Notre Dame football: Marcus Freeman hires former Miami, Temple coach as DC
By John Buhler
Marcus Freeman is hiring Cincinnati Bengals linebackers coach and former Miami and Temple head coach Al Golden to be the next defensive coordinator of the Notre Dame football team.
The Cincinnati Bengals will be losing a key assistant after their Super Bowl 56 run, as linebackers coach Al Golden is leaving the Queen City to be Notre Dame football head coach Marcus Freeman’s new defensive coordinator.
Golden had been in the NFL since being let go by the Miami Hurricanes back in 2015. Prior to leading the ‘Canes, Golden had been the head coach at Temple. Though Golden has been out of the college game for a minute, being the defensive coordinator at Notre Dame is an opportunity he was not going to pass up. Surely, he will be getting a massive bump in pay upon his arrival.
2022 will be Freeman’s first year as the head coach of the Irish since taking over for Brian Kelly.
Sources: Al Golden has accepted the job to become Notre Dame’s new defensive coordinator. He’s agreed to a three-year deal, which may take a few days to finalize.
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) February 15, 2022
Notre Dame football: Marcus Freeman adding Al Golden as defensive coordinator
This will be a three-year deal to get Golden to South Bend. While Golden stood a chance to be the Bengals’ next defensive coordinator if Lou Anarumo got an opportunity to be an NFL head coach, going to Notre Dame is a huge get for him. Though it remains to be seen how good Freeman will be as a head coach, for the first time in years, Notre Dame has a very real cool factor going for it.
For the first few years of the post-Kelly era of Irish football, the Golden Domers should be able to stay as a top-six or 10 program in the country. There is a ton riding on Freeman going forward. The question is if he will be more like a Ryan Day or a Lincoln Riley, or more like a Mark Helfrich or a Jimmy Lake. He can either harness Kelly’s success or he can be crushed by the incoming wave.
By adding Golden to his coaching staff, Freeman wants his defensive players to be coached up.
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