Al Golden addressed his connection to the NFL.

Notre Dame defensive coordinator Al Golden could be on the move after the loss to Ohio State in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game Monday night. Golden is considered a “top candidate” for the Cincinnati Bengals’ defensive coordinator position, according to Ian Rapoport. Golden previously served as the Bengals’ linebackers coach (2020-2021) before being named Notre Dame’s defensive coordinator ahead of the 2022 season. Cincinnati head coach Zac Taylor reportedly waited for the national championship to conclude before advancing his pursuit of Golden, per Rapoport.

When asked postgame about the report linking him to the Bengals’ defensive coordinator vacancy, Golden gave a blunt response.

“I’m sorry, I can’t even fathom thinking about anything right now other than what we just experienced,” Golden said.

Notre Dame lost 34-23 to Ohio State in the championship game Monday night in Atlanta. It was the second-most points allowed by the Fighting Irish in the past two seasons. The Buckeyes scored on each of their first five possessions to jump out to a commanding 31-7 lead. They gained 445 yards, which is also the second-most allowed by the Notre Dame defense in the past two years.

Marcus Freeman hired Golden in 2022 as part of the new staff in South Bend. The Fighting Irish ranked 39th in the FBS for fewest points allowed per game (23.0) that season before making a significant improvement in 2023. Notre Dame ranked seventh nationally in that same category, surrendering just 15.9 points per game. In 2024, it ranked fourth nationally with only 15.5 points allowed per contest.

Golden is widely recognized for his tenure as head coach at Temple (2006-10) and Miami (2011-15), where he posted a combined 59-59 record. Before joining the Cincinnati Bengals in 2020, Golden spent four years on the Detroit Lions’ coaching staff, serving as tight ends coach (2016-17) and linebackers coach (2018-19).

“I think the biggest thing right now, it’s humbling that your name is mentioned because of the team success or the success of our defense,” Golden said. “It’s a reflection of (defensive backs coach) Mike Mickens or (linebackers coach) Max Bullough, (defensive line coach) Al Washington, all of those things. But at the end of the day this is not the time or the place. This is about the kids. There’s always time to reflect on all of that after the season. The biggest thing for us right now is just understanding the enormity of this game. … There is nothing that’s more important than our players and our performance in this opportunity because, look, there’s a lot of teams that they hit an upright and they’re not here, they didn’t get in. They had a quarterback injured. They didn’t get rated high enough to be in but they were right on the cusp, you know what I’m saying? So to me, that’s our focus and all that other stuff we’ll deal with in the future. Right now we’ve got to concentrate on winning today and having a great Thursday practice in our mind today.”