Ole Miss Offensive Coordinator Hot Board: Seven Names to Watch

OXFORD, Miss. — On Sunday afternoon, Ole Miss officially announced Pete Golding had been named the new head coach of the Ole Miss football program. This comes after Lane Kiffin’s departure to take over at LSU. Ole Miss offensive coordinator Charlie Weis Jr. is set to serve in the same position at LSU; however, he will be coaching the Rebels in the college football playoffs. So now, Coach Golding will have to simultaneously look for a new playcaller while trying to make a postseason run.

Although most of the staff has been retained, the timing of hiring an offensive coordinator is crucial given the upcoming transfer portal set to begin in January. The portal officially opens on January 2, 2026, for a 15-day window through January 16, 2026. Golding and the Ole Miss staff will look to put a plan in place to continue the success and forward trajectory of the program.

The Rebel Walk has built out a hot board for potential offensive coordinator candidates who are intriguing options with ties to the staff or who fit with the program.

Ole Miss Offensive Coordinator Hot Board

Joe Judge, Assistant Coach – Ole Miss

A current Ole Miss assistant, Judge has drawn praise in his Oxford tenure that led to him being promoted from Senior Analyst to Quarterbacks coach ahead of this season. His work on the development of Ole Miss QB Trinidad Chambliss has turned heads this season, and Chambliss has raved about Judge’s preparedness and attentiveness. With the help of Judge, the Ole Miss offense is currently 3rd in the nation in passing at 309.6 yards per game. The Rebels are the top passing offense of all the power conference teams.

Judge started his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Mississippi State with stops at Birmingham-Southern and Alabama before making the jump to the NFL. From 2012-2019, Judge was on staff for the New England Patriots, largely in a special teams role. During his time under Bill Belichick, Judge was a part of three Super Bowl winning teams. He was hired in 2020 as the head coach for the New York Giants and served in that role for two seasons. In two seasons, Judge was 10-23 with a rebuilding roster.

Judge’s resume speaks for itself, and his transition into the playcalling role would be an important storyline to watch. His known experience as one stems back to a NFL preseason game ahead of the 2022 season.

John David Baker, Offensive Coordinator – East Carolina

A former Ole Miss assistant as recently as 2023, John David Baker has been the offensive coordinator at East Carolina the past two seasons. Baker installed the high-powered, high-tempo offense that Ole Miss fans were used to seeing in the early 2020s. In his two seasons at ECU, Baker has the Pirates as one of the top-five quickest teams in terms of seconds per play. ECU is also second in total plays per game this regular season with 79.5. East Carolina has won 8+ games in back-to-back seasons for the first time in over ten years with Baker on board. The simple, but telling, stat is that in 2023 ECU averaged 17.3 points per game and since Baker has been calling the plays they have bumped it up to 32.0 and 33.5 points per game in the last two seasons.

Baker first arrived at Ole Miss ahead of the 2021 season as the tight end’s coach and passing game coordinator. After one season, Baker was promoted to co-offensive coordinator alongside Charlie Weis Jr. Prior to Ole Miss, Baker spent time at USC, North Texas and Abilene Christian. He is also considered a strong candidate for the same position at South Carolina.

Brian Daboll, Former Head Coach – New York Giants

Daboll was the head coach of the New York Giants from 2022 until he was let go in November of this year. In his first season in New York, Daboll led the Giants to a 7-2 start and their first playoff appearance since 2016. In 2023, Daboll’s Giants saw injuries stack up as the Giants started three different QBs for extended parts of the season and finished 6-11. The Giants struggled to find their footing consistently during Daboll’s tenure but one bright spot is the development of rookie QB and Ole Miss alum Jaxson Dart. Prior to Daboll’s firing, Dart had thrown for 1,417 yards with a 10:3 TD:INT ratio. He also added 317 yards on the ground and 7 rushing TDs.

Daboll’s ability to develop the QB position has drawn significant praise. Prior to being the Giants head coach, Daboll was the offensive coordinator for the Buffalo Bills where he was attributed with helping the development of Josh Allen. While Daboll has mostly been in the NFL ranks, he did spend one season at Alabama as the offensive coordinator under Nick Saban. The Crimson Tide would win the national championship that season as Daboll mentored both Jalen Hurts and Tua Tagovaiola.

Daboll’s name has been mentioned as a candidate for the still-vacant Penn State position. It is worth noting that Daboll does have a connection to the Ole Miss staff from his time at New England where he worked alongside Ole Miss coach Joe Judge.

Jake Peetz, Pass Game Coordinator – Seattle Seahawks

Peetz is currently the Pass Game coordinator for the Seattle Seahawks, a top-10 passing offense in the NFL. A longtime NFL coach, Peetz is known for his work with the quarterback position. Now at age 40, Peetz started his NFL coaching career in 2007 for the Jacksonville Jaguars. Peetz would work with several other NFL teams including the Washington Commanders (then Redskins) where he would work closely with Sean McVay. He also worked closely with Derek Carr as a member of the Raiders coaching staff. Additionally Peetz has had stops with the Panthers, Rams (reuniting with McVay), and the Seahawks.

