Who is Ole Miss coach Pete Golding, who replaced Lane Kiffin?

Ole Miss didn’t want to hold a long coaching search with Lane Kiffin bolting for LSU before the College Football Playoff (CFP).

The school wasted no time promoting defensive coordinator Pete Golding to permanent head coach in November 2025, eschewing the interim label with hope that having a familiar voice at the helm will help the program maintain a sense of continuity beyond this season.

Meet the 41-year-old who is suddenly tasked with leading the Rebels into the CFP.

He was a former player

A native of Hammond, La. — less than an hour away from Kiffin’s new stomping grounds in Baton Rouge — Golding played safety for four years at Division II Delta State, less than two hours away from Oxford.

He then jumped right into coaching, joining Delta State’s staff as a graduate assistant.

Working his way up

Golding joined Division II Tusculum in 2007 as its defensive backs coach and a year later became defensive coordinator, a role he held for two seasons before returning to Delta State in the same role for the 2010 and ’11 seasons.

He left to be the defensive coordinator at Southeastern Louisiana for two years before joining Southern Miss as their safeties coach for two seasons.

Golding then led USTA’s defense in 2016 and ’17.

Nick Saban hired him in the past

Golding got his big break at the end of the 2017 season, joining Nick Saban’s Alabama staff as a defensive assistant and quickly becoming the defensive coordinator.

He helped the program win a national title in the 2020 season.

“Pete did a great job for us,” Saban, who retired after the 2023 season, said a year earlier when Golding went to Ole Miss, per The Athletic. “I like Pete. He improved every year with us in terms of how he did his job, which I was always pleased with. He chose, for personal reasons, or whatever reasons, that it was a better opportunity to go someplace else.”

Joining Kiffin at Ole Miss, his wife’s alma mater

Golding left to become Ole Miss’ defensive coordinator in January 2023. His wife, Carolyn, is an Ole Miss alum.

In 2024, the Rebels allowed just 14.4 points per game, the second-best mark in the nation behind eventual national champion Ohio State.

In 2025, the Ole Miss defense has allowed 20.1 points per game, tied for the 25th-best mark in the country.

“I would like to thank [athletic director] Keith Carter, Chancellor [Glenn] 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.”