‘It Ain’t About Me’: What we learned about Pete Golding from his first press conference
OXFORD, Miss. — On the day Ole Miss officially found out it would host a College Football Playoff game, Pete Golding made one thing clear: this moment isn’t about him getting a new title.
It’s about players, preparation, and a program he believes should expect to be on this stage every year.
Golding opened his press conference remarks Sunday by putting the spotlight on everyone but himself.
“Yeah. Just obviously really excited for our players…big day being able to watch the selection show and all their hard work and everything that they put into this and this building, this staff and this community and everybody from Keith and the Chancellor and the Grove Collective for all this to, you know, to come into place and have the opportunity to play at home for this community, for these players, is a really special day.”
Pete Golding
That’s the through-line with Golding: it’s always about the people around him.
Player-First, Promise-Driven
When the chaos of the prior coach reached its zenith a week ago, Golding said his first instinct wasn’t to think about his own future. It was about the guys in the locker room and the commitments he’d already made.
“…On Sunday, kind of when that thing hit, you just hit the ground running, man. I mean, for me it was the players at that point and all I could think about is the promises that I made in recruiting and talking to parents and the things that I promised and the example that I was trying to set and all their hard work to make sure that we didn’t lose that.”
Pete Golding
Golding describes this as a player-led team, and even now, he still views himself as a bridge and a steward, not the star. “I told them I view myself as an interim head coach right now,” Golding said, “and we’re not going to reinvent the wheel. This thing was headed in the right direction.”
For Golding, the job is simple: protect what the players built, and finish what they started.
Preparation Over Pageantry
Golding has zero interest in making this about his own story or a “new era” narrative while there’s still football to be played. That’s why he nixed the introductory press conference.
“This has nothing to do with 2026, like this is 2025,” Golding began. “In a normal situation, I’d be the interim coach. We’d be celebrating this team, this town, this university having the ability to host a playoff game. Why the hell would we make it about me when it really doesn’t matter? They don’t give a shit whether I run them out or not. Like, let’s put the focus back on the players where it should be.”
And when asked directly whether Ole Miss is better off with him running the show instead of Lane Kiffin, Golding’s answer stayed on message:
“To me who runs you out of the huddle is overrated and it’s not going to matter. At that point, the game’s already won or lost by the plan and the preparation and the energy and the attitude of the players.”
Pete Golding
In other words: don’t ask him about optics — ask him about practice.
Blue-Collar Mindset, Same Competitor Everywhere
Golding’s résumé runs through Delta State, Tusculum, Southeastern, Alabama, and now Ole Miss. The level has changed. The mindset hasn’t.
“Yeah I don’t feel any differently man,” Golding said when asked about his feelings regarding being Ole Miss’ new head coach. “I was at D2, I-AA, a mid-major you know….It don’t matter to me man. It’s football. You know we’ve had the spot the ball mentality for a long time. I’m where my feet are, and I don’t care if I’m at Tusculum, Delta State or here. I’m going to prepare the same way.”
And he’s unapologetically competitive in everything:
“Yeah, I mean, obviously you probably don’t know me. You don’t know me well, but I don’t care if I’m coaching football or playing my wife in tennis. Like, I’m trying to whip your ass, alright?”
Pete Golding
That walk-on, D-II grind frames how he sees work, opportunity, and effort.
“Regardless whether I was a walk-on or not, my mentality was to go outwork everybody else. Regardless of the position that they put me at. Regardless how I got there, or who’s on full scholarship? It doesn’t matter.”
Pete Golding on effort
Program Identity: Win First, Talk Later
Golding is not trying to be Lane Kiffin on Twitter — and he’s very comfortable with that. Asked about Ole Miss’ national profile now that Kiffin is gone, he shrugged off the need for a big online persona.
“I think everybody in the country today is talking about Ole Miss football,” Golding said. “Why? Because they’re in the playoffs. People talk about people that win….if you win games and you compete for championships and you put guys in the first round of the draft and they get drafted and you recruit at a really high level… then they’re talking about the football program, for the football program…” he noted.
One of the biggest philosophical markers Golding laid down in his first presser: the system isn’t changing. He believes players deserve continuity.
He explained why scheme stability is central to how he sees program-building.
“I think the really important thing in a program is stability within your scheme… you recruit elite players into an NFL style system that’s had a lot of success….So to answer your question, no, I’m not changing a system that has put us in the position that we’re at, that’s led the country in offense for multiple different years and been very productive.”
Pete Golding
Love for Oxford, and an Expectation of Playoffs
Golding also understands exactly what this CFP home game means to Oxford and Ole Miss — and he believes it shouldn’t be a one-off.
“I think it means everything in the world for this community, and for our Chancellor that’s been all in on athletics and for an athletic director that’s given everything right to this school,” Golding commented. “For our Grove Collective that has got a million members, for this community, for friends around that own hotels and restaurants and bars and everything that they’ve given to this program for one day to have another opportunity to be able to host a playoff game, I think is awesome.”
Then Golding pivoted from gratitude to expectation. “Obviously, I think this is something that this program is going to be the expectation moving forward.… this should be the norm,” he added.
‘I Am Who I Am’
Maybe the most telling line of the whole day was when Golding said he didn’t chase this job — but once it affected his players, he wasn’t going to sit back and watch.
“There’s never a point in this whole process that I’m calling Keith Carter to say, ‘Hey, I want the job.’ That wasn’t one time, right? I’m like, ‘hey, I don’t want this damn job.’ Like, I like my job, like doing my job, coaching my players. Right? And then it gets to a point to where, to me, when what happens to young men and what I see is happening, I’m not going to allow that to happen. And so, you know, I think things happen for a reason. And people are places, you know, at certain times for a reason. And I think the good Lord put me here.”
Pete Golding
And now that he’s here, he isn’t changing his personality or his process. “I’m not changing who I am, right?,” the coach explained. “I ain’t changing what the hell I wear. I’m not going to yoga. I’m not playing pickleball. I ain’t doing any of that shit. Like,I am who I am, right? We’re going to roll. We’re going to do this thing the right way… and we’re going to give it our best shot and see what happens.”
Closing thoughts
In the end, Pete Golding made it clear in his introductory press conference that titles, narratives, and attention mean little compared to the responsibility he feels toward his players and this program. His message on Selection Sunday wasn’t about ushering in a new era — it was about honoring the work that put Ole Miss in this position and ensuring the standard only climbs higher from here. Golding isn’t promising flash, reinvention, or theatrics. He’s promising preparation, authenticity, and a program built on continuity and competitiveness. And as Ole Miss prepares to host its first-ever College Football Playoff game, the Rebels will do so with a head coach who believes this moment should not be rare, but routine — and who fully intends to earn that future one practice, one plan, and one win at a time.
Next up
Pete Golding and his Rebels host Tulane in round one action of the college football playoffs on December 20, 2025. Kickoff is set for 2:30 p.m.
Evelyn Van Pelt
Evelyn has covered sports for over two decades, beginning her journalism career as a sports writer for a newspaper in Austin, Texas. She attended Texas A&M and majored in English. Evelyn's love for Ole Miss began when her daughter Katie attended the university on a volleyball scholarship. Evelyn created the Rebel Walk in 2013 and has served as publisher and managing editor since its inception. Email Evie at: Evie@TheRebelWalk.com
