"Notre Dame defensive coordinator Al Golden has emerged as a top candidate to be the Bengals new DC, per me and Mike Garafolo," Rapoport wrote. "Coach Zac Taylor has been waiting for the National Championship to end before moving forward. Now that it has, he can speak with Golden & work thru it."

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.

Wednesday afternoon, the Cincinnati Bengals hired former Notre Dame Fighting Irish defensive coordinator Al Golden to the same role. Golden returns to Cincinnati, where he was the linebackers coach in 2021.

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

Notre Dame defensive coordinator Al Golden is reportedly leaving Notre Dame after three seasons. According to numerous reports on Wednesday, Golden is expected to return to the Cincinnati Bengals as the team’s defensive coordinator.

Notre Dame defensive coordinator Al Golden's defense entered the CFP national championship with the second-best scoring defense in the FBS, trailing only Ohio State.

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.

Al Golden is set to join the Bengals as their next defensive coordinator, after leading Notre Dame to the CFP national title game.

The next three sites for the national title game will be at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans (Jan. 24, 2028), AT&T Stadium in Dallas (Jan. 22, 2029) and back to Hard Rock Stadium (Jan. 21, 2030) in Miami. New Orleans will host the CFP title game for the second time after LSU completed a perfect season with a win over Clemson in 2020.

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.

For the first time in the history of college football, a team with two regular season losses that finished the year without a conference title and ranked outsid

Caroline Fenton, Jason Fitz & Adam Breneman react to the biggest game of the season as Ohio State beats Notre Dame 34-23 in the College Football Playoff National Championship.