Pete Golding takes the podium in Tampa on Wednesday carrying something few first-time head coaches ever get: sky-high expectations built on results he’s already delivered.
Golding took over as Ole Miss’s coach last November after Lane Kiffin’s departure for LSU, and the transition could hardly have gone smoother. The Rebels reeled off a 41-10 first-round win over Tulane, then knocked off Georgia 39-34 in the Sugar Bowl on a 47-yard Lucas Carneiro field goal with six seconds left, according to ESPN’s account of the game. That set up a Fiesta Bowl semifinal against Miami, where Ole Miss’s season ended with a 27-31 loss. Even so, the Rebels finished 13-2 (7-1 SEC) with a final No. 3 ranking in both major polls — the program’s best finish in 63 years, per Wikipedia’s season summary — and Yahoo Sports noted Golding closed his interim run with two CFP wins to his name before the job became permanent.
The pieces are in place to try to do it again. Ole Miss returns quarterback Trinidad Chambliss, who was named Sugar Bowl MVP after torching Georgia’s defense, and running back Kewan Lacy, a duo CBS Sports says combined for 54 touchdowns last season. Golding backed that up by signing the nation’s No. 2-rated transfer portal class this offseason, adding pieces like receiver Johntay Cook from Syracuse and his former Orange teammate Darrell Gill Jr., a deep threat who averaged more than 16 yards per catch over three seasons at Syracuse.
Defense is where Golding’s fingerprints show most clearly. He’s installing a 4-2-5 scheme built around retained standout Suntarine Perkins and a physical newcomer in transfer Jonathan Maldonado, who Yahoo Sports reports is closing in on 250 pounds at 6-foot-6. Ole Miss ranked eighth in the SEC and 71st nationally against the run last season — a number the staff is counting on this retooled front seven to improve.
The schedule opens with real stakes. Ole Miss faces Louisville in Nashville’s Music City Kickoff on September 6, then hosts LSU on September 19 — Kiffin’s new program, though whether he’ll be back in Oxford for it depends on the Tigers’ own schedule quirks. CBS Sports called a win over LSU in that spot a potential difference-maker for the Rebels’ playoff positioning later in the year.
Preseason polls have Ole Miss projected inside the top 15, per SI’s preview, and Golding will spend Wednesday in Tampa fielding the obvious question: can he prove the Rebels don’t need Lane Kiffin to compete for a national title? Based on what he did with an inherited roster in the playoff, plenty of people already think they have their answer.