If there was an award for best press conference at SEC Media Days, first-year Ole Miss coach Pete Golding would be the favorite to win it.
Golding just wrapped up his first-ever appearance on the main stage at SEC Media Days and his 27-minute long press conference will go down as one of the best. We’ll get into the specifics of why that is, but for now, here’s everything Golding said.
And if you’re looking for the exciting part, scroll to “on how to fix tampering…” and enjoy.
Pete Golding, Head Coach
Opening Statement
Golding: To start, Greg, his team and his office have been really unique this spring. I’ve been in the SEC for nine seasons now, but this spring I was able to sit in those head coaching meetings and learn from Greg and his staff and everything they put into this league—not only for our coaching staffs, but for our players.
I really admire Greg and his staff, his leadership and what he does for this conference and college football. I definitely wanted to tell him thank you.
Having been at a lot of different places, including a place that had a lot of success in this league, I think vertical alignment is so important when you start looking at programs.
Our chancellor, Glenn Boyce, is an Ole Miss graduate and a former high school football coach. His investment in athletics and in our athletic director, Keith Carter, has been remarkable. It has really put us where we are right now.
I’m really thankful for Glenn Boyce and Keith Carter, who also played at Ole Miss. It’s really cool for both of your bosses to have been there and played there. It helps from a recruiting standpoint because that investment is completely different.
We definitely would not be where we are as a university and athletic program without Glenn and Keith working side by side. They embody everything Ole Miss is about. Our program and university see their leadership come through, so I’m really appreciative of those two.
That takes me to Oxford and Ole Miss. It was a unique decision for us to leave Tuscaloosa and go to Oxford. It was strictly a family decision, and it feels like yesterday even though it occurred more than three and a half years ago.
The people there have embraced us. We have family there and a lot of cousins there, but the quality of the people in that community, how they embrace the school and our students, and the way they impact the environment—not only at home games, but on a day-to-day basis—is remarkable. It makes Ole Miss such a special place.
I’m really appreciative of our students, the community and their involvement with my family, our program and our players. If you come to Oxford for a game, that is something you definitely feel.
Obviously, coming off the success of last year, you enter an offseason and look at the lessons you learned throughout the season, especially toward the end when it didn’t go exactly how you envisioned it.
You try to figure out how you can do it better. That is what we’ve been doing since Jan. 9. How do we evaluate the program, do it better and work harder to take the next step in every area?
When you look at improvement and consistent performance at other places, stability in your schemes is so important. I was really glad we were able to retain a lot of good staff members on both sides of the ball and in all three phases.
Offensively, we kept Joe Judge, who has done an unbelievable job. We brought John David Baker back. He was our co-offensive coordinator in 2023, had already been in this system and went off and called some really good offenses at East Carolina.
We were able to retain John Garrison as our offensive line coach. This will be the seventh year of this offensive system at Ole Miss.
On the other side of the ball, we were able to keep Bryan Brown, Randall Joyner and the defensive staff that has been with me for so long. We also kept Coach Jake Schoonover with our special teams.
We maintained stability in all three phases, which is important for the development of your players. It allows freshmen to become sophomores and sophomores to become juniors while learning more about those languages and systems.
We’ve also been fortunate to add a lot of really good human beings on both sides of the ball. It happened to be a unique year in which a lot of them were former Ole Miss players—the Terrence Metcalfs, Micheal Spurlocks, [unclear] and Marcus Woodsons of the world.
They have created so much value for our players, not only from a relationship standpoint, but through their investment in making them better human beings. That has been awesome to see this spring.
I’m really appreciative of our staff and players and how they have worked since Jan. 9. We still know there is a lot of work to be done. Every season is independent.
The legacy of last year’s team is over. We can learn from it, which we have done all spring, and determine how to do certain things better and more consistently. But this is a new group.
We added 50 new players in the spring—29 through the transfer portal and 22 from the high school ranks—and added a couple more in May to get us to 51. Seeing that group gel and come together has been really cool.
Part of the reason is the three guys we brought here today: Trinidad Chambliss, Kewan Lacy and Will Echoles.
You already know they’re really good players. I’m not going to talk to you about that. But rule No. 1 in our program is to be a good dude, and that isn’t too hard.
I have two boys, as Greg mentioned, and I hope one day my boys are like these three. They’re tough, competitive and love football. That’s what we look for from a recruiting standpoint, but, more importantly, they’re good people. They affect the people around them in a positive way.
It has been really cool to see a lot of talented new players come in and adapt to the guys who have been there, understand their culture and expectations, and follow their lead.
