In the wake of reports that LSU football has successfully poached Lane Kiffin from Ole Miss, the Rebels have apparently already made the move to replace him. Instead of sticking him with an interim tag, Ole Miss has promoted defensive coordinator Pete Golding to full-time head coach, according to reports from Chase Parham and Neal McCready.
With the Rebels electing not to let Kiffin coach in the playoffs due to his departure, this would mean that Golding is the head man effective immediately, and will coach in the CFP.
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.
Solid confirmation. Golding will replace Lane Kiffin as permanent head coach. Should be positive staff retention implications. https://t.co/TI6mOGDlvp
— Chase Parham (@ChaseParham) 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.
