Marcus Freeman’s first staff at Notre Dame is finally completed – at least unofficially at the moment – after adding Al Golden to fill its open defensive coordinator position. Pete Sampson of The Athletic was the first to report the hire on Tuesday morning.
The holdup in completing the staff was Golden’s presence on the staff of the Super Bowl runner-up Cincinnati Bengals. Golden was rumored to be the favorite to replace Freeman as defensive coordinator ever since Notre Dame’s recruitment of Jon Heacock of Iowa State ended up with Heacock getting a raise the Cyclones after negotiations with Notre Dame broke down.