Jim Caldwell was an assistant coach at Penn State when tight end Al Golden arrived in 1987.
Nearly 30 years later, Caldwell and Golden will work on the same coaching staff for the first time, again on a team with lions as the mascot.
Now entering his third season as head coach, Caldwell hired Golden to coach the Lions’ tight ends. Golden, 46, has never coached tight ends, but Caldwell thinks he’ll know innately how to instruct players at the position.
“He played it, so he understands it a little bit more intimately than the guy who’s just learning to coach it,” Caldwell said last month.