Ole Miss coaching situation still in flux with College Football Playoff semis looming
Ole Miss coach Pete Golding says his program is stocked with capable coaches should any of the assistants leave before Thursday's game.
Ole Miss coach Pete Golding does not yet know for sure if the six assistant coaches Lane Kiffin is taking to LSU will be back to coach Thursday’s national semifinal against Miami at the Fiesta Bowl.
He did say, though, that he expects they will be there for as long as the Rebels’ College Football Playoff run continues.
Ole Miss held its first practice for the Fiesta Bowl on Saturday. It was a light walk-through, Golding said.
“Communication has been constant the entire time,” Golding said Saturday of his conversations with those assistants. “They have every opportunity, like they have up to this point, to be able to make that decision. So week in and week out, I don’t dictate whether they do that or not, because they’re not employed by me. Up to this point, that is how it’s been, and that’s my expectation.”
The six assistants headed to LSU are offensive coordinator Charlie Weis Jr., tight ends coach Joe Cox, passing game coordinator George McDonald, running backs coach Kevin Smith, slot receivers coach Sawyer Jordan and quarterbacks coach Dane Stevens.
Asked what Ole Miss’ backup plan would be if Kiffin doesn’t allow those assistants to return for Thursday’s game, Golding said: “We’ve got a lot of coaches here. This building is filled with guys that have been elite coaches everywhere they’ve been. Once (the NCAA) eliminated the rule to where there’s not 10 coaches, as long as they’re employed here, you can have a million coaches that can instruct on the field. So at every college across the country, right, a lot of guys that y’all don’t know by name are actually the ones instructing and teaching players, and so we have an elite staff here that’s been together for a long time that knows the ins and the outs.”
Golding said any coaching changes “would not be any reason for success or lack of success within this game. … It’s gonna have no impact on the game, but y’all can keep blowing it up and make it a big deal.”
When will he have an answer from LSU?
“I don’t know. Do you know if you’re gonna show up at work tomorrow?” Golding said. “We don’t know. I mean, it’s grown people making decisions, so I have no idea. So we were gonna go out there and spot the ball. We got plenty of people in this building that showed up this morning. We’ll be just fine.”