TRANSCRIPT: Everything Ole Miss head coach Pete Golding said after CFP Announcement

OXFORD, Miss. — Ole Miss head coach Pete Golding met with media viz Zoom Sunday afternoon following the announcement the Rebels are seeded No. 6 in the College Football Playoffs and will host Tulane on December 20 at Vaught-Hemingway.

Coach Golding is candid, forthcoming and passionate about his job as the head football coach of the Rebels. Here’s everything he had to say.

Coach Pete Golding’s Opening Statement

Yeah. Just obviously really excited for our players, today, 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. So got them coming back in tonight. They’ll report back tonight at six and we’ll have a normal work week. And it’s time to turn the page and get our preparation ready for a really good two lane team. So I’ll open it up for questions.

Question: Yeah. Pete, the draw itself, getting Tulane in a rematch. I mean, y’all beat them earlier this year, 45-10. What do you remember about them? And, just what is your overall thoughts on the path y’all drew?

Coach Golding: Yeah, obviously first, I think they’re very well coached. I think, you know, Jon’s a good buddy of mine. They do a really good job. Really well coached on offense, was really concerned about him coming in the first time they played. They’re multiple in personnel and obviously got a quarterback with experience that I thought presented a lot of problems coming into the game. Obviously coming out of the game, created some turnovers, played really well on offense, a lot of explosive plays, you know, but the big thing now man, I mean that feels like years ago at this point right. It was early in the season and they played really well lately. And they’re they’re coming off a really good game and got some confidence in winning the conference championship and create a lot of turnovers. So we know we’re going to have our work cut out for us. Obviously having been at Bama for all those years, we’re used to playing somebody twice. You know, once you go to that SEC championship game, you’re playing them twice. A lot of times the Division II and I-AA was the same. So you got to look back. You can’t get away from who you are, you know. But you look and evaluate that first game and what were they trying to accomplish. You know, what did they have that they didn’t take advantage of that we got to prepare, you know, for that they’re going to come back with. So it’s a good combination of you know. Okay. What was the plan there? What did they attack? All right. What was their game plan? And then, alright now, how are they going to complement it and window dress it to get to the same concepts with different ways. So it’s good to have some comfortability with it. But also our guys got to understand that that was years ago. You know, what happened in that game has no indication what’s going to happen in this game. And our preparation has to be on point. And we got to be ready to roll and have really good plans and have a great week of practice.

Question:: And as far as the last couple of weeks and now being getting to this point where it was a focused on everything but football, to now be able to celebrate the accomplishment for what it is and have this day, what was that like with the players? How did they respond? And, what was just their overall response to to getting the news of this reward of getting the College Football Playoff?

Coach Golding: Yeah. I mean, I think obviously this is a little different because they knew they were going to be in. Right, obviously based on their body of work. So I think they were just ready for it. Who are we going to play in that spot the ball mentality that we talk about, to be able to turn the page and put the focus back on, you know, something else other than media and Twitter, right, and somebody’s name and who was the coach and all that type of stuff. So,I think they’re excited to get back and have a game plan and, and put the previous game that we had to bed and move forward to a new scouting report tomorrow and some new opportunities and some new challenges with it, you know, with a really unique game plan versus a really good football team. So I think they’re super excited. But as I told the team last week, so look, guys, there’s only one team that’s going to be happy at the end of this. You know this ain’t the Gator Bowl right? This ain’t any of that stuff to where you know you go in, you play well and you win your last game. When you win this last game, you know you’re walking off the field because you’re the best team in the country. And so we got to make sure we’re doing everything that we can in our preparation to give ourselves our best chance to put our best foot forward on Saturday.

Question: Jon said earlier today that y’all two actually kind of FaceTimed last night. Just, what’s your relationship like? And if you can. What was that conversation?

Coach Golding: No, obviously us defensive guys, man, there ain’t a lot of us, so we gotta stick together. So no. So obviously Jon and I, you know, go way back. I recruit Louisiana. Obviously he’s, you know, been at Tulane. My brother lives down in New Orleans. So I get down there and see him. I think the world of him. So think a lot about him. So I was just calling him, obviously the selection show hadn’t come up. You know, I was telling man, hopefully, hopefully y’all got to go to Oregon, you know, bring your ass out west. But he had a good indication that he was kind of pushing to get back to Oxford a little closer and all that. So I was just congratulating him on a heck of a year and obviously talking about some of the Florida transition. And I told him he better bring his ass to Gainesville. You know, he’s going to be losing all these players over the next two weeks if he’s not down there trying to save that program. So I was just messing with him, but really just congratulating him.

