Florida finalized its next head coach just before the Lane Kiffin domino fell elsewhere in the SEC. On Tuesday, newly appointed head coach Jon Sumrall addressed the media for the first time, with questions inevitably touching on Kiffin’s departure and its implications.

“Well, a lot of respect for Lane. Lane did a great job at Ole Miss, but he’s not the only reason they’ve had success. They’ve really put together an elite roster in college football. Their NIL rev share stuff is aligned with anybody in America. And so they’ve got a great roster. All of their coaches are staying for the game.

“So Pete Golding is the new head coach moving forward. He’s been the defensive coordinator. He’s going to call the defense. Charlie Weis Jr, who’s been the offensive coordinator. He’s going to call the offense. Jake Schoonover over there is the special teams coordinator. He’s calling the special team. So all three phases, they’re going to have the same primary play callers. So nothing’s really changed in that regard.”

Ole Miss, in his view, is built to absorb the loss of a headline name because the foundation underneath remains intact. Pete Golding will continue calling the defense. For Saturday’s College Football Playoff matchup, the Rebels will operate with the same primary decision-makers they’ve relied on all season. That continuity is the byproduct of years of intentional investment.

For starters, when Kiffin joined Ole Miss, the program was hardly trying to punch above its weight in the NIL. Ole Miss’s executive director of the Grove Collective, Walker Jones, had a tall task. Bringing in donors, persuading boosters, and doing crowdfunding to build a winning roster. But courtesy of Jones’ aggressive push, the collective eventually surpassed $10 million by late 2022. Thereafter, the collective raised $2 million in a single drive in 2023, and it grew, boasting over 6,000+ subscribers. The financial alignment translated directly to roster construction.

In 2023, owing to Walker Jones’ efforts, Kiffin brought in 24 high-profile transfers headlined by players like Tre Harris and Jon Saunders Jr. and the momentum never slowed. Thereafter, subsequent top classes followed the footsteps of the 2023 class as Grove Collective emerged as the top-10 collective in the nation. Just last year, the program invested roughly $10 million in the roster.

“Chaos was our friend. We embraced it, it served us well, and has made us a nationally relevant program in this new era. I think it’s built to last. Coach Kiffin was a huge part of that, but as we turn the page to Pete Golding, the pieces, infrastructure, and mentality are all in place for us to continue to be relevant and a factor,” said Jones after Kiffin’s departure.

As for hiring top coaches, Ole Miss didn’t leave any stone unturned in offering competitive salaries. The Rebels allocated $8.22 million for the assistants’ salary pool for Kiffin. That spending power is what allowed Kiffin to lure Pete Golding away from Alabama and bring in Charlie Weis Jr. from USF. The result is a staff that remains intact despite Kiffin’s departure.

Now, Golding steps into the head coaching role with the same roster, the same assistants, and the same infrastructure that powered Ole Miss to a playoff berth. While his head coaching résumé is untested, the environment around him is anything but unfamiliar. Sumrall’s comments captured the reality Ole Miss is betting on. The Rebels didn’t build a program dependent on one personality. They built one designed to function — and win — in college football’s new economy. Lane Kiffin may have moved on to LSU. But the system he helped elevate in Oxford hasn’t gone anywhere.

Ole Miss will still fly high without Lane Kiffin

Now, Pete Golding is the new head coach at Ole Miss. Of course, the 41-year-old is inexperienced in the head coaching world. But he has the benefit of having the same roster, the same staff, and the same environment, which he helped build. It won’t be too far-fetched to expect Golding to do a dominant job against Tulane, despite the program being 11-2 with Jake Retzlaff under center. Even going forward, Golding will have all the resources Kiffin had.

“Our program’s bigger than any one person. We have reimagined how to be successful in this new era of the portal and NIL. The way we’ve used the collective, the fan base, the brand of Ole Miss, now revenue sharing, roster management,” said Walker Jones. Kiffin might have led the team on the field and was at the center of it. But in no way was it a one-man job.

The whole Oxford community was behind him, even planning to build a statue for him, costing $50k. The program gave Kiffin almost a blank cheque in every aspect. And his family had a warm time in the community, which loved Kiffin dearly. A setback in Oxford wouldn’t have defined Kiffin. But in LSU, the eyeballs, the scrutiny, and the pressure are too hot. Kiffin may have left Ole Miss for the “best job in football,” but success isn’t a guarantee.

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We have seen coaches like Lincoln Riley doing the same. The now USC head coach ditched Oklahoma for the USC Trojans and a bigger paycheck. Oklahoma is now in the playoffs this year. The Trojans are still toiling with 8-9 win seasons back to back. Can Kiffin also face the same fate in Baton Rouge? Only time will tell.