Fresh off of becoming the highest-paid assistant in the SEC, Ole Miss defensive coordinator Pete Golding is looking to continue building his track record of success.
Golding signed a three-year contract extension worth $2.55 million annually, as reported by the Clarion Ledger, making him one of college football’s top earners as an assistant. Currently, Penn State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles leads the sport in the assistant salary realm. Knowles was poached by the Nittany Lions after serving in the same capacity at Ohio State and helping lead the Buckeyes to a national championship in 2024.
Golding’s pay raise and extension come after Ole Miss had arguably its best defensive season in program history, as was evidenced by the number of players who heard their name called during the 2025 NFL Draft. The Rebels boasted the nation’s No. 2 rushing defense, allowing 80.5 yards on the ground per game, and the No. 2 scoring defense, holding opponents to an average of 14.38 points per contest. Ole Miss also had the most sacks per game at 4, according to NCAA stats.
But the success of last year’s defense wasn’t the only appeal for Golding, a native of Louisiana and Delta State University graduate. Golding’s wife, Carolyn, is a proud Ole Miss graduate. Golding noted that it was a “family decision” for him to depart Nick Saban’s staff at Alabama and take the opportunity to run Lane Kiffin’s defense in Oxford. The contract extension, however, is a result of the hard work by players and staffers working with Pete, the defensive coordinator contends.
“This is where I want to be. This is why we came here,” Golding told the media on Thursday. “I think that’s a direct reflection of the players and the coaching staff. That has nothing to do with me, but obviously, when you come here and want to be here, the commitment on both sides is awesome to see.”
When arriving at Ole Miss in 2023, Golding faced obstacles in implementing his system, given that he was a brand-new face in a sea of players unfamiliar with his coaching style. Though the Rebels shone that year, posting their first-ever 11-win season and dominating a New Year’s Six bowl, it was the offense that took front and center stage. That all changed in 2024 when Golding’s defense, led by a collection of veterans and high-level transfers, was one of the nation’s most dominant units.
Among the top performers who went on to pursue a career in the professional ranks were defensive tackles Walter Nolen and JJ Pegues, defensive ends Jared Ivey and Princely Umanmielen, and linebacker Chris Paul Jr., along with defensive backs Trey Amos and John Saunders Jr. Their departure left Ole Miss with little returning talent.
A regression, even a slight one, in 2025 would be natural given the amount of talent Ole Miss lost on defense. But to Golding, the talent reeled in through high school recruiting in years past, along with hauls made in the transfer portal, will form a product that is on par with the one displayed a year ago. Especially on the defensive line, where the Rebels became a household name nationally, the output is expected to remain the same.
“It’s a really exciting group to me. It’s a really good combination of young returners and transfer players. I think they’re doing a great job of jelling right now. There’s no depth chart for us right now, but we’ve got some guys competing that are taking the right steps. I think it’s a really good mesh of guys,” Golding said.
“From a front standpoint, I don’t think we’re going to take a step back from last year. There’s going to be some different names, but obviously, the big thing on those guys is that they’ve been in the system,” he continued. “I think we’re going to have some guys, and y’all know their names already, having been big-time recruits, that are going to have to have big years for us, and I think they’ve been practicing really well.”
At defensive tackle, Ole Miss returns Zxavian Harris, Jamarious Brown, and William Echoles to fill the impactful shoes of Pegues and Nolen. Golding highlighted that he didn’t see a need to add to that position group via the portal because of his confidence in the current cast. At defensive end, the staff hit landed Princewill Umanmielen, Princely’s brother, from Nebraska and Da’Shawn Womack from LSU to boost the pass rush.
Looking at the linebacker’s room that lacks Paul’s innovative skillset, a bevy of newcomers have had the opportunity to glean from veterans who have earned quality snaps in Golding’s system. Standout Suntarine Perkins, who has served as a hybrid pass rusher and quarterback spy, joins TJ Dottery in readying Tahj Chambers from Missouri State, Andrew Jones from Grambling, and Jaden Yates from Marshall.
While Amos’ reign as a lockdown corner at Ole Miss was only a one-year commitment, the Rebels still have a veteran presence to help shorten the learning curve for new additions. Chris Graves Jr. is the elder statesman of a defensive backs room that added Ricky Fletcher from South Alabama, Antonio Kite from Auburn, and Sage Ryan from LSU. At safety, Arkansas transfer Jaylon Braxton and Kapena Gusjiken out of Washington State are likely to hold down the fort in the absence of an injured TJ Banks.
What makes Golding confident in the product that the combination of returners and newcomers will display on the field in the coming months is the staff’s approach to recruiting the portal — one that has evolved. Reminiscing about a blowout loss Ole Miss had at Georgia in 2023, Golding mentioned that a bevy of his players had transferred in from schools from lower conferences and were debilitated by the unfamiliar atmosphere.
After dropping that game by 35 points, Golding’s vision for the future additions to his defense had shifted. Not only did he want players from power conferences, he also desired starters who played meaningful snaps and those who had competed in big moments. The same strategy was applied to his approach to 2025, and Ole Miss reloaded once again.
“We don’t take guys in the portal that weren’t starters from where they’re at. If you’re not good enough to play for them, you’re probably not good enough to play for us, regardless of what team you’re on. I think with that comes experience,” Golding said. “That year, obviously, I was looking at ‘SEC first,’ based on [the fact that] they’ve been in that stadium before. They’re not going to take a picture when they get there. They’ve been in big moments. They’ve been in bowl games. They’ve been in all of those games.
Ole Miss will return to the gridiron on Aug. 30 in a home non-conference matchup against Georgia State. The defense will be rife with new names for which fans will inevitably become familiar. Amid the newness, according to Golding, the expectation of excellence that was established last year remains the same.
“Those guys did a tremendous job last year, but that was last year … The legacy of that team is over. That defense is over. This defense hasn’t done anything yet. The standard’s the same, but we’ve got to come to work every day. I think we’ve got enough talent in the room, but we had some tough guys in that room that had a high football IQ and loved to compete and play football. I think we’ve got the same type of guys right now,” Golding said.
“I think you’re going to see some different names and some different numbers and see a lot of the same results.”