Question: What is the last week been like for you just from this time last week to today, is there any way to even put into words, sort of all the different things you’ve had on your on your plate?

Coach Golding: Uh, a lot of lack of sleep, you know, probably the least amount of sleep I’ve had since, like, Vegas in 2007, probably. But, uh, no, I mean, obviously, I think, you know, on Sunday, kind of when that thing hit, uh, you just hit the ground running, man. I mean, I think, you know, for me it was the players at that point and all I could think about is, you know, the promises that I made in recruiting and talking to parents and the things that I promised, you know, and the example that I was trying to set and all their hard work to make sure that, you know, we didn’t lose that. And so I felt like at that point, it was our responsibility to try to retain as many staff members as we possibly can from that point forward as our responsibility to try to save the class as best we could. Really wasn’t concerned from a defensive perspective. Uh, but obviously, you know, when you’re first called an offensive guy, it’s Tuesday at noon. You know, you don’t feel real good about it. But because obviously the retention of the offensive staff as well. So, uh, it wasn’t really much time to think about it. And then my, my transition went to the players after signing day. So then we brought them back in Thursday and we had a team meeting and we kind of broke up into groups, that we call ‘get real’ groups and just kind of let them talk and try to get a pulse of the team, try to get with how they felt about the situation. And then, uh, you know, I started meeting with them individually on Friday. We got them back, you know, on the grass on Friday, getting them running around and then gave them the weekend off and and we’ll get back and attack it tonight at six. So I think they’re in a really good spot man I think it’s a player led team. I think we got a lot of guys wired the right way, that aren’t getting caught up in the emotions of everything that occurred that, this is still the 2025 season. This is we’re not talking about 2026 yet. I told them I view myself as an interim head coach right now, and we’re not going to reinvent the wheel. This thing was headed in the right direction. Right now I look at as like the Covid year. You know, there’s two games we didn’t have Coach Saban, but you know, Sark walked us out the tunnel and we still beat the shit out of Auburn. So you know we got we got to do what we’re supposed to do. The play callers haven’t changed. It’s going to be in our preparation and how we practice and preparing really well to give us our best chance. So, I think getting back to our normal routine of what they’re used to up to this point is really, really important.

Question: As far as the play calling stuff. Pete, uh, Charlie’s come back, you know, for for the playoff run. Is there a chance he could stay long term? What are the kind of conversations with that? And, when do you anticipate having some staff stuff maybe finalized or introduced in that way?

Coach Golding: Yeah. You know, I think the biggest thing, you know, a lot of these guys on Sunday just wanted to create opportunity. And what I mean by that, you know, the message of them leaving the building never was they weren’t coaching in the game. The message was 1,000% I’m coaching in the game. I have to give me and my family an opportunity at the end of this, whenever that is, what’s best for me, my career and my family. So there was never any inkling at all that Charlie Weis wasn’t calling the plays in the games. And that came from him to me and him to Keith Carter. And at the end of this thing, whether that’s him being the OC at LSU or him being the OC here, that’s up to him and his family. But, you know, I made it a point to him. Charlie,I was like, ‘I don’t want to talk about 2026.This isn’t about 2026.’ It’s about 2025, right? And doing what we’re responsible to do for the players, right, to put them in the best position to have success because they deserve that. So it was never not that for Charlie. And so whatever he decides, that’s no different than every player on our team and every coach on our roster. In January, whenever it’s over, everybody evaluates where am I at? Am I where I want to be in my career? Do I have better opportunities for me professionally, right, or my family just like the players do? So we’ll address all that after that. We did create a really good plan and hold these guys accountable and go play really well.

Question: Coach, is Ole Miss better off with you as head coach for this game? With your commitment to the future and your focus on this game, than it would have been with Lane Kiffin, do you believe?

