ESPN's Paul Finebaum Predicts $35M SEC Head Coach Isn't "Great" Enough to Lead Team Back to CFP

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2025 was a chaotic year by all means, at least in terms of coaching stability. LSU lost its head coach midway through the season, while Florida made a similar change after Billy Napier was let go. In total, 6 programs within the SEC had major coaching changes as new faces arrived to bring stability. Among those new names, though, veteran broadcaster Paul Finebaum isn’t yet sure about the head coaching quality of a first-time head coach.

“It’s kind of a coin flip. They have the talent, and I don’t think Golding is a disaster by any stretch. I think he’s a good coach, but I don’t know yet whether he’s a great coach,” Finebaumsaid about Ole Miss HC Pete Golding on the August 4 Crain & Cone podcast. “I don’t need somebody to tell me about his postseason record last year. I was at both games. I saw them. But the four of us could have coached Miss to a win over Tulane.”

Unlike the 5 SEC programs, Ole Miss’s head coaching vacancy came after Lane Kiffin left for LSU, accepting a $91 million contract. Although he wanted to coach in the postseason, the Ole Miss hierarchy did not allow it, and Pete Golding became the interim head coach. While many expected Ole Miss to falter without Kiffin, it went deep into the playoffs. Of course, many considered the Tulane victory (41-10) easy; The performance against Georgia was unexpected. Ole Miss won the game 39-34. People still cite that game to prove Golding’s coaching acumen and to explain why he deserves that $35 million, 5-year contract. Not Paul Finebaum.

“I don’t get all this, you know, Pete Golding, he’s got two postseason wins,” Paul Finebaum remarked. “What does Lane Kiffin do? Well, Lane Kiffin built that team. He did it with Charlie Weiss’s help, and he did it with Pete Golding’s help.
I have experts tell me that the coaching drop-off is not that much. I’ll believe that when I see it. I think when you lose Lane Kiffin and Charlie Weiss to the offensive side of the ball, even with Trinidad Chambliss, you’re losing a great deal.”

Since Lane Kiffin also took offensive coordinator Charlie Weis Jr. to LSU, Ole Miss’ 2026 offense will lack a great deal of quality. We may not see Kiffin’s fourth-down aggressiveness now or Weis Jr.’s fast-paced, high-tempo offense. That was the reason Ole Miss finished no less than third in the SEC in total offense in Weis Jr.’s four-year tenure. While Pete Golding has John David Baker as OC, the same offensive quality might not be there.

Baker returns to the program after having spent three years as the tight ends coach and co-OC, respectively. In 2023, he left to become East Carolina’s OC and led a top-30 offense. Despite that, the offense this year won’t look like the track-meet-style offense Kiffin ran. How successful will that be?

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