I’m excited that you get to spend time with Kewan, Trinidad and Will because you’ll see it when you talk to them. They’re awesome dudes and really good football players. They’re a big part of our culture and where we are because we have a lot of guys like that in our locker room.
It’s a unique team, but we know every season brings challenges. We’re excited about the challenge and know there is still a lot of work to do.
We start camp Aug. 6. We have to stay healthy and make sure we’re putting guys in the right places.
From a personnel standpoint, we’ve created a lot of depth across the board on both sides of the ball. We have to use those pieces effectively and hold them accountable.
I really like where we are. I’m appreciative of our staff and players and their hard work. We’re excited to play a really good Louisville team to start the season at a neutral site.
With that, I’ll open it up for questions.
On his first offseason as head coach…
Golding: The first thing, with the turmoil of everything going on and the retention of people, was getting everything fixed. We had to hire a strength and conditioning coach because that’s always the first thing.
We got back Jan. 9 from the game. The players got a little bit of a break, but then you had to start preparing for the offseason program.
Bringing in Paul Constantine was No. 1. He was our No. 2 when I was at Alabama, and he was the No. 2 with the Falcons. He came to us from Atlanta.
We switched the weight-room model to velocity-based training, which focuses on the speed of the bar. We also had to build his staff.
The game is now a blend between college and the NFL. It isn’t old-school college, but it isn’t all the way to the NFL. I thought it was important to bring in an NFL mind who had also been in this conference and experienced success.
We had to be smart about setting up our offseason—not only in the weight room from a strength, conditioning and training standpoint, but also with football intelligence, football school and the spring model.
It isn’t exactly the same as it used to be because of how long the season is. We broke the offseason into three phases, very much like the NFL’s Phase 1, Phase 2 and Phase 3. We then divided the summer into Block 1 and Block 2.
It’s a different model for the players. When you’re recruiting, all these guys want to develop at their craft. We look at every day as an opportunity for guys to enter our building and improve. To do that, you have to provide something every day.
When our players are on campus, our coaches are on campus. That’s a model I changed from the previous places we had been.
I like the progression and where we are. They’re about to have a discretionary week, so we’ll give them a week off. Then they’ll have a little OTA model before fall camp. It’s a different structure than they were used to.
I’m big on explaining the why. As long as you can tell them why you’re doing something and show them the results, they understand it.
I think they’ve seen the results throughout the spring in their bodies, speed, jumps and everything else from a weight-room standpoint.
It has also allowed our coaches to slow down the installation and properly teach the 50 new guys coming in. It’s no longer, “I hope they get it.” You’re investing a lot into these guys.
For them to play in the fall, we have to make sure we’re teaching it the right way and using the right progression.
That has definitely changed, but the principles remain the same: building a foundation of strength and conditioning, improving football intelligence and then entering our player-run model.
On his transition from defensive coordinator to head coach…
Golding: I’m a little skinnier.
When you’re responsible for one side of the ball, you run it like it’s your team. It’s no different than a defensive unit meeting. There are things you believe in and want to get across, but you also have really good defensive coaches whom you have to allow to coach.
When I made the transition and knew I was still going to call the defense, I talked to other people. The only thing that had kept me from taking a head coaching job was that I loved being a coordinator.
I was going to hire guys to handle all the head coach bullshit that I don’t enjoy doing so I could still focus on coaching football and being around our guys.
That was part of the staff build. The Tom Lukes, Todd Cooleys and Austin Thomases of the world are there for that. They handle all that crap and keep it off my desk so we can focus on recruiting really good players and coaching good football.
That piece was important to me.
Now, your staff meeting is a little bigger than your unit meeting was, and your team meeting is a little bigger than your defensive unit meeting was, but the principles are the same.
It was unique for me because I had already been there for three and a half years. They knew why I came, and they knew I was staying regardless of my role. That buy-in has been a little different.
The delegation piece has been a process. What are you going to take your hands off? When are you going to allow people to do their jobs and get the hell out of their way instead of micromanaging everything and requiring everything to be perfect?
Delegation has probably been the biggest component. It’s about deciding where we’re going to keep our focus and allowing Coach Cooley, Tom Luke and the others who are good at their jobs to handle their responsibilities.
That has been really awesome.
On recently launched Heisman campaign for Chambliss and Lacy…
Golding: Individual accolades, in my opinion, come from team success.
It was based on the body of work from last season. Both guys had unique individual years because of a lot of really good players around them, and I think they would be the first ones to tell you that.
These guys put a lot into it. They work extremely hard, and we demand a lot from them. Some of these individual awards are important to them, and that isn’t going to take away from what they need to do to win football games.
I think No. 5 would be the first one to tell you that if we need to throw it 60 times to win, then let’s throw it 60 times.
