How new Ole Miss coach Golding is not who you think he is. His story
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New Ole Miss football coach Pete Golding is taking over the Rebels at a critical juncture heading into the College Football Playoff after he replaced the previous hot yoga coach who left to work for a Louisiana school not in the playoff.
As is well documented, Golding played defensive back at Delta State, married a Cleveland girl (Carolyn), has gone on to great heights in the coaching profession and now will be the head coach for what will be the biggest game in Ole Miss football history against Tulane.
No. 6 Ole Miss (11-1) plays in its first CFP game on Dec. 20 (2:30 p.m., TNT) against visiting No. 11 Tulane (11-2), a team the Rebels played and beat earlier in the season.
But do we really know Pete Golding, the newly minted first-time head coach who will lead the Rebels as they walk the Grove and take the field before the most anticipated game ever in Oxford?
Like for instance, is Pete Golding really … Pete Golding?
As it turns out, no.
His name isn’t even Pete.
Golding’s given name is Stephen Thomas Golding.
So, when Golding was an infant, his father, Skip (not his real name), played a game in which he would say “Petey Pie, Petey Pie” over and over. Eventually, the nickname of Pete stuck, and we have Pete Golding, thanks to his dad, whose real name is … wait for it … Stephen.
What Golding’s friends say about him
Now that the mystery of his name has now been solved, what isn’t a mystery is Golding’s determination and belief in himself and how that has carried him to be the straight-talking, old-school coach, who, in his first press conference, said, “I don’t care if I’m coaching football or playing my wife in tennis, I’m trying to whoop your ass.”
That has led him to this point, having been the defensive coordinator at Alabama and Ole Miss, but most people only know about Golding what Nick Saban and former Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin have said about him.
Saban consistently praised Golding’s effort at Alabama, calling him “very bright,” a “good teacher,” and noted he “did a great job” developing players. The former Ole Miss coach once called Golding “brilliant”.
Randy Grierson, who played football for the 2000 Delta State national championship team, became an assistant for the Fighting Okra and helped recruit Golding to play at Delta State.
“We were trying to get Ryan Barker and Scott Eyster from Hammond (La.), and here was this little runt that came in with them,” said Grierson, who is now a school administrator in Starkville. “But the deal was, you knew really quick with Pete about his commitment level and his intelligence when he came in and how much he studied the game and how he was in the weight room. He was a warrior.”
Grierson recalled a conversation with Golding from a couple of months ago where he reminded the new Ole Miss coach about a moment in the DSU weight room.
“We were maxing out on dips, and he maxed out with 87,” Grierson said. “I’ve never seen anybody do that, but I will always remember that because it just shocked me. That’s just a glimpse of how Pete approaches things, from the classroom to the football field on to a coach as an assistant and now where he is. He is going to attack every situation. You see where it has gotten him. That doesn’t happen by accident. It happened because he put things in place that were intentional and made things happen.”
How Golding ended up on the defensive side of the ball
While Golding played both sides of the ball in high school, when he came to Delta State, they first put him on the offensive side of the ball.
Mike Kershaw, who is the general manager for bowl-bound Kennesaw State University and the former head coach of Mississippi College, was an assistant at Delta State when Golding arrived in Cleveland.
“In our first game against Northwestern (La.) State, I put Pete in as a slot receiver, and he got a personal foul on the first play he was in the game,” Kershaw said. “He didn’t like what somebody said to him, so he took a shot at them. It was at that time that I told him, ‘I’m not sure your demeanor really fits the offensive side of the football.”
The next week, he was playing defensive back for DSU and went on to become a first-team all-Gulf South Conference player and led the team in tackles.
“The fact is, Pete is just real. We knew who he was immediately at Delta State, and that has never changed,” Kershaw said. “I don’t know anyone that knows Pete that doesn’t like him. Being real has served him well. I think he is the best recruiter in the country. He can talk the talk. He can go into any home and people will be comfortable with him because he isn’t fake. He’s not blowing smoke and telling you what you want to hear. That’s who he is in real life. He’s going to be Pete, and that’s how he’s gotten to where he has gotten.”
A perfect fit
Ron Roberts, who spent this season as the defensive coordinator at Florida, was coaching at Delta State as defensive coordinator, then head coach when Golding was a graduate assistant and then defensive coordinator there.
He believes Golding is a perfect fit, considering the chaos that has highlighted the last several weeks and the quick turn that has to be made in terms of hiring a new staff and recruiting for next year, all while preparing for next week’s game against Tulane.
“Look, the fact is Pete’s a winner,” Roberts said. “It doesn’t matter if you are playing golf or pool or whatever, he’s the guy you want on your team. Whatever he does, he is going to find a way to win. Plus, people love being around him. He has a charisma about him and a way of making people feel comfortable.”
As for where Roberts might be next season amid rumors of a hire in Oxford and elsewhere, Roberts told the Clarion Ledger on Dec. 10 that he has accepted the defensive coordinator job at Arkansas.
Regardless of what his next job will be, Roberts has no doubt Golding will succeed.
“Never count him out,” Roberts said. “He came to Delta State as an undersized guy that no one really gave a shot, and he proved everyone wrong. Now, I am sure there are people who will count him out (at Ole Miss). Let me put it this way, I wouldn’t bet against him.”
Cleveland ties
His ties to Cleveland and Mississippi go beyond Delta State. It’s probably no surprise his father was a football coach, including at Margaret Green Junior High School in Cleveland as well as two stints at East Side High School. In fact, his parents met at Delta State.
His parents divorced years ago and his mom, Tena Golding, went on to a long, distinguished career in in academics. She recently retired from Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond in mid-2025 after decades of service as provost and VP for Academic Affairs.
Pete still goes back to Cleveland on occasion to visit friends and play a round of golf, where his competitive nature still kicks in.
“If you think it’s a friendly game, think again,” Cleveland attorney John Cox said of Golding. “That part never turns off.”
Ross Reily is a writer for the Clarion Ledger, part of the USA TODAY Network. He can be reached at rreily@gannett.com or 601-573-2952. You can follow him on the X platform, formerly known as Twitter @GreenOkra1.
This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Get to know new Ole Miss coach Pete Golding and his MS background
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