Coach Golding: I think Ole Miss is better with the players being properly prepared and preparing the right way and practicing really well and having really good plans on both sides of the ball with consistency and play callers and the development at the position, I really don’t think right at the end of the day, at this point, it’s one thing if it’s game one, all right, and you’re worried about, you know, what’s the culture like and the routine hasn’t been set and all these guys don’t have all that to this point. 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. And do they want to continue to compete and do they want another game or are they tired? And so I don’t think it has, whether it’s another name running them out or me running them out, I really don’t think it matters at that point. You know, that work has already been done. And did you do everything that you could to control the outcome? And that’s based on how you prepare and how you practice.

Question: What does it mean for Ole Miss football to host it for the first time, the College Football Playoff?

Coach Golding: Yeah, I think, you know, I think it means everything in the world for this community, right. And for our Chancellor that’s been all in on athletics, right. For for an athletic director that’s given everything right to this school, for our Grove Collective. Right. That has got a million members for this community, right, friends? Right. For me 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. And I think for the players that have invested so much for this team, right, the legacy of this team, right, to create that for them, I think has been really unique because I think it’s a really special group of kids. And so I think it’s awesome. Um, obviously, I think this is something that this program is going to be the expectation moving forward. Um, that’s something that I’m used to. That’s something when you invest a lot in a programs and you’re aligned right from the top down, from the chancellor to the athletic director to the head football coach to really, good Grove Collective led by Walker Jones and your elite, really good players. Uh, this should be the norm. And I’m not going to lie to you, I called the players council in last week, and I was like, ‘look, the selection show Sunday, we can have a party if you want to. We can have a watch party.’ But to me this is the expectation, right? Y’all came here right coming off of last year. And we’re pissed off that we weren’t in it last year. Y’all came here, right? To make sure we were there. So if you want to have a party and blow balloons up and have food, I’m good with it. Y’all are going to decide that. But. Or we could be in there breaking it down and getting a good game plan together. Right? So we’re having a party after the game and they were all on board. Let me have a little more time off and let’s show up at six and let’s go to work. So you know, this is not a celebration of getting to the playoffs and get your ass whooped, when you put yourself in a really good position to be able to finish this thing the right way and make sure we’re controlling what we can control. And that’s our preparation and our plan, and holding them accountable to play really well.

Question: How do You personally feel just about this being your first game as head coach or interim head coach? And it’s a playoff game. Taking the reins?

Coach Golding: Yeah I don’t feel any differently man. Like but I’m a little different. I was D2, IAA, a mid-major you know, I’ve had conference championships at Tusculum College, you never heard Delta State, Southeastern. It don’t matter to me man. Football. You know we’ve had to 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. I’m gonna try to create a really good plan and the whole kids accountable, make sure that we’re doing everything we can to try to win the football game and be smart doing it. So to me, it’s no different. I think you start making this thing bigger than it is and blowing this thing up and asking guys to press and do things that they haven’t done all year. You know, my big thing for those guys is just, you know, don’t look back and say, you know, my bad or I wish I would have. Right. You get very few opportunities right once you get into this to take advantage of it. And this is a six week process up to this point. Like, what are you willing to give up to get what you want? And you know, for me, on all those runs that we made, it was the guys that continued to wanted to play football, that we continue to play football and won. And I think that’s the big thing of keeping it fresh and keeping the focus, um, and keeping it exciting for them. Uh, I think it’s going to be really important, but I think we got a group, right, that’s, uh, that’s really tough, that’s really competitive, that loves football, but they really get along and they care for each other. So, uh, I think we got to hold them to a really high standard. We got to develop some really good plans for them and, uh, and see what happens.

Question: You said that you’re going to keep things the same way. Does that mean you’re going to be, uh, in the press box calling plays for the playoffs?

Coach Golding: Well, we’re going to look at it. We’re going to we’re going to give us what our best chance is to win the football game. Um, so obviously, you know, I think that’s a little bit different from the interim tag to, to what the tag is now. Um, you know, I’ve called plays in the box. I’ve called plays on the floor. Obviously. You know, all five years at Alabama. I called it on the grass. My first year here, I called it on the grass. Uh, to me, once you went to helmet communication, and the tablets to where they actually get to see the video on the sideline, uh, there’s benefits to both. There’s benefits to be able to see them in their eyes and see where they’re at. And there’s benefits to being upstairs. And sometimes you feel like you’re a play ahead. But we’re going to do you got two. We got two weeks to make sure, you know we got the best plan in place, you know, for our team to give us our best chance. So we’ll see where that goes. I’m not making any decisions on that right now.

