Ole Miss didn’t have to search very long, or very far, for the replacement to former head coach Lane Kiffin.
Defensive coordinator/inside linebacker coach Pete Golding is taking over. And not on an interim basis. He’s the new, permanent head coach.
The move ensures a certain amount of continuity for the Rebels’ run in the upcoming College Football Playoff.
Golding, 41, arrived in 2023. He previously served as the defensive coordinator and inside linebacker coach at Alabama, from 2018 through 2022.
The Mississippi job is Golding’s first head-coaching stint. And his first big challenge will be to persuade some of the Ole Miss players to not follow Kiffin to LSU.
Which is one of the main reasons why Mississippi wanted Kiffin out, once he decided to go. And while the outcome is a symptom and not the disease when it comes to one specific form of college football chaos, Kiffin could have just accepted it and left — without whining about not being able to stick around.
Lane Kiffin is leaving LSU. And he’s blaming his former boss for not letting him finish the job at Ole Miss.
“After a lot of prayer and time spent with family, I made the difficult decision to accept the head coaching position at LSU,” Kiffin said on social media.
“I was hoping to complete a historic six season run with this year’s team by leading Ole Miss through the playoffs, capitalizing on the team’s incredible success and their commitment to finish strong, and investing everything into a playoff run with guardrails in place to protect the program in any areas of concern. My request to do so was denied by [athletic director] Keith Carter despite the team also asking him to allow me to keep coaching them so they could better maintain their high level of performance.
“Unfortunately, that means Friday’s Egg Bowl was my last game coaching the Rebels. While I am looking forward to a new start with a unique opportunity at LSU, I will forever cherish the incredible six years I spent at Ole Miss and will be rooting hard for the team to complete their mission and bring a championship to Oxford.”
Guardrails or not, Kiffin would have had ongoing access to Mississippi players at a time when he was under contract to coach LSU. With players having the ability to easily transfer, Mississippi didn’t want that.
Also, every win by the Rebels would have become an advertisement for LSU.
Kiffin is smart enough to know this. And he’s savvy enough to create the disingenuous impression that it would have been no problem to have him coaching one school after leaving to coach another, while also using his players as pawns in an effort to win the broader P.R. battle.
But Kiffin is just a symptom. The disease is the system the NCAA has created to allow stuff like this to happen. And the NCAA will never begin to become a credible organization if allows this to keep happening.
All NCAA schools should be prevented from contacting or pursuing head coaches from other NCAA schools until their seasons have ended. It’s not complicated. And it’s clearly necessary.
The announcement is coming, but the drama is dissipating.
Via multiple reports, Mississippi players have been told that defensive coordinator Pete Golding will become the interim head coach. Which means that Lane Kiffin will indeed be leaving for LSU.
It remains to be seen whether and to what extent other members of the coaching staff will leave with Kiffin or stay with Golding. Kiffin reportedly gave the offensive assistants an ultimatum to board the plane to Baton Rouge or not be welcome there.
Kiffin apparently told the Mississippi team at a 2:00 p.m. ET meeting that he’s heading to LSU.
Kiffin apparently wanted to stay through the end of the playoff run. Mississippi did not want him to have ongoing access to players who could easily transfer to LSU.
As a decision from Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin inches closer, another interesting twist has happened.
Via Chris Low of On3.com, Kiffin has given his current offensive staff an ultimatum: Get on the plane to LSU or get lost.
The Kiffin drama began with reports that Mississippi had given Kiffin an ultimatum regarding a decision before the November 28 Egg Bowl. The “or else” was never clear.
This time, it’s more clear. The offensive assistants who don’t board the Baton Rouge Express will not be welcome at LSU.
Kiffin was due to meet with his Mississippi players at 2:00 p.m. ET. An announcement is expected thereafter.
Lane Kiffin’s exit from Mississippi is proving to be even more entertaining than his exit from the Raiders, some 17 years ago.
Chase Parham of CBS Sports reports that Kiffin’s planned meeting with his Mississippi team has been delayed by three hours, from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
The move comes amid reports that Kiffin is threatening to take most of his coaching staff with him. (Defensive coordinator Pete Golding is reportedly expected to stay at Ole Miss.)
At the heart of the chaos is a high-stakes tug of war regarding Kiffin’s desire to finish the season at Mississippi before heading to LSU. The powers-that-be at Ole Miss reportedly want to cut off Kiffin’s access to players, in advance of the January 2 transfer portal. Also, any success Kiffin has in the College Football Playoff becomes recruiting fodder not for the Rebels but for LSU.
The entire situation flows directly from a bad system that the NCAA has allowed its programs to establish and maintain. Coaches from NCAA member schools should be off limits to other NCAA institutions until their seasons have ended. No contact, no recruiting, no offers, no negotiations, no contract.
The NFL does it that way. And imagine how crazy things would be if, for example, the Giants were permitted to pursue and hire Ben Johnson before he finishes his current season in Chicago. The fact that the mere possibility sounds beyond ridiculous shows how ridiculous the NCAA’s current model is.
