Notre Dame DC Al Golden returns to Cincinnati Bengals after three seasons

Marcus Freeman previously hired Al Golden from the Cincinnati Bengals as his first defensive coordinator in 2022 (Photo by Jeff Douglas, Inside ND Sports)

In the aftermath of Notre Dame’s valiant run at a national title, culminating Monday night in Atlanta, a normally all-pragmatic Al Golden let his emotions flow.

About the woulda-coulda-shouldas in the 34-23 loss to Ohio State at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, about his three-year run and the growth he’s seen in head coach Marcus Freeman, in the promising future of the Irish he seemingly so strongly believes in.

Even if it will be without him.

As speculated and highly anticipated in the run-up to the CFP National Championship Game, the 55-year-old Golden will be the next defensive coordinator for the NFL’s Cincinnati Bengals. ESPN’s Pete Thamel was the first to report the news.

The Bengals were the team Freeman hired Golden away from in 2022 after Cincinnati reached the Super Bowl in February of 2022. In Cincinnati, Golden will be reunited with Bengals head coach Zac Taylor, who hired the former Penn State tight end in 2020 to coach linebackers for the Cincinnati franchise.

The Colts Neck, N.J., native spent two years with the Bengals and six in the NFL total after being fired midway through his fifth season at the Miami (Fla.) Hurricanes’ head coach.

Embed content not availableManage privacy settings

Notre Dame (14-2 in 2024) is set to open the 2025 season against Golden’s former team at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla., on Aug. 30.

A strong candidate to be ND’s defensive coordinator that day against the Hurricanes is the current Irish defensive backs coach Mike Mickens. The 37-year-old University of Cincinnati grad and former standout cornerback just finished his fifth season coaching at ND.

And while Mickens would have his own schematic tweaks, it would figure to be a continuation of what Notre Dame is now defensively than it would be a makeover.

The Irish finished 11th nationally in total defense, just a half yard a game from being in the top 10, and four tied for fourth in scoring defense. And after never finishing at the top of the pass-efficiency defense category, the Irish have now done it two seasons in a row.

In Monday night’s game, Ohio State shredded that defense to the tune of 31-7 midway through the third quarter. And then Golden started to find answers, and so did the Irish offense.

But when Jaden Greathouse scored on a 30-yard pass from Riley Leonard and the Irish added a two-point conversion with 4:15 left, it was a one score game — 31-23.

“I just think our kids kept fighting,” Golden said. “You can’t call anything if the kids don’t keep fighting, The kids kept fighting. It’s in their DNA. They don’t know any other way, and then they start feeding off each other.

“Offense makes a play, Then we make a play. Offense goes down and scores, and next thing you know, you’ve got a chance. That’s the one thing I can tell you being on that sideline, being with those kids, you always feel like you have a chance.

“So, I feel badly that I didn’t put them in position just a couple of more times to give them an opportunity to win it.”

But every good about where he feels the Notre Dame program is headed.

“It’s not a team or a culture that was — how do you say it? — it wasn’t store-bought,” Golden said Monday night. “It was from the ground up. And it’s built with bricks. It’s built with mortar. And it’s built to last. It’s built for the long haul. That’s culture, and that’s the biggest thing.

“When coach Freeman identifies recruits and recruits’ families, it’s who matches our culture and who’s going to add and contribute to the culture and the community and the team and I think that’s the thing that I see.

“That’s the greatest strength of the program right now is just it’s become a culture. It’s become a way of life and how we want to do things. And, like I said, he built it the right way, and it’s built to last. It’s built to make runs.”

Embed content not availableManage privacy settings

• Talk with Notre Dame fans on The Insider Lounge.

• Subscribe to the Inside ND Sports podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, SoundCloud, Podbean or Pocket Casts.