No. 6 Ole Miss has settled its coaching staff for the upcoming College Football Playoff.
The Rebels announced early Tuesday afternoon which assistant coaches would remain with the team. Of course, some coaches still followed Lane Kiffin to LSU.
As reported Tuesday, Charlie Weis Jr. will remain as offensive coordinator through the playoffs, but is expected to join Kiffin at LSU after the Rebels’ season ends.
Also announced were Joe Judge (QB), Kevin Smith (RB), John Garrison (OL), Bryan Brown (co-DC, secondary), Randall Joyner (DL), Wes Neighbors III (Safeties) and Jake Schoonover (Special Teams Coordinator).
But even more announcements about the coaching staff could be coming soon.
In an interview with On3’s Ben Garrett (the reporter who used a certain rap lyric in reference to Kiffin) on the Talk of Champions podcast, Ole Miss athletics director Keith Carter teased more staff news.
““We’ve got a couple other moving parts and maybe some new staff members we’re going to announce here over the next couple of days I think everybody will be really excited about as we make this run, too,” Carter said. “The defensive side of the ball is strong. Pete (Golding), obviously, is now the head coach, but all his guys over on the defensive side, they’re ready to roll.”
What kind of additions could be made?
Golding was able to retain the entire defensive coaching staff for the Rebels’ playoff run. With other coaching staffs around the country finding themselves out of work, perhaps some will be joining Ole Miss in the playoffs.
The first name that jumps to mind for this writer is Ron Roberts, executive head coach/defensive coordinator at Florida. New Gators coach John Sumrall is expected to hire former Kentucky defensive coordinator Brad White for the same position, meaning Roberts could be available.
This is pure speculation, though. Just to give an idea of what type of staff additions could be made.
It does jump out to me because I covered Delta State while a student during Roberts’ tenure as head coach, including Goldings’ two seasons as defensive coordinator and the national championship game appearance
“Pete is a mastermind and has a great plan,” Carter said during his interview with Garrett. “Just being over there in that building the past couple of days and seeing how many moving parts there are and just seems like he’s got a handle on everything. Signing Day yesterday. Just a ton going on over there.
“So, I think, just kind of getting past Signing Day, now we can really focus on filling out the rest of the temporary staff going into the playoff and then what our permanent staff could look like as well.”
