NFL News NFL News, Reports and UpdatesSOUTH BEND — Three weeks after returning to the NFL’s Cincinnati Bengals, former Notre Dame football defensive coordinator Al Golden collected a memorable parting gift on Thursday night in Hot Springs, Ark.
Named the 2024 winner of the Broyles Award as the top assistant coach in college football, Golden reflected fondly on his three seasons in South Bend, calling his time at Notre Dame “the greatest 1,000 days of my career.”
Golden joins fellow defensive coordinator Bob Diaco (2012) as the only Notre Dame winners of the award since its inception in 1996. Golden was hired as Bengals defensive coordinator on Jan. 22, two days after the Irish lost 34-23 to Ohio State in the CFP national championship.
Notre Dame, which won 13 straight games and finished 14-2, led the nation in takeaways and finished tied for fourth in scoring defense (15.5 points per game).
“(A)ll of that would not have happened if it wasn’t for the players, the student-athletes,” Golden said at the awards dinner. “People ask me all the time in this age of transactional sports what it was like to coach at Notre Dame, and I’ll say this: It was the greatest 1,000 days of my career to be associated and to wake up and coach those young men every day.
“Because there is a place in Northern Indiana where young men go that still think it’s important to be great in the community, they still think it’s important to be awesome in the classroom, they still think it’s important and vital to have a spiritual component in your life. … I was just blessed to be a part of that for just a brief moment.”
Al Golden: To Notre Dame football defense, veteran coordinator is the ‘Godfather’
It was Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman, a 2020 Broyles Award finalist at the University of Cincinnati, who hired Golden as his Irish defensive successor in February…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/al-golden-wins-broyles-award-050959237.html
Author : South Bend Tribune
Publish date : 2025-02-14 05:09:00
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.
