Golden had served as Cincinnati’s linebackers coach during the 2020 and 2021 seasons and now returns after three successful seasons as Notre Dame’s defensive coordinator. He was long considered a leading candidate but unavailable for an interview until after the national championship game, which the Fighting Irish lost to Ohio State on Monday.
The Bengals interviewed Golden on Wednesday and were finalizing the deal by late afternoon. According to The Athletic, Golden will be bringing in former Patriots defensive line coach Jerry Montgomery to the same role on his staff.
Cincinnati had been searching for a new defensive coordinator since firing Anarumo on Jan. 6, after the team failed to make the playoffs for a second straight year despite career years for quarterback Joe Burrow and wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase. Former Las Vegas Raiders defensive coordinator Patrick Graham was also a finalist for the job, but ultimately, Bengals coach Zac Taylor went with a more familiar assistant.
Golden, 55, turned Notre Dame’s defense into one of the best in college football during his three-year stint in South Bend, as the Irish ranked second in FBS in scoring defense this past season and seventh in 2023.
Taylor also knew what Golden had done in his two seasons the linebackers’ coach on his staff. In Golden’s first season, Cincinnati drafted Logan Wilson, and Golden played a crucial role in the early development of him and 2019 draft pick Germaine Pratt. His position group played a major role in the team’s Super Bowl run in 2021, before he moved on to Notre Dame.
Golden began his coaching career at the high school level in 1993 and worked his way up through the college ranks before really making a name for himself as the head coach at Temple University from 2006 to 2010. He took over an Owls program that went 3-31 the three seasons before his arrival, and in Golden’s final two years, they were 17-8.
That turned into a head coaching job at the University of Miami, where he went 32-25 over four seasons from 2011 to 2015, before diving into the NFL for the first time in 2016. He coached tight ends and linebackers with the Detroit Lions before joining Taylor’s staff in Cincinnati in 2020.
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