With the reported departure of Lane Kiffin from Ole Miss to LSU, it seems he won’t be getting his request to coach the Rebels in the College Football Playoffs. Instead, Ole Miss is going to appoint an interim coach for the playoffs in its hunt for a national title.
According to a report from Chris Low, the expectation is for defensive coordinator Pete Golding to coach the Rebels. With Kiffin possibly taking a good bit of his offensive staff to Baton Rouge, Golding seems to be sticking around in Oxford for the time being.
Golding has been the defensive coordinator and inside linebackers coach since 2023. Before that, he was the defensive coordinator and inside linebackers coach at Alabama. That is his only experience coaching at the Power Four level.
Defensive coordinator Pete Golding is expected to remain at Ole Miss and will coach the Rebels in the playoff. Golding could also be a candidate to replace Kiffin as Ole Miss’ head coach. https://t.co/usE2a98bTc
— Chris Low (@clowfb) November 30, 2025
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Kiffin has become an increasingly popular name in coaching searches, given his turnaround of Ole Miss. He’s stayed in Oxford despite opportunities elsewhere, though, but there was never been more buzz surrounding his name than this year. Ultimately, it ended up in him all but officially heading to LSU.
In his sixth year with the Rebels, he owned a 54-19 record atop the program. However, he was yet to make the playoffs despite years as good as 10-2 in 2023 in the four-team era and 9-3 a year ago in the expansion to 12. This year, his squad went 11-1 and is destined for the 12-team field.
Prior to his time at Ole Miss, he spent three years at FAU. This came after a hiatus from being a head coach when he was fired by USC after a 3-2 start in 2013. He took the Trojans’ job in 2010 after one season at Tennessee. His departure from the Vols after a 7-6 season caused chaos in Knoxville and helped send UT down a spiral it only recently recovered from.
