Notre Dame Fighting Irish defensive coordinator Al Golden is on the heels of an NFL job after the Fighting Irish lost to the Ohio State Buckeyes in the College Football Playoff national championship game Monday.

Notre Dame defensive coordinator Al Golden is expected to join the Bengals in the same role, sources told ESPN's Pete Thamel on Wednesday.

The Cincinnati Bengals are reportedly looking to hire Notre Dame defensive coordinator Al Golden for the same job.

The Cincinnati Bengals appear to have the man they'll entrust with fixing their broken defense.

Al Golden's return to the Cincinnati Bengals was made official Thursday, with the franchise announcing he was hired as defensive coordinator.

Al Golden may very well be the cure to what has been ailing the Cincinnati Bengals defensively. In the wake of him leaving Zac Taylor's staff to become Marcus F

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

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.

After days of reports and speculation following Notre Dame’s national championship loss to Ohio State, the Cincinnati Bengals announced on Thursday afternoon that Golden has been hired as the team’s next defensive coordinator.

A native of Colts Neck, N.J., Golden played tight end at Penn State from 1988-91, then spent the 1992 season with the New England Patriots (no games played). He earned a bachelor’s degree in pre-law from Penn State in 1991, and a master’s degree in sports psychology from Virginia in 1996.

Reports emerged that Golden, who spent the last three seasons as Notre Dame’s defensive coordinator, was the frontrunner to replace former coordinator Lou Anarumo. Golden then interviewed the Bengals after Notre Dame lost the CFP National Championship Game earlier this week and subsequently informed the program he was departing.