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07/22 15:49 CDT Golding of Ole Miss says he has no ill will toward Kiffin,
shares candid opinion about tampering
Golding of Ole Miss says he has no ill will toward Kiffin, shares candid
opinion about tampering
By EDDIE PELLS
AP National Writer
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) --- Unearthed at Ole Miss after an offseason filled with tales
of betrayal, unkept promises and how college football's ugly underbelly can
tear at the fabric of an institution comes this surprise from the new coach
there --- Pete Golding:
"I have no ill will toward Coach Kiffin," Golding said Wednesday at SEC Media
Days.
Golding was the up-and-coming defensive coordinator who was asked to pick up
the pieces when his old boss, Lane Kiffin, abruptly left for LSU just as the
historically good Rebels were about to embark on their trip to the College
Football Playoff last season.
Partly thanks to the fact that the coach had two of the game's most explosive
players in quarterback Trinidad Chambliss and running back Kewan Lacy, Golding
racked up two wins, and almost a third, in those playoffs.
That made Mississippi's decision to give him a five-year contract right after
Kiffin's departure look like a stroke of genius. It also gave Golding a spot at
the podium in Tampa, where he opened up and entertained --- and became an early
favorite to "win" the 38th version of the SEC's annual preseason football
gabfest.
"It's the ex, right? There's always going to be the history," the coach said.
"Do you have an ex? Are you married? Well, if you do get married and you have
an ex that your wife knows about, like, she doesn't ever end; she's never dead.
"She's always going to get brought up, and so that's kind of where it is right
now. That's always going to be there a little bit, which is fun to a certain
degree."
Fun, indeed. And it's no sure thing that Ole Miss is going to take a step back
from last year's 13-2 record and its trip to the national semifinals just
because its celebrity coach, Kiffin, has moved west. (By the way, Ole Miss
hosts LSU on Sept. 19.)
Chambliss is returning off a 3,900-yard, 22-touchdown season and a win in
court, where he was granted a sixth year of eligibility. Lacy's 73-yard
touchdown run in Mississippi's semifinal loss to Miami capped a playoff stretch
that identified him as a first-tier threat. The Rebels have launched Heisman
Trophy campaigns for both.
"You know they're really good players," Golding said. "I'm not going to talk to
you about that. Ya'll already know that."
Golding flicks away questions about tampering allegations Golding was equally colorful about tampering, a topic the Rebels were drawn into this offseason when Clemson's Dabo Sweeney accused Ole Miss of unethically luring linebacker Luke Ferelli, who had barely moved from Cal to Death Valley when he suddenly bailed for Mississippi. Without getting into the details of the Ferelli affair --- which served as a rare example of a coach calling out another coach for tampering --- Golding pointed to one of the key problems about the transfer portal, saying it's only natural a player would want to know he has a place to go before he leaves his current school. Add agents into the mix, who can easily circumvent rules that prohibit contacting the player, and chaos ensues. "By design it's put a lot of people in bad positions," Golding said. "Let's not act like recruiting in college football for the last 100 years is the most moral thing."
Golding is a new homeowner --- it's Kiffin's old house When it comes to ethics and morals, though, the conversation down South seems to funnel back to Ole Miss these days. And Golding and Kiffin. Kiffin's move, the pundits say, showed college sports' money-grubbing opportunistic side at its worst. The much-debated bill circulating in Congres s hoping to regulate the industry includes what's known as a "Lane Kiffin Rule" that restricts when coaches can leave for new jobs. It has made for great headlines. Golding's reaction to it --- golden, as well. And in a sign that all may truly be forgiven, ESPN reported that not long after Kiffin bailed for Baton Rouge, Golding bought his house in Oxford. He said he and Kiffin text frequently, and there's a friendship there that goes beyond coaching. "I can separate the two. Some people can't," Golding said. "I probably shouldn't say this, but I don't care, all right? Like I told an Ole Miss group the other day, ?In 2021, if you said you could look in 2025 and you're about to be 11-1 and go to the playoff, would you take it if your coach was leaving?' Hell yeah. You would. "Everybody won from it. It's OK." ___ Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football
Golding flicks away questions about tampering allegations Golding was equally colorful about tampering, a topic the Rebels were drawn into this offseason when Clemson's Dabo Sweeney accused Ole Miss of unethically luring linebacker Luke Ferelli, who had barely moved from Cal to Death Valley when he suddenly bailed for Mississippi. Without getting into the details of the Ferelli affair --- which served as a rare example of a coach calling out another coach for tampering --- Golding pointed to one of the key problems about the transfer portal, saying it's only natural a player would want to know he has a place to go before he leaves his current school. Add agents into the mix, who can easily circumvent rules that prohibit contacting the player, and chaos ensues. "By design it's put a lot of people in bad positions," Golding said. "Let's not act like recruiting in college football for the last 100 years is the most moral thing."
Golding is a new homeowner --- it's Kiffin's old house When it comes to ethics and morals, though, the conversation down South seems to funnel back to Ole Miss these days. And Golding and Kiffin. Kiffin's move, the pundits say, showed college sports' money-grubbing opportunistic side at its worst. The much-debated bill circulating in Congres s hoping to regulate the industry includes what's known as a "Lane Kiffin Rule" that restricts when coaches can leave for new jobs. It has made for great headlines. Golding's reaction to it --- golden, as well. And in a sign that all may truly be forgiven, ESPN reported that not long after Kiffin bailed for Baton Rouge, Golding bought his house in Oxford. He said he and Kiffin text frequently, and there's a friendship there that goes beyond coaching. "I can separate the two. Some people can't," Golding said. "I probably shouldn't say this, but I don't care, all right? Like I told an Ole Miss group the other day, ?In 2021, if you said you could look in 2025 and you're about to be 11-1 and go to the playoff, would you take it if your coach was leaving?' Hell yeah. You would. "Everybody won from it. It's OK." ___ Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football
