Leading Man

Ole Miss Head Coach Pete Golding talks about his expectations, coaching philosophy, favorite pastimes and more.

Written by Eugene Stockstill  |  Photos by Bruce Newman

Head coach Pete Golding sat in a hot seat late last season, the likes of which most will never know, leading the under-the-gun Ole Miss Rebels deep into the postseason and paving the way for what’s to come. We talked with Golding recently about football, life and this upcoming season. Here’s what he had to say.

What were the first things going through your head when you were named head coach?

The retention component was the first thing that went through my mind. The second thing that came to my mind was that Wednesday was signing day. I was not concerned at all as far as from the defensive standpoint, because I had a personal relationship with all those guys in the recruitment. But the offensive guys, they weren’t in my area. So, building that relationship with the parents and them and letting them know the stability of the program and our vision and all those types of things.

How do you cope day-to-day with the pressure of being the head coach?

Having been in this business now for 21 years, I don’t know if I define this as pressure as much as I would responsibility. And I think that responsibility changes based on what your title is. The only thing that changed for me was that now, you’re responsible for so many more people and not only them but also their families, making sure that we’re making the best decisions not only for our university and our players and myself but also for them and their families. So, I don’t think about the pressure. If you get in this game, I don’t think you focus on pressure. You focus on, ‘Hey, how can I do the best job to give us our best chance on the field and off the field?’

What are the core values of your coaching philosophy?

No. 1 to me is discipline, the self-discipline piece that we talk about to our players and our coaching staff. You have to get to a place to make yourself do things that you really don’t want to do because it’s for the betterment of you and the organization and your players. And then also on the flip side of that: There’s a lot of things that we want to do that we know we’re not supposed to do. Can we keep ourselves from doing it? If you don’t have discipline in whatever you do in your life, you’re not going to be very successful. To me, the competitive piece of things I call a competitive character, like this is a competitive game and they keep score. So, you know, competition is one of our core values. We’re going to compete in everything that we do. Hard work, obviously. I’ve never been able to do anything in my life without working harder than the other people that are doing it. So, there’s a piece there of interior motivation. I think it’s part of my responsibility to make sure I’m surrounding myself with people that are interiorly motivated.

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What are the biggest changes you EXPECT offensively this year?

I think the biggest thing is that we’ve got a lot of depth across the board that’s really, really different in different pieces. So, I think the combination of multiple different personnel groupings based on what this team looks like, I think every year is independent of its own. And I think you’ve got to do a really good job. Who do we have this year? What do they do well? What package are we going to create to put them in position to be able to excel and do well? So, I think we'll be a little more multiple in personnel, two-back sets, multiple tight-end sets. I think that the core of what the offense has been is still going to be there. We’re going to play extremely fast, make people get their cleats in the turf. We’ll probably have a few more alternative formations to cause a few more problems from a defensive standpoint, communication and shifts in motions. But I think the concept of hiring JDB (offensive coordinator John David Baker) was the stability of that locker room. Having the same language within reason and the concept staying the same. And I think every year you dress them up a little differently and try to streamline things.

How about the defensive side? Any big changes you see this year?

This is the most depth from a defensive standpoint that we’ve had. And so I think we’ve got to do a really good job of making sure that we’re using all our pieces. That’s kind of where the college model has changed. When you start paying players, you’ve got to make sure that the money is on the grass. I think we’ve got a lot of guys up front and at the second level that could play winning football. We’ve always believed in rotating players and having multiple packages, but I think you'll see more rotation this year.

What did you learn from your father (a longtime high school football coach)?

The biggest thing is do the best you can with what you got. I learned that at a very early age that regardless of whether I’ve been DII, I-AA or in the SEC, you’ve got the hand that you were dealt, and it’s your responsibility to do the best you can with it.

How do you relax?

When I’m outside of football, it’s all about my kids. What I really, really enjoy is being around them, doing what they love to do. All three of my kids really love to compete and be outdoors. And so for me, whether it’s on the golf course with my boys or watching my girl at a gymnastics meet or having the availability to take them on vacation and see them smile and laugh and enjoy new experiences.

What are the biggest keys to success ON THE FIELD this year?

No. 1, humility. It’s easy sometimes to climb the mountain. It’s harder to stay there. Awareness is really important. I always talk about blind spots, what you think you are and what you really are. You’ve got to have humility to be able to see that, but you also have to have awareness. It’s really, really important for us to understand what it takes to win and not think about winning. That focus is really, really important to me.