Ole Miss Football Hires Key Personnel From SEC Rival, Joining Rebels Amid CFP Race

Pete Golding and the Ole Miss Rebels hire LSU assistant general manager Kelvin Bolden after spending one season in Baton Rouge.

Bolden traveled to Louisiana for the 2025 season where he reunited with LSU general manager Austin Thomas after the two developed a relationship during their two seasons at Ole Miss.

Thomas first helped bring Bolden to Ole Miss in 2022 during his two seasons as the Rebels’ football chief of staff and athletic administrator.

Then the two joined the team at LSU where Bolden arrived before the 2025 season – spending just one season in Baton Rouge where he now makes his return to Ole Miss.

In February, On3 Sports called the Magnolia State native one of college football’s “off-field recruiting stars” of the 2025 cycle.

“Recruiting Strategy Coordinator Kelvin Bolden is one of the best PR people in the SEC. The Rebels signed On3’s No. 19 class.”

The Perkinston High (Miss.) graduate paved his way as a vital part of the Rebels after running affairs in Mississippi with his ability to develop relationships. Now he is back at Oxford.

Before joining the Ole Miss program as a staff member, Bolden suited up for Southern Miss after a stint at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College.

With the Golden Eagles, he recorded 104 career catches for 1,393 yards and 13 touchdowns at Hattiesburg.

The LSU bio: Kelvin Bolden edition

Kelvin Bolden joined the LSU football team in July 2025 as senior associate athletics director/assistant general manager after working for three seasons at Ole Miss as recruiting strategy coordinator.

Bolden reunites with LSU senior associate AD Austin Thomas, who he worked with for two seasons at Ole Miss.

Prior to his tenure at Ole Miss, Bolden worked at UCF as an assistant coach of the wide receivers program and director of recruiting relations. He served as assistant director of player personnel at Florida in 2021 after two years at Arkansas as a graduate assistant.

A native of Ocean Springs, Mississippi, Bolden played wide receiver at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College and Southern Miss, where he graduated in 2011.

At Southern Miss, Bolden recorded 104 career catches for 1,393 yards and 13 touchdowns. He was inducted in 2020 into the Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College Athletic Hall of Fame and in 2023 into the Ocean Springs Sports Hall of Fame.

Bolden is the son of Kelvin Sr. and Michelle Bolden, and he is the father of Kameron Bolden.

More Ole Miss news:

Ole Miss makes final decision on Lane Kiffin coaching CFP as LSU Tigers pick up steam

Lane Kiffin’s potential replacements revealed as future with Ole Miss ‘in doubt’

Tony Vitello mocks Ole Miss Football’s Lane Kiffin in Goodbye to Tennessee

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