The story of Ole Miss Football in 2025-26 is a tale unlike any other. On Nov. 30, former Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin left Oxford to take the head coach position at LSU — only weeks before Ole Miss was to embark on its first-ever College Football Playoff appearance.
While fans initially were upset about Kiffin’s departure, the Ole Miss football team knew it still had a mission to complete in preparing to make a national championship run. When one man stepped away from the bright lights, another man stepped up to lead the troops into battle.
That man was Pete Golding. Once the defensive coordinator of the Rebels, Golding is now the new head coach of a national championship-hungry program.
When Ole Miss Vice Chancellor of Intercollegiate Athletics Keith Carter announced in a Manning Center team meeting that Golding would be the next head coach, players erupted in applause. Carter called Golding a “leader of men.”
Golding led Ole Miss to its first CFP win over Tulane and then toppled No. 3 Georgia in the quarterfinal game in the Sugar Bowl. The Rebels were one game away from a national championship appearance but fell short to Miami in the semifinal game played in the Fiesta Bowl.
Throughout all of the success Ole Miss had in the postseason, Golding never took credit. He shifted the focus to the players who had been cast aside amid rampant Kiffin drama. That is the head coach Ole Miss has going into next year’s encore: an unselfish, player-first leader who immediately took responsibility for the program without hesitation.
“All I could think about is the promises that I made in recruiting and talking to parents and the things that I promised,” Golding said in a press conference on Dec. 8. “The example that I was trying to set and all their hard work to make sure that we didn’t lose that. And so I felt like, at that point, it was our responsibility to try to retain as many staff members as we possibly can.”
This team was special, and Rebel fans can expect to be in the bright lights again next year in the 2026-27 season. Golding has proved that he can rally his team and train players to perform their best no matter the circumstances.
Golding put players’ thoughts and feelings first and immediately sought to get their views on the situation when he was hired.
“We had a team meeting, and we kind of broke up into groups that we call ‘get real groups’ and just kind of let them talk and try to get a pulse on the team, try to get how they felt about the situation,” Golding said. “Then, I started meeting with them individually on Friday.”
Golding was a huge reason for the Rebels’ success in the playoffs. Star receiver Harrison Wallace III shared how Golding put Ole Miss in the right mindset before the Fiesta Bowl.
“We’re bought in to go win a national championship,” Wallace said in a press conference on Jan. 4. “So everybody’s mindset is on one thing. I feel like it’s hard for somebody to get shifted when we’re all aiming for the same goal.”
If the playoff run left any doubt for fans about Golding, there is still much more on his resume that will prove how coveted he is as a head coach. Golding is a defensive mind who comes from the Nick Saban coaching tree.
Golding often mentions his work with Saban at Alabama in press conferences. He draws on the experience of working with, arguably, the greatest head coach in the history of college football to make points and explain his way of thinking.
Golding has also been wheeling and dealing in the recruiting process. According to 247Sports, Ole Miss has the No. 2 transfer class nationwide. Recruits have been flying into Ole Miss. After a successful playoff run, transfers and recruits are heavily drawn to Oxford. Golding managed to retain Doak Walker Award-semifinalist running back Kewan Lacey.
This team is retaining players with playoff experience and adding a lot of talent, including four-star receiver Jase Mathews and former five-star quarterback Deuce Knight.
Golding is the reason for Ole Miss’ significant roster retention and continuation of portal success. Even when Kiffin had great portal classes, he was never able to keep players in Oxford. In 2025, Ole Miss had the fourth-best portal class, but 30 players transferred out.
Twenty-one former Rebels have transferred out so far under Golding, but the vast majority were not starters or would have less playing time because of the players transferring in. Ole Miss lost very few key players.
Golding has shown an ability to connect with his players on both sides of the ball. In his first month as head coach, Golding brought in replacements for all the coaches Kiffin poached — necessary and proper moves to ensure the Rebels maintained their competitive edge for years to come.
Golding became the defensive coordinator for Ole Miss in 2023. The Rebels went 11-2 that year, then followed with a 10-3 season narrowly missing the playoffs. Prior to Golding joining the staff, Kiffin went 5-5 in his first year (SEC-only due to COVID-19), 10-3 with a Sugar Bowl loss and 8-5, the year the team fell apart after Kiffin was rumored to be leaving for Auburn.
Kiffin has an interesting personality, to say the least; however, that was mostly displayed on social media and an occasional sideline highlight, like tossing a clipboard into the air. Golding feels more real and does not use X to make backhanded remarks.
“I’m not changing who I am,” Golding said. “I ain’t changing what the hell I wear. I’m (not) going to yoga. I ain’t doing any of that s–t. I am who I am.”
Golding, on the contrary, keeps his humor in the real world.
“A lot of lack of sleep, probably the least amount of sleep I’ve had since Vegas in ’07,” Golding said about his life since becoming the Ole Miss head coach.
With this new-era beginning, Ole Miss will face a blast from the past in Week 3 of the 2026 season when Kiffin makes his return to Oxford with his first LSU team. He will face off against the team that he abandoned in an effort to pursue a national championship, while his new team was watching the playoffs from the couch. The team he left was in pursuit of greatness, which Golding will carry forth in stride.
Next season’s schedule is tough, but it will give Ole Miss the chance to have one of the best resumes in the country and pursue success in the CFP. The sun is bright, Rebel fans. It is Golding hour in Oxford.
