New Ole Miss coach Pete Golding has tried to keep as many things for the Rebels unchanged.
It was important early on to have the same position coaches stay with the team for the playoff run. Practice schedules have been the same as they’ve been all season long. There’s also the gameday traditions, like the basketball hoop and fire extinguisher.
“I think routines are very important to players,” Golding said on Wednesday. “A lot of that’s going to be up to them. Then there’s some things that I’ve added and some things that I’ve taken away that I know don’t affect winning or losing.”
One thing that doesn’t affect winning or losing is the Walk of Champions through the Grove. For every home game, Lane Kiffin led the Rebels (usually with Juice, the dog) through the walk and to Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.
For the walk before the Rebels’ College Football Playoff game against Tulane, things were different. Kiffin already left for LSU, but Golding wasn’t out front to lead the walk.
It was only the players.
1-0 is all that matters #CFBplayoff x #HottyToddy pic.twitter.com/0gjhiC44j3
— Ole Miss Football (@OleMissFB) December 20, 2025
It’s a clear statement from Golding that the focus should be on the players, not what’s going on with the coaching carousel. In fact, he said almost exactly that on Wednesday.
“Right now, the focus is on the players,” Golding said when asked about reports of Ole Miss hiring current LSU interim coach Frank Wilson.
That has been a common theme from Golding during all of his media appearances, both in press conferences with local reporters and sit down interviews on national television. It’s a quality in Golding that is often cited as why he’s going to be successful.
Here come the Rebs.#CFBplayoff x #HottyToddy pic.twitter.com/bhvkFRbR9G
— Ole Miss Football (@OleMissFB) December 20, 2025
Because nearly every college football team has its head coach leading their teams out of the huddle, or on walks. It wasn’t just Kiffin and Ole Miss. Mississippi State coach Jeff Lebby leads his team on its walk into Davis Wade Stadium.
It’s always looked a little weird, in this writer’s opinion. It’s the players who win the games and (at least until recently) it was the coaches who had loose definitions of loyalty.
So, maybe this will be the start of a new trend because college football shouldn’t be about the men standing on the sideline. It should be on the ones playing the game.