Question: Hey, Pete. Keith made the decision or said that you made the decision to cancel your introductory press conference. What was the rationale and reason going into that?

Coach Golding: Yeah, for me, it was you know, we’ve been through about a month and a half, right, that all the focus was on everything that didn’t matter. And the focus wasn’t on a team that went 11-1 that busted their ass. They did everything right to put themselves in an unbelievable position, to have players, right, that had really elite years because of team success, that should be able to get individual accolades and aren’t because we’re talking about the wrong shit. And so like for me, at that point, like this has nothing to do with 2026, like this is 2025. 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. Let’s get ready to finish this thing the right way. And then if you want to have one in January, have one in January, let’s charge everybody to do it and make it in rev share and whatever. Let’s go get better players. Right. But like this does not matter right now. We’re worried about the wrong stuff. And there’s a bunch of kids in that locker room right now that need to get the focus back on them, because at the end of the day, they’re going to determine whether we’re going to win this game or not, right? By their execution and their preparation. It ain’t going to have nothing to do with what the head coach’s name, I can assure you that.

Question: You may have just kind of answered this. You probably don’t know the answer to this, but in your opinion, does this team have a kind of a renewed chip on its shoulder after everything that it’s been through the last few weeks.

Coach Golding: I mean, I think obviously adversity in anybody’s life, right? You’re going to do 1 of 2 things, right? You’re going to attack it or you’re going to run. I think the mentality of this team, I’m not saying it wasn’t that prior to, you know, I think we got we got a lot of really good players on this team. We got a lot of guys wired the right way that are tough and competitive and play together. And so I think certain events happen at certain times for reasons, uh, sometimes it brings people together and they go on a hell of a run. Sometimes it breaks people apart. And so I think that’s our responsibility as a coach to be for them there right now. Uh, but I think we got a very unique group, right. That’s really not concerned with who’s running the remote right now. They want the stability within the scheme and the system to where it doesn’t change. And it’s a routine that they’re used to. They want to be held accountable right. Like normal. They want to have fun in the process and then go give theirselves our best chance to go win a football game. But I do feel like, you know, the camaraderie of our group is very close. And I’m not here to tell you that event did that or not. Right. But we have a very close group that’s going to play for each other, who’s going to practice extremely hard and hopefully we play well.

Question: For your journey, have you had a chance to think about the, you know, the Tusculum days and now leading the a CFP team, or is that sort of what you talked about, something that you just think about in the off season?

Coach Golding: 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, right? So, like, I really get focused on the on the task at hand and what we need to do and how do we do it better than anybody else. And whatever my role is doing that, I’m going to do that to the best of my ability, whatever that is. And I don’t look for another role, don’t want another role when I’m at that point. Um, I was fully content, obviously, coming here because of the situation in which I came and why I came. And so, um, that was, you know, 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. Um, so we’ll see what happens with it. But no, I don’t focus on what the game is, where it is, and who we play. I focus on the preparation of it and the things that we need to do to play really well, to give us our best chance to be honest with you. Now, some might be different, some people, but I’ve been in a million of these and I can go in the closet wherever they’re at. And they got rings and that’s championship rings. I don’t know where they’re at, but I got em. Right. We’ve we’ve been there D2, 1AA and all that. So, you know, it’s not going to be anything about the result of it. Right. It’s going to be about the process of it and what we do to give ourselves our best chance.

Question: But when you did get the news, when Keith said, we’ve chosen you for you, uh, not that you’re going to be sentimental about it, but did it give you an emboldened sense of like, yeah, no. Now let’s get back to it. I mean, what was the immediate reaction for you?

Coach Golding: The immediate the immediate reaction was, I got my ass up out of my seat, went straight out the door to try to recruit an offensive staff, not to get on an airplane. That was my immediate reaction. So I couldn’t tell you the years, the money and I still can’t. Right. Does that make sense? Right. So it’s like, hey man, I got a lot invested in this, just like these players do at this point. Right. Let, let’s try to keep as much in the boat as we can and then go find some other ones to put it in if we need it. Right to go make a run. So it probably still hasn’t set in and I don’t want it to set in. That’s my point to the players. I’m not looking at my responsibility any different than it was when we went to game one right now, right. Does it have a different role in front of more people in certain times and team meetings and all those type of things? Absolutely, right. But as far as what my responsibility is this team to get guys prepared it went from one side of the ball to an entire group. Right. But kids are kids, right? And the room got a little bigger, but nothing else changed. I’m not changing who I am, right? I ain’t changing what the hell I wear. I’m going to yoga. I’m playing. 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. I’ve done it a long time around, a lot of good people. Right. And we’re going to give it our best shot and see what happens.

