Ole Miss Coach Pete Golding Has 1 Big Problem With Lane Kiffin

Ole Miss Rebels head coach Pete Golding hasn't even entered his first full season at the helm in Oxford, but he's already made it clear that he won't be sugarcoating anything.

Golding steps in for Lane Kiffin, who left for the LSU Tigers before the start of Ole Miss' run in the College Football Playoff. With Kiffin out of the picture, the Rebels still managed to put themselves one play away from making it to the National Championship

Kiffin's messy departure combined with Ole Miss' successful CFP run, helped Golding land his first-ever college head coaching job, but he still took some issue with the way Kiffin left.

And in a recent interview with Chris Low of On3 Sports, Golding opened up about his issues with Kiffin and how he left the Rebels for the first time.

Golding's big issue with Kiffin

Mississippi Rebels head coach Lane Kiffin and Mississippi Rebels defensive coordinator Pete Golding watch during the second half against the Mississippi State Bulldogs | Petre Thomas-Imagn Images

For Golding, that issue started with the way it impact the people around the program, who had put in so much work throughout Kiffin's tenure.

“My issue with Lane was what he did to the other people around him, the position they were put in and then the perception of what it was," Golding said. "I just told him, ‘I’m not going to sit here and tell you I can respect that because I don’t. I can understand the competitive part, but not the rest of it with the players and other people in this building.’”

That list of players didn't just include coaches and staff members, 21 of whom ultimately left and followed Kiffin to Baton Rouge, but it also included the players.

Not just the players who went with him to LSU, like T.J. Dottery and Princewill Umanmielen, but the ones whom Kiffin was trying to pull with him that ultimately ended up staying. Stars like Trinidad Chambliss and Kewan Lacy were obvious, but there were also a slew of others who were being pulled in both directions before deciding to stay.

As for their relationship overall, it appears that Golding and Kiffin still maintain a friendship.

“There’s a Lane side to us where we’re buddies and friends, then a professional side that I have to get on his ass sometimes," Golding said at SEC Meetings in Destin.

They even continue to text one another constantly.

"Lane hits me up every day. I get 12 text messages a day from Lane." Golding said in Destin. "What I decide to look at?... Nah, we’re good.”

Yes, both have also been blunt about their thoughts on each other and how Ole Miss would have ended the season if the staff had remained together.

It appears, as of now, that it's mostly water under the bridge at this point.

Golding loves his team and his staff and has put together a program capable of once again competing for a national championship. Kiffin has done the same.

But when the two meet in Oxford again on Sept. 19th, all feelings of camaraderie and friendship might just fall by the wayside.

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