Al Golden leaving as Notre Dame’s DC for Cincinnati Bengals

Thanks and good luck

The inevetible news is finally coming to light. Notre Dame defensive coordinator, Al Golden, is leaving the Irish to take over the defense for the Cincinnati Bengals in the NFL.

While this is just becoming official today, I can say that this has been something in the works for weeks now. Not one bit of this move is a surprise to Marcus Freeman or the rest of the Notre Dame administration.

While at Notre Dame over the past three seasons, Al Golden has transformed a good Irish defensive unit into a great one. In 2024, Notre Dame finished first in pass-efficiency defense while holding opponents to 15.5 points per game (4th out of 134 FBS programs). Golden’s aggressive blitz scheme mirrored perfectly with the talent he had on hand, and that aggression also helped the Irish lead the nation in forced turnovers as well.

There is a huge hole to fill now, and while there are a number of good candidates out there, don’t be surprised if the Irish turn to Mike Mickens in-staff to take over as the next defensive coordinator. There isn’t a massive need to rush this, so we should probably expect a national coaching search to go along with in-staff interviews.

Thanks for everything Al!