Bengals Hiring Al Golden for Defensive Coordinator

Cincinnati Bengals On SI

Transcript

00:00Have the Bengals entered the Golden Age?

00:03Well, they have.

00:04We'll see if it works out.

00:13Hi again, everyone.

00:14Andrew Fox Miller is going to love that intro.

00:16I'm James Erpine and the Bengals have a new defensive coordinator.

00:20That's right.

00:21Someone that we've talked about plenty here on CBT.

00:24Al Golden is set to finalize, has finalized his deal, will become

00:28the Bengals defensive coordinator on Thursday.

00:30Multiple reports confirming this.

00:31Tom Pellicerro was the first one to tweet it out.

00:34But honestly, if you watch Cincinnati Bengals Talk,

00:36we've had you covered throughout this process

00:38and you're very much aware that it was going to be Al Golden.

00:41If you check out BengalsTalk.com, you are aware that it was going to be Al Golden

00:45and hopefully you're listening to Cincinnati Bengals Talk as well,

00:48wherever you get your podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Amazon.

00:54And by the way, this breaking news brought to you by RiverTownInquiry.com.

00:57Look, Al Golden was going to be the hire.

01:00He was the number one candidate on the Bengals list.

01:04It's why the search felt funny because they interviewed some guys.

01:08They kicked the tires on some guys behind the scenes

01:10and I'll talk more about the search in just a minute.

01:13But ultimately, Zach Taylor held Al Golden in such high regard.

01:19The job he did, I'm funny enough wearing Notre Dame blue,

01:21the job he did at Notre Dame,

01:23what he knew of him and working with him in 2020 and 2021

01:28when Golden was the Bengals linebackers coach,

01:30that Al Golden was Zach Taylor's top target before he made the decision.

01:36Or I don't want to say before he made the decision to move on with Lou,

01:41but let's be honest here. Zach has had to have a short list.

01:44Lou Inarumo was getting head coaching interviews a few years ago.

01:47Zach Taylor had to have a short list of guys that he could target,

01:50of coaches that he could target that would replace Lou Inarumo

01:54and Al Golden was always near or at the top of that list.

01:58And I think it's safe to say at the top of that list.

02:00I just don't want to speak for Zach there.

02:03And look, it makes sense. It does. Now, I don't know if it's going to work out,

02:07but when you say it out loud, and I said this yesterday,

02:11when you say it out loud,

02:12you're talking about one of the top defensive coordinators in college football,

02:15someone who has NFL experience, someone who has college coaching experience,

02:18someone who can develop young players,

02:20someone who knows how defenses have had to adjust, knows that he needs to adjust,

02:26is familiar with the AFC North, knows exactly what it takes,

02:32was on the staff that made it to Super Bowl 56. Knows what it takes.

02:38Maximized young players like Logan Wilson and Jermaine Pratt in 2020 and 2021.

02:43Jermaine Pratt got better with Al Golden in town.

02:45There's no doubt about that. Logan Wilson,

02:47I thought, developed during those two years that Golden was in town.

02:51There's Elise Jessie's report from 2020 that's made some steam,

02:56picked up some steam, where Al Golden was the one helping with third-down blitzes

03:00and different calls like that on the defensive headset.

03:03And the point is, is the Bengals got a really good defensive coach today.

03:09That's it. That's what they got. And so when you say that part of it,

03:13he has the skins on the wall. He has the experience.

03:15One of the top coordinators in college football, they bring him in.

03:20Well, there's a lot to like. I get why people question the search,

03:25but the Bengals are getting a good defensive coordinator, a quality coach. Will it work?

03:32I don't know. But I know that they're getting a quality coach.

03:35I understand that part of it. Now, let's get to the search.

03:38And like I said, this video brought to you by Rivertown Inquiry.

03:40You can check out their two locations,

03:42one, Finley Market, the other in Oakley. You're looking for Cincinnati apparel.

03:46Rivertown Inquiry is going to have you covered. As far as the search goes,

03:50I get it. I do. I understand. You look at the search

03:53and you're like, man, why didn't they bring in Robert Sala?

03:56Why was it Patrick Graham, DeMarcus Covington, and Al Golden?

04:00And that's it. And those are the interviews that we're aware of.

04:05I don't think they did any other interviews. That's fine. I get it.

04:07I get why you would have that grape. For sure.

04:11I don't know why, when you're waiting on Al Golden,

04:13you didn't at least kick the tires on Dennis Allen or Robert Sala.

04:17And that doesn't mean that they didn't make some calls.

04:21I do think that the tires were kicked, but not to the extent of interviewing,

04:25if that makes sense. I don't think you go into this search and just say,

04:28blinders on. All right, we're going to get Al Golden.

04:31And then, oh, we'll talk to Patrick Graham. And we're really into Patrick Graham.

04:33And that's it. I don't think it was that simple.

04:35I don't think Zach Taylor was like this, but I think he had a short list,

04:39which is what you're supposed to do. That's the head coach's job,

04:41especially, especially when you're firing guys,

04:46which he did. And he made that decision.

04:50And so now, of course, you have a short list. You're thinking of candidates.

04:54And don't be shocked if we hear about defensive line coach in the near future.

04:57I'm sure Zach and Al Golden have talked throughout this process

05:00about who they envision, about all of these things.

