Ole Miss’s Pete Golding Admits He Doesn’t Know Which Coaches He’ll Lose Before CFP Semifinal

Golding downplayed the impact of the potential staff departures as the transfer portal heats up.

Pete Golding’s staff may continue to dwindle as Ole Miss prepares for the College Football Playoff semifinal. / Stephen Lew-Imagn Images

Pete Golding is now 2–0 as head coach, winning a pair of College Football Playoff games to open his tenure leading Ole Miss after the abrupt departure of former Rebels coach Lane Kiffin to LSU at the end of the regular season. Through wins over Tulane and Georgia, he’s had the help of a number of outgoing members of the coaching staff who will join Kiffin in Baton Rouge. With less than a week until a trip to the Fiesta Bowl to face Miami with a national championship appearance on the line, Golding doesn’t know exactly how many of them will remain with the program.

Golding told reporters Saturday that it is ultimately up to LSU to decide which coaches can continue to pull double-duty with Mississippi, as the transfer portal officially opened on Jan. 2. The portal period, which runs through Jan. 16, is now the only one of year, making it extremely important as teams look to rebuild their rosters. It is logical that Kiffin and LSU wants his staff paying 100% attention to the task at hand, but it is still a bit unfathomable that the Rebels could lose a large chunk of its coaches between the CFP quarterfinals and semifinals.

And yet, Golding is maintaining public poise while admitting he doesn’t know exactly what the staff will look like next Thursday in Glendale, Ariz.

"They have every opportunity like they have up to this point to be able to make that decision," he said on a CFP videoconference, per ESPN. "So week in and week out, I don't dictate whether they do that or not, because they're not employed by me. Up to this point, that's how it's been, and that's my expectation.”

"Our players know what to do," he continued. "It's going to have no impact on the game. Keep blowing it up and making it a big deal, it'd be great."

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Offensive coordinator Charlie Weis Jr. headlines a group of Ole Miss-turned-LSU assistants that have continued to coach the Rebels to this point. Joe Cox (co-OC, tight ends), George McDonald (passing game coordinator, wide receivers) and Kevin Smith (running backs) have also done so. Chase Parham of 247 Sports reports that Smith will not return to Oxford, Miss., and that Weis is likely to be “only one of the main LSU assistants to continue” assisting Golding. All of the coaches were back in Baton Rouge as transfer portal recruiting ramped up Friday, per ESPN.

“It’s grown people making decisions, so I have no idea,” Golding said, when asked about his staff. “We’re going to go out there and spot the ball. We got plenty enough people in this building who showed up this morning. We'll be just fine.”

He indicated that others within the program have been stepping in to more hands-on roles amid the shakeup.

“A lot of guys that y’all don't know by name are actually the ones instructing and teaching players,” Golding continued. “And so we have an elite staff that's been together for a long time that knows the ins and outs. So no different than during [COVID-19] when a coach didn't show up for the game. ... These things obviously come up every year, and guys try to do both jobs and they have responsibilities of the new job that take precedence, especially in times like this, and then they can make both work. If they can’t, they can’t. That would not be any reason for success or lack of success with this game. The play-callers haven't changed.”

Golding and Kiffin both told ESPN that they’ve been in contact throughout the transition, and that a plan is in place as the Rebels continue to pursue the national title.

Ole Miss and Miami will face off in the CFP semifinal at the Fiesta Bowl on Thursday, Jan. 8 at 7:30 p.m. ET. The winner will take on the Indiana-Oregon Peach Bowl winner for the national championship on Monday, Jan. 19 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla.

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