Notre Dame extends Al Golden, promotes Deland McCullough
You never know what can happen. Assistant coaches leave due to unforeseen circumstances and interest elsewhere regardless of their contract status. But over the offseason, Notre Dame took a big step toward ensuring defensive coordinator Al Golden is locked in with the Irish.
Blue & Gold can confirm Golden has signed a four-year contract extension that will pay him similarly to offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock. Golden’s extension was first reported by John Brice of FootballScoop.
Entering his third season with Notre Dame, Golden oversaw a top-10 scoring defense and a top-five total defense in 2023. The Irish allowed only 15.92 points per game this past season, which ranked seventh in the nation.
Notre Dame was at its best against the pass in 2023, ranking third in the country in yards per attempt allowed at 5.05. The only two teams better than the Irish at stopping opponents’ aerial attacks were Ohio State and Iowa.
Golden, who turns 55 in July, came to Notre Dame from the Cincinnati Bengals, where he was the linebackers coach for two seasons. His last stop in college football before the Irish was as the head coach at Miami, where he led the Hurricanes from 2011-15.
Additionally, running backs coach Deland McCullough has added the title of associate head coach after his first two years with Notre Dame went extraordinarily well. McCullough helped develop Audric Estimé into an almost guaranteed NFL Draft pick who could go as early as Day 2, and due to his prowess on the recruiting trail, the position group is teeming with young talent.
Like Golden, McCullough has NFL experience (he won a Super Bowl with the Kansas City Chiefs in 2020) and it wasn’t out of the question that he’d receive interest at the next level.
No school is out of the woods at this time of year, but as the coaching carousel dies down, it looks like Notre Dame’s coaching staff will remain relatively intact. The Irish have only lost two assistants who left on their own accord: Offensive coordinator Gerad Parker, who is now the head coach at Troy, and safeties coach Chris O’Leary, who now holds the same position with the Los Angeles Chargers.
Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman also dismissed wide receivers coach Chansi Stuckey, replacing him with Wisconsin’s Mike Brown.
The Irish hired Denbrock to replace Parker, and they’ll likely promote from within to replace O’Leary. Blue & Gold reported the day O’Leary left that cornerbacks coach and defensive passing coordinator Mike Mickens is in line to coach the entire secondary. To fill the open assistant coach position, Notre Dame will likely promote graduate assistant Max Bullough.
