Al Golden doesn’t let Miami define him. He is just what Notre Dame’s Playoff run needed

Editor’s note: The Sugar Bowl between Notre Dame and Georgia has postponed until Thursday after 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 might 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 humbling against Clemson. But even though it cost him his job, Golden knew it wouldn’t be the end of his big-time college coaching career.

“I had no doubts,” Golden said Monday. “It wasn’t 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 most recent being senior captain tackle Rylie Mills — his defense has led Notre Dame to the College Football Playoff quarterfinals. In the last four decades, only two Notre Dame teams have allowed fewer points per game. game (13.8) than the one facing Georgia in Wednesday’s Sugar Bowl: the 2012 Manti Te’o-led team that reached the BCS national title game and the 1988 national champions.

Whether these Irish can get a shot at the national title game on Jan. 20 in Atlanta depends largely on whether Golden’s defense can continue that success as adversity piles up. It’s familiar territory for Golden.

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 gave him the keys to a premier program, Miami, at age 41. Although the Hurricanes were just nine years away from their fifth national championship, the Nevin Shapiro scandal was about to blow up. Scholarship reductions and a self-imposed bowl ban were on the way.

“Nobody cares about the excuses, but at the end of the day, it was a tough situation he was in 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 attracted national attention to pay flights to circle the stadium with mocking 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 overtaken by the Tigers’ third string quarterback (Kelly Bryant) in October 2015, the end was inevitable.

While players like backup quarterback Malik Rosier understood the decision, they weren’t happy about it.

“Not a lot of coaches care about your success off the field,” said Rosier, who later quarterbacked the Hurricanes to the 2017 ACC title game. “He always wanted his players to be better people, better players, better fathers.”

During Monday’s Sugar Bowl media day, Golden called it a “tough 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 and 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 responsibility of a head coach, he could study the 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 back to college, of what I wanted it to look like,” Golden said. “That’s the way we’re going to teach ball disruption. That’s 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 necessarily looking to get back into the college game. 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 in a place that historically hasn’t been kind to first-time head coaches. While learning on the job, Freeman has surrounded himself with experience, from new offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock — who is 60 and has coached in South Bend before — to Golden.

“The knowledge that he provides, the teaching that our youth are able to learn, has been tremendous,” Freeman said. “The addition to our coaching staff, the wisdom he’s able to bring to our coaching staff and the part of our coaching staff that he is, it’s been tremendous. The knowledge he has as a former head coach, I could go on and on .

“I’ve used 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 he’s brought to this program.”

Coley remembers his former boss as the type of overly communicative coach who would send a text about something, then an email, then remind you in the hallway that he texted and emailed you. So Coley isn’t surprised that the opposing defenses he watched on film are 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 interference, so two phases represent the same things.

Rosier considered Golden an energetic, life-of-the-party players’ coach. Notre Dame star lineman Howard Cross III described him as “always ready to run through a brick wall at any time.”

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 street 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 ).

The pointers Golden picked up on ball interference have helped Notre Dame force 29 takeaways, tied for most in the nation. The tackling techniques he imparted 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 extended playoff run.

Beyond that, Golden’s resume gave him instant credibility in a locker room full of blue-chip talent looking to reach the next level.

“When you come in as an NFL coach fresh off the Super Bowl, everybody’s like, ‘Okay, this guy’s legit,'” All-America safety Xavier Watts said. “We have to do as he says.”

The result is a unit that ranks in the top 10 nationally in scoring defense, total defense, red zone defense, opponent 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 best assistant.

“He’s great,” ESPN analyst Greg McElroy said. “I’m just shocked that there haven’t been more teams in the hunt for Al Golden to be their head coach.”

Maybe they will be in future cycles. While 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 bolster 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 Golden has shared several times this week.

“We have to be grateful for the opportunity,” Golden said. “That’s what drives the journey.

“I don’t want to go home.”

(Top photo: Michael Reaves/Getty Images)