The Notre Dame Fighting Irish fell, 34-23, to the Ohio State Buckeyes on Monday night in the College Football Playoff national ... Garafolo," Rapoport wrote. "Coach Zac Taylor has been waiting for the National Championship to end before moving forward.

Despite suffering significant injuries on the defensive line throughout the season and postseason, and losing expected first-round pick, cornerback Benjamin Morrison to a season-ending hip injury against Stanford, Golden's defense has been one of the best units in the country in 2024.

Cincinnati is finalizing a deal to hire Notre Dame defensive coordinator Al Golden to run its defense. Golden helped lead the Fighting Irish to Monday night’s College Football Playoff national championship game where they lost to Ohio State. He is expected to officially sign with the team on Thursday.

The Cincinnati Bengals continued their busy offseason with the introduction of newly-hired defensive coordinator, Al Golden, formerly of Notre Dame.

Former Red Bank Catholic star Al Golden, fresh off Notre Dame's run to the CFP title game, is returning to the NFL as Bengals defensive coordinator

Notre Dame defensive coordinator Al Golden is expected to join the Bengals in the same role, sources told ESPN's Pete Thamel on Wednesday. The news comes days after the Fighting Irish lost to Ohio State in the College Football Playoff championship game, the school's first title shot of the century.

The Cincinnati Bengals defensive coordinator job has been open for more than two weeks now, but there hasn't been much movement on a possible hiring and now we know why: The team was waiting for Notre Dame to finish its season.

Anyway, Golden has been the DC at Notre Dame since 2022, and had signed a contract extension before the 2024 season. The Irish produced some pretty good defenses under Golden, including this season, when they allowed the fourth-fewest points per game (15.5) in all college football.

With the College Football Playoff National Championship behind him ... “As we’ve been saying, Zac Taylor has long held Al Golden as the leading candidate in the DC search,” Dehner wrote.

Al Golden agreed to return to Cincinnati on Wednesday after three seasons as Notre Dame's defensive coordinator, a person with knowledge of the decision told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the decision has not been announced. More: 3 Wolverines, 3 ex-Spartans make ESPN list of top 100 college football players from '24-25

7 seed Notre Dame has been preparing to take on No. 8 Ohio State in the College Football Playoff national championship ... to the Bengals and head coach Zac Taylor. The 55-year-old defensive ...

The Cincinnati Bengals made the hire of Al Golden as the team's new defensive coordinator official on Thursday afternoon. Head coach Zac Taylor fired Lou Anarumo immediately after the season and held a limited search in hiring his replacement. It was clear from the begining that Taylor wanted to hire Golden for the position.