Question: Can you talk about what makes this team in particular so much more different? I was asking the guys after the Egg Bowl, the brotherhood of this team, talk about this team, what makes them different and the trust that you have in them heading into the playoffs.

Coach Golding: I think they’re selfless. You know, to be honest with you, I think that’s everybody’s major concern in college football right now. When you recruit at a high level, especially in the portal, you’re not bringing backup players in. You’re bringing starters in from where they’re at, and that’s their expectation. And you’re adding them to a group of guys that some of those are returning starters at their same position. So the concerns always right, everybody wants to think best case scenario and everything that I’m going to go there, I’m going to have an elite year. I’m the be all conference, I’m gonna be All-American. I’m winning a national championship. And in reality, a lot of those guys left as starters from where they were at. And they’re here and they’re rotational players at best. And there’s two ways to think about that, when you get that. A lot of guys are pissed off, have negative energy and body language and affect the people around them, or you have guys like we have that just want to be told the truth. Hey, where am I at? What do I need to do to improve? What’s going to be my role and how can I improve that? And in the meantime of that, I’m going to be a really good teammate. In the meantime of that, I’m going to push this guy really, really hard to make him be an elite teammate, right? And create depth for us because guys are going to get banged up. And I told several of those guys, you know, the Jalen-Tua story last week when I’m meeting with them individually.Right. To have that resiliency like Jalen did, he get pulled out right as a national champion and undefeated at halftime of the national championship to get pulled out, not not hurt. Not like Austin. Get pulled out and watch a true freshman go in there and win it in overtime at second and 26 and not transfer and watch it for 12 games to be the backup to Tua. And him go out in the third quarter of the SEC Championship game. And who comes in? Jalen, we’re behind ten. Leads us back and wins the SEC championship. Nobody would even know who he is right if his mentality wasn’t to be ready for that moment. And I think that’s the biggest thing. We got guys like that right now that here, they work hard, they practice hard regardless what their role is going to be in the game. And I think that’s very unique, right. That is not happened everywhere. And so that’s a culture created by really good players led by coaches. Right. And a lot of different areas of the building that they don’t care who gets the credit. And that’s hard right now anywhere. Right, that I’m going to put the work in and I really don’t care who gets the credit. We get the credit. We get to become 11-1. We get to have a playoff game. And it wasn’t based on any individual. And so I think that’s what’s unique about this group.

Question: Do you anticipate keeping the same type of offense, up tempo, that type of thing? Some defensive coordinators think you got to slow it down. What’s your what’s your philosophy?

Coach Golding: I like offenses that score because that means you can give up more on defense (laughing). No, obviously I think I think the really important thing in a program is stability within your scheme. And so what I mean by that, right, regardless whether you look at Alabama and Georgia on those runs, OCs left, DCs left. But the stability within the scheme your elite, you recruit elite players into an NFL style system that’s had a lot of success. It takes care of itself because you go in that freshman year and you learn the system. Now that sophomore year, it’s the same system, same language. You go from English one to English two, and now your third year, your most important year because you’re draft eligible, right? You’re in English three. And so now we’re coaching the opposite side of the ball. So on defense they come in here, all we’re worried about, hey alignment assignment key. Where do I line up. What the hell do I look at. Right. What do I have. What’s my run responsibility. What’s my pass responsibility? That second year we’re focused on the technical aspect of that position, playing the game, pad level and stance and hand placement and eye control. That third year we’re coaching offense. All right. If I’m a DB look at the split variation right. He’s inside my divider, outside my divider 2 or 4 is flipped, backs offset to me right, Tackle’s got a high hat read. Boom. Here comes the concept. And you’re anticipating calling out plays before they ever come. And that allows guys to be more productive. So no different than what I was raised in. I don’t want that to change in whatever phase that is offense, defense or special teams. I think when you acquire really good coaches, they’re going to have other opportunities that are better opportunities for them and their family, and you want them continuing to grow. So now we’re going to have young coaches under them as well so that our systems don’t change. 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. And we have a locker room full of good players that have been recruited to play within that system and got really good coaches on our staff that coached that system. So, no, I don’t anticipate any change in the system. I anticipate continuing to recruit really good players and put them in the system and having a really good quarterback, like we always have, play good defense, right, and win a bunch of football games.