Despite a large portion of his career coming from an NFL background, Peetz also has had college experience. Most recently, Peetz was the offensive coordinator for LSU in 2021 under Ed Orgeron. In that season, quarterback Max Johnson finished fourth in LSU history with 27 passing touchdowns. Similar to many others on this list, Peetz does have a connection to Ole Miss as he served as an offensive analyst at Alabama for the 2018 season, the second of two Alabama stints in his coaching career. During that 2018 season, Alabama’s defensive coordinator was Pete Golding. Peetz primarily worked with a QB room that included Tua Tagovaiola, Jalen Hurts and Mac Jones. However, maybe even more impressive is that Peetz has largely been credited with Alabama’s implementation of the RPO, a key contributor to recent Ole Miss offenses.

Derrick Nix, Offensive Coordinator – Auburn

Another former Ole Miss assistant checks in on this list with Derrick Nix. He was in Oxford from 2009-2023 serving in a multitude of roles on the offense, primarily working with running backs and wide receivers. In his last season at Ole Miss, Nix was named the associate head coach. After the 2023 season, Nix left to go to Auburn to join the staff of former Ole Miss coach, Hugh Freeze. At Auburn, Nix began as the offensive coordinator and running backs coach while overall playcalling duties remained in the hands of Freeze. That remained the case until the duties were split ahead of the 2025 season, giving Nix some playcalling experience.

Nix is known as one of the better recruiters in the SEC. During his time at Ole Miss he helped recruit and/or develop several star players including Dexter McCluster, Brandon Bolden, Malik Heath, Dontario Drummond and several others. Rumors have been swirling of a potential return to Ole Miss for Nix in some capacity. Due to his recent time in Oxford, Nix still has ties to several members of the current staff.

Kade Bell, Offensive Coordinator – Pittsburgh

The 32-year old Bell is one of the rising stars in the college football world. Part of the reason for this is his aggressive playcalling strategy that has translated well over the course of several levels of football. Most recently, Bell has been the OC at Pitt for the past two seasons and helped guide the Panthers to tremendous offensive improvements.

This season, while Pitt barely ranks in the top-half of the NCAA in yards per game with 391.8 per game, Bell’s offense is currently in the top-20 in points per game (35.8). While holding a low total yardage average, the Panthers have totaled over 450 yards of total offense six times this season. Pittsburgh holds an 8-4 record and a second-place finish in the ACC after navigating a QB change early in the season. In 2024, Pitt’s offense finished the year 15th in passing yards per game.

Prior to arriving at Pitt, Bell was at Western Carolina where he orchestrated one of the most explosive offenses in the FCS. In 2023, Western Carolina led the FCS in total yards per game at 503.3  Bell also spent time as the OC at Tusculum, Valdosta State and the aforementioned Western Carolina. Prior to being tabbed as the OC at Pitt, in 53 games as an offensive coordinator across several levels, Bell’s teams have gained over 500+ yards 31 times.

There is no direct connection between Bell and anyone on the Ole Miss staff. Bell is, however, largely familiar with the footprint of football in the southeastern part of the United States. He is the son of former NFL QB and current Western Carolina coach Kerwin Bell. It is an interesting note that Ole Miss HC Pete Golding also previously spent time at Tusculum.

Garrett Riley, Former Offensive Coordinator – Clemson

It was recently announced that Garrett Riley will not be returning to Clemson for the 2026 season, and the former 2022 Broyles Award winner is now looking for another opportunity. While things were a bit down for the Tiger program this season, the 2024 Clemson team was one of the most balanced in all of college football. That team produced six games of over 200+ yards passing and 200+ yards rushing. Riley has largely been attributed with the development of QB Cade Klubnik who was responsible for 43 total touchdowns in 2024.

Prior to his tenure at Clemson, Riley was one of the hottest coaching names in the country when he transformed a TCU offense into a top-10 scoring unit in his lone season there. That team would finish with a 13-2 record and a berth in the College Football Playoff National Championship in 2022. Under Riley’s tutelage, Max Duggan was the Davey O’Brien award winner at TCU. Before the one season at TCU, Riley spent two at SMU where each of his offenses finished in the top-15 in both scoring and total offense.

Riley is the brother of current USC head coach Lincoln Riley. During his time at SMU, Riley did coach alongside current Ole Miss defensive line coach Randall Joyner, thus making a staff connection.

Next Up

Ole Miss awaits its ranking in the next College Football Playoffs top 25 which will be announced on Selection Sunday, December 7, 2025, from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. CT. Stay tuned to The Rebel Walk for all the latest on the search for an offensive coordinator and the playoffs.