Editor’s note: The Sugar Bowl between Notre Dame and Georgia has been postponed until Thursday following a suspected terrorist attack in New Orleans early Wednesday morning. Follow live updates here.
NEW ORLEANS — The lasting image of Al Golden’s college coaching career could have come on a warm October day in 2015.
Golden, in a white shirt and orange tie, walked out of a nearly empty stadium after leading the worst loss in Hurricanes history, a 58-0 home humiliation against Clemson. But even though it cost him his job, Golden knew it wouldn’t be the end of his major college coaching.
“I had zero doubt,” Golden said Monday. “That was not going to define my career.”
It shouldn’t. Especially after this season.
Golden has quietly revived his reputation through one of the best coaching jobs of the year as Notre Dame’s defensive coordinator.
Despite season-ending injuries to at least four key players — the latest being senior captain tackle Rylie Mills — his defense has carried Notre Dame to the College Football Playoff quarterfinals. In the past four decades, only two Notre Dame teams have allowed fewer points per game (13.8) than the one that faces Georgia in Wednesday’s Sugar Bowl: the 2012 Manti Te’o-led team that made the BCS national title game and the 1988 national champions.
Whether these Irish can have a shot at the Jan. 20 national title game in Atlanta hinges largely on whether Golden’s defense can continue that success as adversity piles up. It’s familiar territory for Golden.
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Long before he became a central figure in the Fighting Irish’s Playoff run, Golden was a rising star with experience on offense and defense. A former Penn State tight end, he led what former Temple athletic director Bill Bradshaw called “one of the most remarkable turnarounds in Division I history” — from 0-11 before his arrival to the program’s first nine-win seasons in three decades — in his first head coaching job at Temple
That performance got him the keys to a premier program, Miami, at age 41. Though the Hurricanes were only nine years removed from their fifth national championship, the Nevin Shapiro scandal was about to blow up. Scholarship reductions and a self-imposed bowl ban were coming.
“Nobody cares about the excuses, but at the end of the day, that was a hard situation he was under down there,” said Georgia assistant James Coley, who spent three years on Golden’s Miami staff.
Golden went 32-25 in four and a half seasons. He never won a bowl game, never beat Florida State, never finished in the Top 25. Fans gave up and drew national attention for paying planes to circle the stadium with derisive banners. The last one: Our pilot has as many Top 25 wins #FireAlGolden. When Golden’s Hurricanes were so outclassed by Clemson that they were outrushed by the Tigers’ third-string quarterback (Kelly Bryant) in October 2015, the end was inevitable.
Al Golden’s Miami tenure ended with a 58-0 loss to Clemson. (Mike Ehrmann / Getty Images)
Even if players like backup quarterback Malik Rosier understood the decision, they weren’t happy about it.
“There’s not many coaches that care for your success off the field,” said Rosier, who later quarterbacked the Hurricanes to the 2017 ACC title game. “He always wanted his players to become better humans, better players, better fathers.”
During Monday’s Sugar Bowl media day, Golden called it a “difficult challenge” — one he had to move on from quickly.
The NFL gave him that chance, even though he had never coached in the league until the Detroit Lions hired him three and a half months after Miami fired him. Golden coached tight ends, then linebackers for Detroit before joining the Cincinnati Bengals in 2020. In Year 2, he led Cincinnati’s linebackers against the Rams in Super Bowl LVI.
Golden no longer felt burned out. He was rejuvenated. Without recruiting and the responsibilities of a head coach, he could study details more. Who led the league in interceptions and why? What made the NFL’s best tacklers successful?
“More than anything, I just had a clear picture of when I was going to return to college of what I wanted it to look like,” Golden said. “This is the way we’re going to teach ball disruption. This is the way we’re going to teach tackling. I think the time in the NFL kind of gave me an opportunity to do that.”
He wasn’t looking to get back into the college game, necessarily. The Bengals had star quarterback Joe Burrow on a team-friendly rookie contract. The window for more championship runs was wide open after the 2021 season.
“But when Notre Dame calls,” Golden said, “you have to listen.”
The call came from Marcus Freeman, who was tasked with replacing Brian Kelly at age 35 at a place that historically hasn’t been friendly to first-time head coaches. In learning on the job, Freeman has surrounded himself with experience, from new offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock — who’s 60 and has coached in South Bend before — to Golden.
“The knowledge that he provides, the teaching that our young people are able to learn has been tremendous,” Freeman said. “The addition to our coaching staff, the wisdom he’s able to provide to our coaching staff, and the piece of our coaching staff that he is, it’s been tremendous. The knowledge that he has as a former head coach, I can go on and on.
“I’ve utilized some of his experience in terms of being a head coach, asked him what he’s done. There’s a lot of different things I could say that he’s provided to this program.”
Coley remembers his former boss as the type of overly communicative coach who would send a text message about something, then an email, then remind you in the hallway that he sent you a text message and email. Coley isn’t surprised, then, that the opposing defense he watched on film is in constant communication. The connection extends to the rest of the staff; Golden and special teams coordinator Marty Biagi teach the same fundamentals about ball disruption, so two phases rep the same things.
Rosier considered Golden an energetic, life-of-the-party players’ coach. Notre Dame star lineman Howard Cross III described him as someone “always ready to run through a brick wall at all times.”
But Golden’s NFL tenure is just as instrumental to his defense’s success in his third season.
His time in the league taught him how to get a free agent signed off the streets on Monday ready for a game on Sunday. That has allowed him to quickly prepare Notre Dame backups for bigger roles to replace the half-dozen starters who missed time with injuries (including preseason All-American cornerback Benjamin Morrison, who hasn’t played since Oct. 12).
Notre Dame held Indiana to 278 total yards in the first round. (Justin Casterline / Getty Images)
The pointers Golden picked up about ball disruption have helped Notre Dame force 29 takeaways, tied for most in the country. The tackling techniques he passed along have made the Irish the nation’s eighth-best team in that category, according to Pro Football Focus’ metrics. The Bengals’ run to the Super Bowl showed him and the Irish how to prepare and install game plans for an expanded Playoff.
Beyond that, Golden’s resume earned him instant credibility in a locker room filled with blue-chip talent looking to make it to the next level.
“When you’re coming in as an NFL coach who just got off the Super Bowl, everybody’s like, ‘All right, this guy’s legit,’” All-America safety Xavier Watts said. “We need to do what he says.”
The result is a unit that ranks in the top 10 nationally in scoring defense, total defense, red zone defense, opponents’ passing efficiency, rushing touchdowns allowed and defensive touchdowns scored while allowing the program’s third-lowest completion percentage (49.6) since 1990. The statistics have made Golden a finalist for the Broyles Award, given annually to the nation’s top assistant.
“He’s amazing,” ESPN analyst Greg McElroy said. “I’m just shocked that there haven’t been more teams in pursuit of Al Golden to be their head coach.”
Perhaps they will be in future cycles. Though Golden is no longer the rising star he was when he got the Miami job, he’s still only 55. A deep CFP run would boost his resume if he wants another shot at being a head coach. If he does, it’s not something he was willing to discuss Monday; Golden has experienced enough to know to focus on the moment.
Before he was a head coach, he was an assistant on the Virginia team that won a share of the ACC title in 1995. The Cavaliers haven’t won one since. It’s a lesson that Golden has shared multiple times this week.
“We have to be grateful for the opportunity,” Golden said. “That’s what fuels the journey.
“I don’t want to go home.”
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(Top photo: Michael Reaves / Getty Images)
