Pete Golding walked off of the main stage at Southeastern Conference Media Days in the Tampa Marriott to an unorthodox applause.With Ole Miss having been front and center since its semifinal loss in the Fiesta Bowl, the Rebels’ first-year head coach was bound to get some uncomfortable forms of questions at the media frenzy event. Not only did Golding ace every one of the questions posed, he gave the conference a sizable glimpse into who he is. If there was any media training for Golding going into the event, it was thrown out the window rather quickly. Golding wasn’t buttoned up or guarded like most coaches can be at the event when having to face some tough questions. We still heard the cursing, analogies, honesty and comfortability during Golding’s time at the podium. Key MomentsOle Miss Rebels head coach Pete Golding speaks to the press during SEC Football Kickoff Media Day at the Tampa Marriott. | USA Today The first inevitable instance came when Golding was asked about the topic of tampering. With the help of Clemson’s Dabo Swinney, Ole Miss was put on blast by some for its involvement in Luke Ferrelli’s transfer process. “We got a compliance department. They get paid to do their job. They do a really good job. It's our responsibility to recruit really good players, coach them extremely hard, get them ready to win football games, so we're going continue to recruit really good players in the high school market and the portal market and continue to do it how we've done it.A follow up was then asked about how Golding would fix the issue. The Rebels’ head coach was blunt and turned the question into a relatable moment. “Would you quit your job before interviewing for another job or being offered another job? No. Nobody would,” Golding pointed out. “But we have a portal we can go in with a do not contact —- I'm going to quit my job where I'm getting paid and I'm going to go in saying I need a new job, which nobody can call me to interview. What have we created?”“Let's not act like recruiting in college football for the last 100 years is the most moral thing. What are we talking about here?....But that's in any job. Like coaches, we're under contract. You don't think other ADs are calling us during the year? Same ones that are bitching about all this stuff are the same ones calling coaches to come to other schools, so it's everywhere in every profession. I am not saying I have all the answers. We go by the rules of the program and the flow.”Immediately following the initial question about tampering, Golding was also inevitably asked about his relationship with former Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin. “Lane and I are good. I did not know Coach Kiffin prior to taking the Ole Miss job. Everybody assumes Alabama, Alabama. I wasn't at Alabama when Coach Kiffin was. I didn't come to Ole Miss because of Coach Kiffin. I came to Ole Miss to be at Ole Miss to raise three kids. So our relationship really grew in those three and a half years and he did a lot for me and I was very, very appreciative how he treated me and my family. I learned a lot from him. I have no ill will towards Coach Kiffin,” Golding reiterated. “He texts me on a regular basis and there are certain things we'll talk about and certain things we don't talk about. He's very competitive just like I'm very competitive. So obviously a lot of this went in a different direction. Now he has a new job with new responsibilities and he's going to be super competitive to be the best he can at that job, which is his job.”“Like I told an Ole Miss group the other day, all right, in 2021 if you said you could look in 2025 and you're about to be 11-1 and go to the playoff, would you take it if your coach was leaving? Hell yeah. You would. Everybody won from it. It's okay.”“Keith made a great hire. He did a great job. Every place isn't for everybody. That's coach, players, that's your job, that's everything. That's okay. So throughout the process, I'll be the first one to tell you I told him I would think he was dumb if he was to leave. I wanted him to stay. It was a selfish decision because I loved being the DC where I was at. He decided what was better for him and his family and that's for him to decide. No ill will towards him at all. Wish him the best of luck. We play him like every other SEC team, and we are going to both show up and spot the ball and play.”With so many directions that could’ve gone, including a passive public relations type of response, Golding handled it about as well as anyone could expect. Yet all he did was speak truthfully from his unique perspective. Why did it look so easy and comfortable for Golding at the SEC’s podium on Wednesday? Well, he answered that question too when asked by SEC Network studio host Dari Nowkhah. “Number one this is my ninth year in this league and I’ve been fortunate to be learning a lot of really good guys that do it the right way and that I have a lot of respect for. I also think things become easy based on your intentions,” Golding later said during an interview with the SEC Network. “For me, getting into and having been in the league for nine years and seeing guys do it on a consistent basis. Being around Coach Saban and as professionally as he is, he did it his way, but it was still him. That was the benefit for me of going from that to Oxford with Kiff. What I appreciated the most about Kiff, it wasn’t the same blueprint as it was in Tuscaloosa because Kiff ain’t Nick Saban and Oxford is not Tuscaloosa. “That really helped me to ‘Hey, if I ever were to have an opportunity to be fortunate enough to get one of these jobs, you don’t have to try to be somebody else’. If telling the truth is what you believe, which I believe in, then it’s okay to tell the truth. I think there’s a comfort there that you do feel stable in your job. That’s one thing about being at Ole Miss, I knew I went for the right reasons and was good with being a defensive coordinator. To me, it’s just about telling the truth…Regardless of our fans or not, I just let the truth be out there and tell it like it is and figure it out. If you like it great, if you don’t — I mean shit they don’t like some of my third down calls. Okay, good, we’re gonna have another third down.”Golding won’t be making his head coaching debut in the Rebels’ season-opener against Louisville on Sept. 6, which should ease some nerves, but Ole Miss’ head coach made it crystal clear that the Cardinals will have the full respect and attention from his group. The Rebels are roughly two weeks away from opening their first fall camp under the direction of Golding. 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