05:05I think the Bengals in Notre Dame and in Al Golden specific,

05:09I think they've all done a good job, Zach Taylor, of not getting in the way

05:14of the national championship game. And as Notre Dame advanced,

05:17Zach Taylor had to, I don't even want to say work back channels,

05:20because obviously he has Al Golden's number,

05:22but make sure that he kept as much as he could tight to the vest.

05:26But we all knew that this hire was going to happen.

05:28And so search-wise, I get it. It would have been nice. It would have, no doubt.

05:34But it's not like Al Golden isn't qualified.

05:37It's not like they had a short search and that was it.

05:42I mean, this is one of those things where, yeah,

05:44the search wasn't as comprehensive as some may like,

05:49but they're going and getting a guy that's held in really,

05:51really high regard in virtually every circle you could ask about.

05:55I mean, in college football, he's obviously accomplished,

05:57just coached and helped Notre Dame get to the national championship game.

06:00In NFL, we saw him firsthand what he can do.

06:04And so it makes a lot of sense. I think the fit makes sense.

06:08The thing about the search too,

06:11I think from a Bengals perspective, if you know you have the guy,

06:14then just go get the guy. You don't need to kick the tires.

06:17Like if you're looking at cars or you're looking at houses,

06:21when you find the right one and you know it, you get it. It might take 10 minutes.

06:24It might take 20 minutes. You might have already known what house you want

06:27or what car you want, what make you want. You might.

06:32And clearly Zach Taylor says Al Golden's the guy.

06:35And last year, the Dan Pitcher firing,

06:38it's not like they kicked the tires on a bunch of offensive coordinators.

06:42They didn't. They knew, obviously they had to interview a few guys,

06:45but they knew that Dan Pitcher was going to get an offensive coordinator job somewhere.

06:49They didn't want him to leave. They did everything in their power to keep him.

06:54It's the same thing here. It really does. It feels like it's the same thing here.

06:58I know Patrick Graham had fans in the building.

07:01I talked to multiple people that said Patrick Graham would be a heck of a coach,

07:04heck of an ad, and I think he really did give Al Golden a run for his money.

07:09But ultimately, if Al Golden's willing to come and he's on your short list

07:13and he's the guy, he's the guy. If he's your Dan Pitcher from last year,

07:17well, then you're going to go get your guy. And that's what the Bengals did today.

07:20Will it work? I don't know, but I understand it.

07:23I think that his ability to relate to players, to scheme things up,

07:29like Lou did, Lou was good at scheming, and at the same time,

07:32maximizing what the talent you do have.

07:35I think that it's reasonable to think that Al Golden will do that.

07:37He did that at Notre Dame. Telling me he didn't maximize that defense,

07:41get the most out of that defense? Of course he did.

07:42People are going to say, oh, the National Championship game.

07:45Okay. Well, the National Championship game, they were going up against some dudes.

07:48It's tough. Tough when you're going up against those kind of dudes

07:51and you have that type of talent disparity. Can't happen.

07:54And so there are questions. How will you adjust the life in the NFL as a defensive coordinator?

07:58How will he fit with the front office? I think that's a big part of this as well.

08:02A big reason why Lou isn't in town. Front office had one vision for Dax Hill,

08:05one vision for Jordan Battle, one vision for some of these guys,

08:08the Miles Murphys of the world, and then they wouldn't get on the field.

08:10They couldn't get on the field. Why do we give you two first-round picks

08:14and a third-round pick if you're not getting them on the field, Lou?

08:17Right? And so that needs to happen. If they use a pick at 17 on a defensive player,

08:22well, guess what? Al Golden better find a way and have a plan

08:25and carry out that plan to get that guy on the field and to make him productive.

08:28That's the job of the coach. No doubt about it.

08:32We'll see if he can do it. Overall, it's a hire we were expecting.

08:37It is officially official, will be signed on the dotted line,

08:40likely on Thursday, but the agreement is finalized.

08:42And in the last thing here that I do think is interesting,

08:45Lou Anarumo is reportedly making 1.5 million dollars,

08:48while Al Golden was making 2.5 million at Notre Dame.

08:52So there are going to be a lot of people that call the Bengals cheap, just in general.

08:57Like the Scott Peters hire the other day. Cheap, cheap, cheap, cheap.

09:01Are we sure? Are we sure they're cheap with this coaching search?

09:05Now, I get it. You want to talk about T, you want to talk about Jamal,

09:07you want to talk—pay all those guys, by the way, and I'll be with you,

09:11because I do think they have some cheap tendencies that have to go away this offseason.

09:14But when it comes to the defensive coordinator search,

09:17something tells me that they aren't being cheap,

09:21and certainly are paying Al Golden more than they paid Lou Anarumo.

09:26Be sure to hit that subscribe button on YouTube.

09:28Follow wherever you get your podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Amazon.

09:33And please, please, please support those audio streams as we continue to build those.

09:39For Andrew Fox Miller, I'm James Erpeen.

09:40We're going to have a ton for you this week, including, hopefully, Al Golden.

09:44Hopefully, we'll hear from Al Golden at some point when this deal is official.

09:47When we do, you will know about it. And until then, I'm James Erpeen.

09:52Thank you so much for watching and listening to Cincinnati Bengals Talk.

09:57You ready for this? That's courtesy Jeff Hobson's article on Bengals.com.

10:01I want to bring a level of toughness and the mindset of we're protectors.

10:06Protectors do it with more than just the shield. We do it with the sword.

10:12What does the offensive line get as a gift from Joe Burrow?

10:15There you go.

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