helped the Crimson Tide win the 2020 National Championship.
In 2023, Golding left the Crimson Tide to become the defensive coordinator for Ole Miss. He was promoted to head coach in 2025 after Lane Kiffin’s departure.
Though both coaches have never officially worked together, their journeys to their current position have been very similar, and both spent plenty of time under Saban.
Both Smart and Golding have backgrounds in defense, but both also lead high-powered offenses. Currently, Georgia ranks fourth in the country with an average of 41 points per game, and Ole Miss is not far behind at 17th in the country with 37.1 points per game.
Both understand the necessity of managing a complete team, and both emphasize pushing players and building trust within their organizations. As a newly minted head coach, Smart spoke on that point at the 2016 SEC media days.
“I really think, in order to push kids and coach kids the way we want to coach them, we’ve got to have their trust,” Smart said.
When Golding took over the Rebel program not long ago, he had a similar message. While his goal was to build trust and continuity in the program, the focus was on the players and their achievements.
“Who(ever) runs you out of the tunnel is overrated. It’s not going to matter,” Golding said. “At that point, the game’s already won or lost by the plan and the preparation and the energy and the attitude of the players.”
The last, and only time, that the two have faced each other as head coaches was in the College Football Playoff semifinal at the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 1. Rebel fans will remember the tight contest and chaotic ending that resulted in a 39-34 Ole Miss victory.
Prior to that, the Rebels and the Bulldogs alternated winners. The Rebels lost in Athens, Ga., earlier last season but won in Oxford in 2024. In 2023, the Rebels dropped the road matchup but won a 2016 home game.
With the historic rivalry building and the recency of the Sugar Bowl, both coaches will look to outdo the other and fight to keep their playoff hopes alive.
In recent years, both coaches have made it clear that they respect each other as opponents, a statement Smart noted prior to the Sugar Bowl.
“I (have) got a lot of respect for Pete (Golding). He worked his way up through the ranks very similar to the way I did,” Smart said.
Earlier this week, Smart spoke about how Golding has taken over the Rebel football program.
“It’s on to Ole Miss, (a) really good football team. Pete (Golding) has done a tremendous job since taking over,” Smart said.
In the press conference on Tuesday, Golding shared his thoughts on what makes Smart such a good head coach.
“Number one is experience. Obviously, he’s been in the league 20 years now. I think nine (years) as the assistant (and) 11 as a head coach,” Golding said. “(Smart has) been around a lot of elite coaches. (He) does a heck of a job in recruiting. (He’s) got an elite staff that he’s put together. He does a really good job of creating toughness in his program and discipline.”
The respect between Golding and Smart is certainly mutual.
“(I have) a lot of respect for him. I’ve had a lot of respect for him for a long time,” Golding said.
