Ole Miss' Pete Golding Explains Not Following Lane Kiffin to LSU, 'I Didn't Come Here for You'

Before taking over as Ole Miss head coach, Pete Golding would've had the opportunity to follow Lane Kiffin to LSU as a member of his staff.

However, Golding told Chris Low of On3.com that he never considered leaving Ole Miss at any point while Kiffin was being linked to the LSU job.

"That's not why I came here," Golding said. "This had been going on for two years, whether Lane was going to leave, even the Florida talk the year before. I was like, 'Hey bro, I Iove you, but don't get it twisted. I didn't come here for you.'"

Golding's affinity for Ole Miss runs so deep that he told athletic director Keith Carter he would do whatever is asked of him following Kiffin's departure, even if that meant another coach would be hired above him.

"He's like, 'I'm not going to LSU, so whatever you need me to do, I'm going to do it,'" Carter recounted. "He even told me that if I didn't want to keep him as head coach or interim coach and that if I hired a new coach that didn't want to keep him as the defensive coordinator, that he wasn't leaving Oxford. He said he would go sell insurance for State Farm. That made me very comfortable that he wanted to be here."

Carter quickly moved to make Golding the permanent head coach of the Rebels, and he is hoping to maintain the momentum from last season's 13-2 campaign.

Golding will have the chance to prove that he was right not to follow his mentor, as Ole Miss will face Kiffin and LSU during the 2026 season.