What's difference in working for Lane Kiffin compared to Nick Saban? 'A lot,' Pete Golding says
OXFORD — There are similarities new Ole Miss football defensive coordinator Pete Golding can find between his new head coach, Lane Kiffin, and his previous one: Alabama's Nick Saban.
Both are extremely intelligent, Golding said Friday in his first meeting with the media since he was hired. Both demand discipline within their program, he added. And they share similar mannerisms. Golding believes Ole Miss employs many of the same tools that helped Saban turn Alabama into the program that has won six national titles since 2009.
Like Golding, Kiffin is also a former Saban assistant. He spent three seasons coordinating the Alabama offense before departing to become the coach at FAU and later Ole Miss.
So, what's different?
"A lot," Golding said. "Especially in the meeting format."
Despite the lessons he brought from Saban, Kiffin has not tried to become him, as some former Saban assistants have, Golding explained.
"I think it's very easy, once you've been in a place for a long period of time, to go somewhere else and try to run it exactly the same. And it's not," Golding said. "You don't have the same resources. It's not the same people. It's not the same place.
"I think Coach Kiffin does a really good job of putting his own personality on the program, and still not getting away from the culture and the foundation, the discipline, the toughness and all those things that you need for a winning program, but still having his own personality. I think he and I both learned a lot from (Alabama)."
Golding arrived in Tuscaloosa from UTSA in 2018. He made what many outsiders considered to be an unconventional move during the offseason, departing Alabama to become Ole Miss' new defensive coordinator.
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The Delta State product explained that family factors drove that decision.
"I think you get so locked into a career and you get focused on the next step," Golding said. "... When you're married and you got three kids, sometimes you lose the value of what you're really about. Having won national championships and a lot of SEC championships and all of that, I still wanted to go somewhere my family could be more involved.
"When you can go somewhere that's already had success, that I think is very close to being elite year-in and year-out, and feel like you can have an impact and you can help that, especially one your side of the ball, while still being somewhere that your wife wants to be, and still do what you love to do, I think that's special."
David Eckert covers Ole Miss for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at deckert@gannett.com or reach him on Twitter @davideckert98.
This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Why Pete Golding left Alabama for Ole Miss football, Lane Kiffin
