Notre Dame football appears almost certain to be on the lookout for new DC

Now that Notre Dame football’s season is officially over, it’s time to start looking ahead to 2025. Unfortunately one of the things Marcus Freeman is probably going to be looking for, sooner rather than later, is a new defensive coordinator.

Almost immediately after the Irish finished their game against Ohio State, a loss in the National Championship game, Ian Rapoport tweeted out a report that Al Golden is the top candidate for defensive coordinator with the Cincinnati Bengals.

For his part, the Notre Dame football defensive coordinator has made it clear that he won’t talk about leaving South Bend until he’s done with the 2024 season. On the other hand, the way he’s laid that out, it certainly sounded like he was more than willing to discuss departing.

Notre Dame football could be on lookout for new defensive coordinator by end of the week

“Notre Dame defensive coordinator Al Golden has emerged as a top candidate to be the Bengals new DC, per me and Mike Garafolo,” Rapoport wrote on Monday night. “Coach Zac Taylor has been waiting for the National Championship to end before moving forward. Now that it has, he can speak with Golden & work thru it.”

On Tuesday, more reports surfaced that the Bengals have zeroed in on the Irish defensive coordinator. While he hasn’t been officially offered the job, those reports indicate he will be once he interviews unless something goes very, very wrong.

For now, Al Golden is still the defensive coordinator for the Notre Dame football team. That may not be the case by the end of the week.