The pettinus and immaturity has reached an all-time high by Ole Miss head coach Pete Golding, as a day removed from Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney standing in front of the media and the nation and ripping into Ole Miss staffers, Golding himself, agents and anyone else that would listen, as Golding took to X (formally Twitter) to post what appeared to be a shot at Swinney and Clemson
Golding posted a single tweet of what looks like a dolphin, but is meant to be a shark.
🦈
— Pete Golding (@CoachGolding) January 24, 2026
One normally would not read into an emoji. Still, after the events of Friday, one has a hard time not thinking that a day removed from Swinney's damning allegations against Golding and Ole Miss for tampering in the transfer portal, and poaching signee Luke Ferrelli from the Tigers, this is more than a subtle response.
Former Cal linebacker Luke Ferrelli signed with Clemson and even started classes at the university. That didn't stop Golding and the Rebels from recruiting him, which was wild. The 'backer has since joined Ole Miss and Swinney is not happy about it. During a Friday presser, he's ripping Ole Miss and Golding for how they handled things:
“There’s tampering, and then there’s blatant tampering,” Swinney explained during a nearly 20-minute answer. “Tampering 101 is when you’re talking to kids who aren’t in the portal. Tampering 201 is when you’ve already negotiated the deal with the kids not in the portal. Tampering 301 is when you’ve got a kid who’s going in the portal to sign somewhere, move there, going to classes, and you’re texting them while they’re in class. That’s like a whole other level of tampering.”
"I've always just kind of stayed in my lane and handled my business, and I've stayed focused on Clemson, but I am not going to let someone just flat out tamper with my program," a passionate Swinney said during his press conference. "If you tamper with my players, I'm going to turn you in."