The concern from the outside is whether it becomes a distraction. Those two are wired the right way. I’m not concerned about how they’re going to practice or prepare.
They’re going to do everything they can to win the football game, and they know that’s based on their preparation. I have zero concern about it affecting them or becoming an issue.
I’m all about putting people in positions to have success, whatever that looks like. I feel like that’s why they call us coaches.
It’s no different than preparing a player for the next 40 years of his life. It’s our responsibility to educate and equip them to have success.
This is just another avenue. You have two elite players coming off really good years. They still have a lot of good players around them and are in the same system, so they’re set up to have another good year.
It’s part of our responsibility to put them in position to have as much success as they can.
On most difficult offensive concept to defend…
Golding: The one that works.
It depends on who you have. That can change from week to week, which is what I love about this league.
Growing up in Division II and I-AA, you saw so many different schemes from week to week.
From a defensive standpoint, part of it is identifying what the opponent is doing and what you need to do to take it away. But you also have to determine who you have available to take it away.
Using your pieces effectively based on what they can do—not what they can’t do—is so important.
It might be a fade, depending on who is running that fade. It could be the quarterback plus-one run game, depending on the coverage you’re playing, because they’re playing with 11 and you’re playing with 10.
It’s based on who they have and who we have. Normally, when our dudes are better than theirs, it works out.
On ongoing NCAA tampering investigation…
Golding: I don’t get into feelings, to be honest with you. We have a compliance department. They get paid to do their job, and they do a really good job. It’s our responsibility to recruit really good players, coach them extremely hard and get them ready to win football games.
We’re going to continue recruiting really good players, both in the high school market and the portal market, and we’ll continue doing it the way we’ve done it.
On his relationship with Lane Kiffin…
Golding: I get this everywhere we go.
We’re on our Ole Miss caravan tour right now. Every Tuesday and Thursday, we take a couple of players and go around the country. We do question-and-answer sessions with everybody, and it’s always, “Tell me how you really feel about him.”
It’s this intimate environment, but Lane and I are good.
I did not know Coach Kiffin before taking the Ole Miss job. I think everybody assumes that because we were both at Alabama, but I wasn’t at Alabama when Coach Kiffin was.
I didn’t come to Ole Miss because of Coach Kiffin. I came to Ole Miss to be at Ole Miss and raise three kids.
Our relationship grew during those three and a half years. He did a lot for me, and I’m very appreciative of how he treated me and my family. I learned a lot from him.
I have no ill will toward Coach Kiffin. He texts me regularly. There are certain things we talk about and certain things we don’t talk about.
He’s very competitive, just like I’m very competitive.
Obviously, a lot of this went in a different direction once he had a new job with new responsibilities. He’s going to be extremely competitive and try to be the best he can be at that job. That’s his job.
I can separate the two. I know some people can’t.
I told an Ole Miss group the other day—and I probably shouldn’t say this, but I don’t care—if I told you in 2021 that you could look ahead to 2025, be 11-1 and going to the playoff, but your coach was leaving, would you take it?
Hell yeah, you would.
Everybody won from it. It’s OK. Keith made a great hire, and Lane did a great job.
Every place isn’t for everybody. That applies to coaches, players, your job and everything else. That’s OK.
Throughout the process, I’ll be the first one to tell you that I told him I thought he was dumb if he left. I wanted him to stay.
That was a selfish decision because I loved being the defensive coordinator where I was. But he decided what was better for him and his family. That’s for him to decide.
I have no ill will toward him at all. I wish him the best of luck.
We’ll play him like every other SEC team. We’re both going to show up, spot the ball and play.
I talk to him regularly. I’m appreciative of how he treated me and my family. On top of that, this created an unbelievable opportunity for me that I wasn’t looking for but am extremely appreciative of.
On how to fix tampering…
Golding: I love that. Let me put it to you this way.
You’re a reporter. Would you quit your job before interviewing for another job or being offered another job? No. Nobody would.
But we have a portal that you can enter with a “do not contact” designation. You’re essentially saying, “I’m going to quit my job where I’m getting paid, enter the portal because I need a new job and tell everybody that nobody can call me for an interview.”
What have we created? On top of that, we’ve created representation for these players. It’s the representatives’ responsibility to make sure the players get paid well and have opportunities. By design, it has put a lot of people in bad positions.
Let’s also not act like recruiting in college football over the last 100 years has been the most moral thing that has ever existed. What are we talking about here? I’m not going to get into my feelings. I know how I’ve been educated to answer this question. We have a great compliance department and all those things. But the model is obviously broken.
