1-on-1 With Bengals Defensive Coordinator Al Golden Full Interview

Cincinnati Bengals On SI

Transcript

00:00In the Bengals locker room with defensive coordinator Al Golden.

00:03Al, welcome to Cincinnati.

00:05The first thing I want to ask you is about the process because

00:09I've seen it.

00:10I'm a University of Cincinnati graduate.

00:12I've seen how college coaches can get jobs and it happens

00:15quick and it can happen in the middle of bowl season.

00:19Just the way the Bengals handled this, Zach handled this, you

00:22were able to handle it.

00:22It didn't feel like it was a distraction.

00:25No, not at all.

00:26And they just had such a class approach to it.

00:29And just really were supportive in our run and in South Bend

00:34and allowed us the freedom just to work and they asked for

00:37permission, you know, after the championship game and had a

00:39chance to talk to Zach last Tuesday night and Wednesday and

00:44formally Wednesday.

00:48And then decided that this was the best, you know, move for

00:51you know, our family moving forward.

00:53Have you, knowing that your family was here, did you ever

00:56think about the possibility of coaching in stripes again?

00:59Can you allow yourself in the coaching profession to do

01:03that or do you just not think about that?

01:06No, I never, I really never thought, you know, obviously

01:09if you tried to do the odds of that relative to where I was

01:13and how content I was to be at Notre Dame, that's something

01:18that never really crossed, you know, my mind.

01:23But when it did, when the opportunity did avail itself,

01:26obviously, you know, it's magical, you know, that timed up

01:31the way it did and have the opportunity to be back here.

01:34What was your family's reaction to knowing that you wouldn't

01:38have to commute anymore and do all the things that you've

01:40been doing?

01:40Yeah, no, they're excited and they're excited because they

01:43believe in Cincinnati, you know, they believe in the community.

01:47They have established roots here and obviously they know how

01:50we feel about the Bengals, about the Brown family, you know,

01:55about, you know, Coach Taylor and obviously the staff that

01:58he's putting together and, you know, my respect for Coach

02:00Simmons, for example, just, I mean, Joey Boze, just any of

02:04the people that I've had an opportunity to work with and

02:07consummate professionals and obviously can't wait to be their

02:11partner.

02:11If a Bengals fan is at UDF pumping gas or getting ice cream

02:15and you come up, the new Bengals defensive coordinator, what

02:18would you want them to know?

02:19How would you describe yourself as a coach?

02:21I listen a lot.

02:25I'm not a screamer, you know, I try to be really poised.

02:29I try to be a problem solver.

02:32I try to make everybody around me better and I'm organized.

02:38I try to empower the coaches that I work with and ultimately

02:42empower the players and we're going to go only as far as

02:47the players want to take us this year and in coming years.

02:51And so it's really important that we build this together.

02:54We have buy-in together and that they understand that it really

02:59can't be one on the board and it can't be one in the classroom.

03:04It's got to be one on the field and to do that you have to

03:07empower guys to get us in the right play, to get us in the

03:10right call.

03:10Hey, they went to empty.

03:11We got to do this.

03:13Oh, they shifted again.

03:14We have to do this and you have to have guys that are empowered

03:16that have confidence that have beliefs that are, you know,

03:20congruent with yours and consistent with yours and then

03:23ultimately the confidence to go ahead and get us in the right

03:26spot. How do you build that confidence in general with young

03:29guys or younger players whether it's rookies or second and third

03:32year guys?

03:32Yeah, keep it quiet.

03:34Keep it quiet.

03:34Don't don't have a lot of gray area.

03:37Keep it small, refine, refine, refine.

03:42Try to make sure that you know, they have the trust and the

03:45respect and the confidence to ask questions and to be engaged

03:50and and if they need, you know, an extra walk through or an

03:53extra meeting or extra, you know, lab work or whatever it is

03:57whatever they need to provide that for them so that they can

04:01be their best.

04:01I don't think there's anybody that's going to walk in the

04:03locker room that that doesn't want to improve.

04:05So we have to put them in the best spot to do that best position

04:10to do that.

04:11If players improve the units going to improve and that's

04:15what we're looking for both individually and collectively given

04:19the fact that you've and I think it's 19 different ranked teams.

04:21You guys have played over the past three years at Notre Dame

04:25huge games multiple games against Ohio State.

04:27You obviously played Georgia.

04:29Will that help you during this offseason evaluating the NFL draft

04:33class?

04:34I it will I told the story this weekend just of you know, you

04:40watch certain players on tape or certain players have specific

04:45accolades or you know, they're you know, this guy's getting

04:49the ball out.

04:50He's a heck of a player.

04:52But when your players come over the off the sideline, you know

04:54after a drive or two and like my good this guy's different, you

04:58know, they said that about one of the Louisville wide receivers

05:01early this year and and so yeah that stays with you like, you

05:05know, the players know the players know when somebody's on

05:08a on a completely different, you know Plateau or level and how

05:13they have to adjust their game accordingly.

05:14So that helps you that helps your feedback and then, you know,

05:19just having like you're saying just being able to play however

05:22many will be play 30 games the last two years.

05:24And so you that's a lot of exposure to a lot of really really

05:28good players and and and ultimately hopefully I can share that

05:33with the organization.

05:34You obviously are in the process of finalizing your staff multiple

05:37guys truck Berks is returning Jordan Kovacs returning guys like

05:41Jerry Montgomery.

05:42You're bringing in what has that process been like?

05:45I know it's a whirlwind but to finalize a staff that's obviously

05:48going to be crucial.

05:48Yeah, it's been a whirlwind a lot of these guys come so highly

05:52recommended through coach Taylor and guys that the organization

05:57has had on their board.

05:59So it was easy to build once, you know, we had the green light

06:04to do that just to get in front of these guys.

06:07And like I said, I drove up here last Thursday and had a chance

06:10to interface with coach Berks and and again see Jordan again,

06:14but I was just really I was really enamored by coach Berks and

06:19his knowledge and just we just sat there with no film nothing

06:23nothing planned.

06:24Just just take me through certain things that you did and I'm

06:29excited about that.

06:30I'm excited to learn what they do best as a staff and and obviously

06:36share with with them certain ideas and values that we believe

06:40in. I know you're about to do a bunch of these interviews.

06:43So I appreciate the time.

06:44Appreciate it.

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