Pete Golding was named as the successor to Lane Kiffin as the college football coach at Ole Miss. You would not know he received the full-time job based on his social media, or lack thereof.
The 41-year-old does not at all care about his presence on the internet unlike the man who came before him.
These two college football coaches are on opposite sides of the online spectrum. They will coach against each other for the first time next season.
Lane Kiffin is active on X and Instagram.
As of Dec. 3, 2025, Lane Kiffin has either posted or reposted more than 19,800 times on X and 655 times on Instagram. He has more than 823,000 followers on the social media platform formally known as Twitter and more than 240,000 followers on the social media platform that falls under the Meta umbrella.
The 50-year-old head coach at LSU loves to share motivational posts about his team and his new sober-minded lifestyle or updates about his family. However, he is best known for his trolling.
Kiffin, like Taylor Swift, often posts cryptic messages or images on the internet. Some of the posts come with an actual hidden meaning or easter egg. Some of the posts are purposefully crafted to get the people going. For example, he posted an Ole Miss hat that read ‘Kiffin 2026’ while actively being courted by LSU and Florida, just a few hours before the Rebels played the Gators one day before the Kiffin family flew to Gainesville to gather intel on the patriarch’s potential future place of employment.
His ‘Freeze Warning’ bit is (probably) a reoccurring direct jab at Hugh Freeze.
Those are just two of countless examples but you get the idea. Lane Kiffin loves to post on X and Instagram.
There is no other coach in any sport who is more active on social media. College football fans try to dissect his posts like Swifties.
Ole Miss head coach Pete Golding doesn’t do social media.
The University of Mississippi chose to elevate defensive coordinator Pete Golding to head coach when Kiffin departed for Louisiana State on Sunday. On a permanent basis. Not just as the interim.
Golding has less than 100,000 followers on X and he does not have an account on Instagram.
That in itself presents a stark contrast to his predecessor. As do his posts.
While Kiffin post inspirational quotes and memes, Golding only posts one emoji: 🦈. Every single one of his posts since Jan. 17, 2023 is the shark emoji— except for two.
On Aug. 18, 2023, he posted two sharks and a winky face.
He reposted athletic director Keith Carter on Tuesday.
That’s it. The shark emoji typically represents a player’s commitment to Ole Miss. And prior to his time with the Rebels, he would only post the elephant emoji for the same thing with the Crimson Tide.
To go even one step further, Lane Kiffin changed his bio to “Head Coach of @LSUfootball #GeauxTigers” within 48 hours of taking the job. Pete Golding’s bio still reads as “Defensive Coordinator.” That’s it.
The focus in Oxford is only on the task at hand, the College Football Playoff.