I’m all for everybody being on the same playing field and doing the same things. I understand that. But I think this exists in any job. Coaches are under contract. Do you think other athletic directors aren’t calling us during the year? Some of the same ones who are complaining about all this stuff are the ones calling coaches to come to other schools. It’s everywhere. It’s in every profession.
I’m not saying I have all the answers. I’m not saying that at all.
We operate within the rules of the program. But when you’re on the interstate and people are flying by you, what do you start doing? You’re going to speed up, or you’re going to get hit. In this profession, you’re going to get fired.
There are a lot of people doing an unbelievable job—Greg being one of them—to make sure everything catches up. College football is constantly changing. Hopefully, we’ll all decide what is fair for everybody.
On impact of Oklahoma and Texas joining the SEC two years later…
Golding: Us having to go to Austin and play Texas. That’s a con.
No, I think it’s really good, to be honest with you. I know you asked about the cons, but Austin is an incredibly difficult place to play. We have Texas on our schedule this year, and the game is in Austin. It’s going to have a playoff mentality. When we were at Alabama, we went down there and played Sark, so we have a little experience with that environment.
They’re two really good football teams and difficult places to play. They have strong traditions and are in fertile recruiting areas, but now they’re also your competition.
From a recruiting standpoint, they come into Mississippi. We’re battling them for recruits in Mississippi even though they’re in Austin.
I tell Sark all the time, “Dude, you have plenty of guys in Texas. Get out of our state.”
But they’re everywhere.
They’re two really good competitors. I think Brent Venables and Sark do an amazing job, and both programs have great traditions.
You’ve essentially added two more top-10 opponents to your conference schedule, so you’d better be ready to go.
I don’t have anything negative to say. Sorry I can’t give you that.
I would point to the quality of the opponents and the added recruiting competition. Now that they’re in the SEC, you also can’t use one league against the other when discussing the development of positions and increasing the value of a player’s first NFL contract.
On potential of the Ole Miss defense…
Golding: I think we’re as talented defensively as any group I’ve been around in a long time.
Hopefully, we learned some things from last year’s team about where to focus in the portal and the importance of adding older, veteran players.
That started up front. I didn’t feel like we had enough depth on the defensive line, especially inside, to stay fresh late in games. I thought that really hurt us.
In the back end, adding size, speed and players with experience in this league was important. I felt like we had to get a lot better collectively in the back end to win the games we were supposed to win.
The talent and experience are there. We didn’t bring in guys who weren’t starters at their previous schools.
The issue is their familiarity with our system and our communication.
I was telling somebody the other day that I know they’re good players. I’ve watched them on tape, and they’ve been successful at other good programs.
But you don’t really know how they’re going to respond to adversity because you haven’t been through it with them yet.
That’s the biggest thing for me as a coach. When we get punched in the face—and we will—how are they going to respond?
We haven’t experienced that with this group. You try to create those scenarios as much as possible during the offseason, but it isn’t real until it’s the fourth quarter and you’re down one possession.
Then you look at them and ask, “All right, man, what do you have?”
I think they’re wired the right way. I love how they work, and I think they enjoy playing for each other, which isn’t normal.
To me, the strength of the warrior is the warrior next to him. Everybody doesn’t believe in that, but I think this group does.
I like the depth and mentality, but that has to translate to Saturdays. We have to get off blocks, tackle people, finish plays and communicate well.
This group definitely has a high ceiling. It has the ability to be better and more talented than the 2024 defense.
On cultural changes as head coach…
Golding: The focus on other things.
From a football standpoint, I think we’ve done football pretty well over the last three years. We’ve had the first three-year stretch in program history with at least 10 wins each season.
When you know you’re going to be somewhere, you start looking at everything else. You have time to sit back and analyze the entire program.
For me, it was about developing players off the field through our LAB program—Life After Ball—our [unclear] sessions and our Future 40 program.
Those development components are important for the 99% of these guys who might not have an opportunity to play on Sundays.
Having been part of a program led by, in my opinion, one of the best coaches to ever do it, one thing stuck with me: Elite programs aren’t designed around who players are when they have cleats on. Elite programs are designed around who they become when they take those cleats off.
Are they a better dude? Are they a better husband? Are they a better father? Do they have a job and earn an amount of money they would not have had an opportunity to earn without attending Ole Miss?
If I can’t do that for them, then we aren’t an elite program.
That’s what I appreciate about Glenn Boyce, Keith Carter, Walker Jones, the collective and everybody’s support. They’ve gone all in to give us everything we need to be as successful as we want to be.
When you maintain stability in your schemes, recruit really good players and hold them accountable, the winning takes care of itself.