Question: The Ole Miss identity was intertwined with Lane. Obviously, he got a lot of national attention with his social media accounts, public appearances, sideline antics. How do you maintain that level of exposure? You strike me as blue collar guy. Is there a thought process as far as what you want the program identity to look like nationally?

Coach Golding: I think everybody in the country today is talking about Ole Miss football. Why? Because they’re in the playoffs. People talk about people that win. I don’t care what they dress like. What they do is their notoriety outside of things, absolutely. But 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, right? And you recruit good players on signing day, then they’re talking about the football program, for the football program, for the development of the players, for winning football games and continuing to do that. So no, I’m not I’m not a Twitter guy. I won’t be a Twitter guy. Right. So I got my new contract. They can fire me at any point. My ass will be at the beach. All right. So again, I am who I am. We’re going to recruit really good players. We’re going to have NFL style systems that aren’t going to change the building of systems. We’re going to hold our guys to a high standard just like we have. Right. And obviously we’re going to win a bunch of games in the process.

Question: Hey, Pete, I know, uh, obviously started off as a walk on at Delta State when you kind of reflect on that now as a head coach, what are you kind of remember about walking on and being a GA at Delta State? And what can you kind of reflect on that as being a head coach now?

Coach Golding: Yeah, I think it’s just a mentality, right? I mean, I think it’s hard to instill that in people. I think some people have that and they don’t. And what I mean by that is, regardless whether I was a walk on or not, my mentality was go outwork everybody else, right? Regardless of the the position that they put me at. Right? Regardless how I got there, who’s on full scholarship? It doesn’t matter. I mean, I think, you know, it’s a very easy concept. Everybody wants to understand, like, how do you get to where you want to go? You gotta outwork everybody else. You’re not always going to be the most talented guy or seen as the most talented guy. You got to be willing to do things that they’re not. And when you have talent and you do those things, then obviously then now you have a lot of success. But you know, my time at Delta State under Coach Rhodes, obviously, who recruited me down there with Mike Kershaw was unbelievable. People in a place that I was still allowed to do what I love, in my opinion, was at a very high level, right? That I enjoyed everything about it. I think it makes you appreciate this level even more, right? Because obviously back then you got a spirit pack and that was about it, right? You got a hole in your socks. Good luck. You know. And so, you know, some of those things when you get to, you know, nicer places that have better nutrition, right. And you travel better and all that, it makes you more appreciative of that. Right. But I think it’s, you know, very rewarding, right, to understand that there’s really good players in Division II. No different. When I was at Southeastern, there was really good players at IAA. you know, the size speed of it at certain positions, a little different, but at the end of the day, guys that are tough, competitive and love football, they played and we won a bunch of games with them, regardless where we’re at, what the logo was on. So that’s not going to change. But I was really appreciative of obviously all the people in Cleveland and and Coach Rhodes and my opportunity there to get into it. And Coach Roberts had a huge impact on for me as a player, more importantly as a man and as a coach. So that’s a big piece of who I am.

Question: You talked about the commitment from your coaches. Do you see that same kind of commitment from your players? Do you expect to be at full strength the rest of the way, roster wise?

Coach Golding: I can assure you, if a player doesn’t want to play in a playoff game, I don’t want them in my locker room. So yes, I fully anticipate why players play football to be able to compete for a championship. And if they have the opportunity to do that 1,000%, I feel like every player in there would. If he would not, I don’t care what level I’m at. I don’t want him in my locker room and my ass would never draft him. So I don’t know what we’re talking about. It’s not the Gator Bowl from last year. This is not all them other bowls. This is the opportunity to compete for a championship based on what you’ve done up to this point and you have earned with a group of brothers that you came in with and made a bond to create a legacy that no other team here has ever done. So if you ain’t up for that, I don’t want you.