Ole Miss defensive coordinator Pete Golding signed a 3-year contract extension back in February that will make him the highest-paid assistant in the SEC this season, according to documents obtained by the Jackson Clarion-Ledger.
Golding will earn $2.55 million for the 2025 campaign, a $300,000 raise from his 2024 salary. LSU defensive coordinator Blake Baker previously held the mark of the SEC's highest-paid assistant after signing a 3-year deal with a flat $2.5 million salary in January 2024.
Golding's base salary will bump to $2.6 million in 2026 and $2.7 million in 2027 before the contract expires on Jan. 31, 2028. He'll still have a ways to go to catch Penn State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles, who signed a 3-year contract this winter worth $3.1 million per year. In addition to Baker, Golding also leapfrogged Michigan's Wink Martindale and came in ahead of Ohio State's Matt Patricia for the second-highest paid assistant in college football. (Utah's Morgan Scalley will earn $2.6 million this year, $500,000 of which is a one-time retention bonus.)
Golding's bonus structure maxes out at $200,000 per year, with a $150,000 reward for helping the Rebels to their first national championship since 1962.
A former safety at Delta State, a Division II school in Mississippi, Golding finished his playing career in 2005, began coaching in 2006, and was a defensive coordinator by 2007 at D-II Tusculum. He later became the defensive coordinator at Delta State, Southeastern Louisiana, UTSA and Alabama before joining Ole Miss in 2023. He was the defensive coordinator for Nick Saban's sixth and final national championship squad at Alabama in 2020.
Golding earned the extension by fielding one of the best defenses in school history at Ole Miss in 2024. The Rebels limited opponents to 4.48 yards per play, fourth fewest in the country, and trailed only national champion Ohio State with a 14.4 per game scoring average. Ole Miss was especially strong against the run, finishing a fraction off the national lead by limiting opponents to 80.5 yards per game while leading the nation with a 2.29 yards per carry average. Only seven opposing runners crossed the goal line in 456 attempts.
Ole Miss, ranked No. 21 in the AP poll, opens the 2025 campaign Aug. 30 against Georgia State (7:45 p.m. ET, SEC Network).
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