Ole Miss football reportedly adding Alabama DC Pete Golding

Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin will officially be making a staff change. After days of swirling rumors about the Ole Miss football head coach adding Alabama Defensive Coordinator Pete Golding to the Rebels staff, the rumors have reportedly been confirmed.

Golding will be leaving Alabama to assume the same role for fellow SEC west foe Ole Miss. No official word has been made yet on Chris Partridge who served as the Rebel’s defensive play-caller in 2022.

The Rebels needed a change on the defensive side of the ball to take some pressure off their offense, which averaged over 33 points per game. The Ole Miss defense ranked 57th in the country last season in scoring defense, allowing 25.5 points per game and 332 total points against.

Under Golding, the Crimson Tide defensive unit ranked inside the top 10 in the country giving up only 18 points per game. That number was good enough to rank in the top three in the SEC along with their passing yards allowed at 187.8 yards per game. They gave up 318 total yards per game and held their opponents to a rate of 30.3 percent conversions on third downs.

Pete Golding served as the defensive coordinator for Alabama for the last five seasons while he also coached the inside linebackers. Golding began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Delta State University and first became a defensive coordinator in 2007 at Tusculum College.

After two years with Tusculum, Golding returned to Delta State as the defensive coordinator and has also served as the defensive coordinator at Southeastern Louisiana and UTSA before being brought on by Alabama Coach Nick Saban in 2017.

The Rebels had to outshoot opponents in high-scoring affairs week in and week out last year and the Ole Miss football faithful can only hope that this hire gives the Rebel’s defense the upgrade it needs to continue to compete with the SEC west heavyweights.