Lane Kiffin continues to hover around Ole Miss’ run in the College Football Playoff, even though he is no longer with the team. His replacement on Wednesday offered perhaps the firmest comment yet on why his predecessor no longer matters.
Golding was asked ahead of Ole Miss’ CFP semifinal against Miami whether he had a message for Kiffin, who left just before the playoff to take over at LSU. Golding kept it simple and turned it into a comment about his team.
“I think our team had a message by how they prepared and how they played and that they weren’t tired of playing,” Golding said. “I do think the message is, I’m replaceable, you’re replaceable, our players are replaceable. You want to build a program to where it’s heading in the right direction, and one person, one player, anything like that is not going to derail that. There’s been too much invested in that, and it’s been aligned correctly, that one person is not going to impact something so drastically. If it is, it’s probably not built right.
“The only thing that was different is who’s running them out of the tunnel. And to be honest with you, I don’t think the players give a damn who runs them out of the tunnel. They care about their playing. They care about getting held accountable and how they’re going to prepare. And they care about people that care about them. That’s been the message our players have created. I don’t have s–t to say to anybody else.”
“I think our team had a message… that they weren’t tired of playing. They care about people that care about them… But I don’t have s—t to say to anybody else.”@OleMissFB HC Pete Golding when asked if he had a message for Lane Kiffin 🎤 pic.twitter.com/bqQITHcq93
— Fiesta Sports Foundation (@Fiesta_Bowl) January 7, 2026
Golding has a tough task in fighting off the talk about Kiffin, who built the program up. On the other hand, as his former defensive coordinator, it’s unlikely that Golding is making any fundamental changes to how things are run. As he indicated, the program is the same, and is larger than any one individual.
One Ole Miss player has even accused Kiffin of trying to steal the team’s shine. Golding will not go that far publicly, but one can understand why he would love to draw a line underneath the Kiffin talk and move on.
