OXFORD, Miss. — A relatively quiet offseason on Lane Kiffin’s coaching staff is quiet no longer.
On Saturday afternoon, Mississippi officially announced the hiring of Alabama football defensive coordinator Pete Golding to fill the same role in Oxford.
“We are excited to add a championship caliber coach like Pete Golding to our staff,” Kiffin said in a statement. “At multiple stops in his career, Coach Golding has directed some of college football’s top defenses. He is also an outstanding recruiter and understands the level of talent necessary to compete at the highest level.”
Golding had served as a defensive play-caller for Nick Saban since 2018.
After winning the national championship with the SEC’s top-scoring defense in 2020, Alabama has finished with the third- and second-ranked defense in the conference over the past two seasons.
Alabama defensive coordinator Pete Golding will assume the same role at Mississippi.
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Mississippi’s statement did not mention the future of previous co-defensive coordinators Chris Partridge and Maurice Crum.
Golding, who has previously coached at Southern Miss and Delta State, got his first FBS defensive coordinator position with Texas-San Antonio in 2016. Since then, his defenses have never finished outside the top three among conference peers in points allowed.
He has been a strong recruiter. 247Sports credits him with signing 15 top-100 prospects over the course of his career, including four five-star athletes. Recently, he helped lead Alabama’s pursuit of Suntarine Perkins, a Mississippi signee and the top player in Mississippi in this cycle. He spoke to…
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