Tag: Al Golden

Twitter reaction to Notre Dame hiring Al Golden

Your thoughts on the Al Golden hire?

Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman appears close to completing his first staff for the Fighting Irish as reports have surfaced that former Temple and Miami (FL) head coach Al Golden will be hired as defensive coordinator.  Golden had most recently worked as the linebackers coach with the AFC champion Cincinnati Bengals.

The college football and Notre Dame world wasted no time reacting to the reports on Twitter as “Golden” was trending for a short time Tuesday morning.  Here are just a few of those tweets regarding Notre Dame’s soon-to-be newest employee.

Al Golden heading to Notre Dame?

Notre Dame’s defensive coordinator search could have a Penn State connection.

It seems being the former head coach of the Miami Hurricanes could be a job requirement to be named a defensive coordinator by a college football blueblood this offseason. Penn State hired Manny Diaz shortly to be its defensive coordinator shortly after Miami made a head coaching change this offseason. Now, it appears as though Notre Dame could be preparing to hire another former Miami head coach, and one with ties to Penn State.

Al Golden is reportedly the leading candidate for the job of defensive coordinator at Notre Dame, according to a previous report from Football Scoop. Golden is currently the linebackers coach for the Cincinnati Bengals, but now that the Super Bowl is over,  potential job change could be just a matter of days, if not hours, away.

If Golden is hired by Notre Dame, he would be filling the vacancy on the staff left by the promotion of Marcus Freeman from defensive coordinator to head coach. Freeman was named the head coach of the Fighting Irish after Brian Kelly left South Bend to become the head coach at LSU.

Golden is a former Penn State football player, playing under former head coach Joe Paterno. Golden got his coaching career started as a high school coach before making college stops as an assistant at Boston College, Penn State, and Virginia. From Virginia, Golden was named the head coach of Temple. After building the Temple program, Golden was named the head coach of Miami in 2011.

Golden spent four seasons with the Hurricanes before being removed from the position. From there, Golden went to the NFL to be an assistant with the Detroit Lions before making his way to Cincinnati in 2020.

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Bengals announce minor additions to coaching staff

Zac Taylor added to his staff recently.

The Cincinnati Bengals have made the hiring of Al Golden as linebackers coach official and also brought on a new coach in the secondary.

Zac Taylor and the team announced the moves Monday, highlighted by the arrival of former New York Jets safeties coach Steve Jackson to work in the secondary.

We got an expert’s look at what the Al Golden hire means for Bengals linebackers.

Jackson, however, is a new announcement. Now 50, he had spent nine seasons in the NFL and appeared in a Super Bowl before calling it quits. He’s coached for five different teams since the early 2000s and now moves to Cincinnati so he can replace Daronte Jones.

While these aren’t major moves, this was about as extensive as it was going to get for Zac Taylor’s staff after just one season. The idea was to get these moves down now and have a staff assembled for the Senior Bowl.

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Al Golden: What the Bengals are getting in their new LBs coach

Here’s the inside scoop on the newest Bengals coach.

The Cincinnati Bengals brought on new linebackers coach Al Golden this week, replacing Tem Lukabu.

Lukabu left to be the defensive coordinator at Boston College, leaving a vacancy. In steps Golden, the former Temple and Miami (Fla.) head coach who has spent time recently in the NFL on both sides of the ball.

It’s a curious resume, so we reached out to Jeff Risdon, managing editor of Lions Wire, for the inside scoop:

Al Golden spent four seasons with the Lions. The first two of those were spent as the TE coach, then he moved to LBs when Matt Patricia took over as head coach. It’s an odd move to go from offense to defense in the same organization and Golden’s mixed bag of outcomes reflects that.

At LB coach, his primary job was to develop former 1st-rounder Jarrad Davis and integrate the corps around him. Davis is a great athlete with poor instincts, and Golden probably shouldn’t be held accountable for Davis crashing the wrong gap or overrunning his contain responsibility. But most fans still wanted Golden to do more.

Golden’s coaching style is less animated than what fans might remember from his days as a college head coach. He did help guys like Christian Jones and Devon Kennard improve, notably as pass rushers. Rookie LB Jahlani Tavai also progressed well before getting injured.

Golden will now find himself tasked with grooming rookie Germaine Pratt. Otherwise, he’ll oversee a unit that could undergo massive overhaul this offseason pending free-agent decisions on guys like Nick Vigil, as well as potential additions via free agency and the draft.

Thanks to Risdon for the deep dive!

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