Al Golden Talks Interest In Notre Dame, Recruiting, Defensive Staff and Much More
Notre Dame's new defensive coordinator - Al Golden - had a chance to sit down with the Irish media for the first time this past week. Here is what the veteran coach had to say.
You said you heard his introductory speech and you said, “now, I could work with that guy”. Which means that you’re a Notre Dame fit. Is that correct?
"I believe that’s what I said. You know, I believe that my core values, you know, I can slide in here. I can come in and be myself and not look the other way if a kid’s not going to class, or if he’s not doing the right things in the community. That’s not how we represent the university and obviously, how we want to conduct the program. Marcus (Freeman) will probably get mad at me, but there was a little casual roughhousing one day when I came on my interview and one of the guys put a little dent in the wall, and he didn’t look the other way. I think there’s something to be said for that. There’s a lot of people and in the Marines or with Navy Seals or in leadership that say the standard you walk by is the standard you set. When I came on my interview, guys were stopping to pick up pieces of garbage in the hallways, and I said, this is it. This is a good spot."
When you were in the college game previously, you had a reputation as a good recruiter, and some people say well he hasn’t been in the college game, he hasn’t recruited. Your personality doesn’t change for 5-7 years…
"What does that mean? If they say you’re a good recruiter, that’s another way to say you care about young people, right? At the end of the day, I was in the NFL, and I think if you called all my players right now in Cincinnati and you said, tell me about him. They’d say he cared about us as a person, as a father, as – you know – developing them as young people. So, if that makes me a good recruiter… and again, sometimes when you get labeled a good recruiter, there’s almost a connotation to it that you’re selling something. No, what we’re selling, we’re selling an unbelievable education, to operate with integrity every day, to be a part of something that’s bigger than really any of us here could imagine. I try to tell my children what this represents, what this brand represents worldwide. Not just in athletics, or in football, or in academics, but worldwide. To me, it’s easy to represent that. It’s easy to sell that. It’s finding the mesh; it’s finding the right kids that want to come here and don’t want to cut corners and want to be something special. I think I can do that well. I think I can identify well, and I think I’ll be myself in terms of help…"
One question just dating back to your playing days with Coach Paterno. What kind of influence did he have on you?
"I thought you were going to bring up 1990…[laughter and joking]"
I mean, he obviously had a tremendous positive influence on you.
"The thing about Joe, just being with him every day for five years basically is the same thing, right? He – it really meant something to him that we would be developed as total people. His belief – at the core of his belief, in what was called the “grand experiment” back then, was that if you can win with integrity and develop young people in the classroom, in the community, that ultimately, they’ll be better people and better athletes on the field. I think there’s a correlation there, and there’s a lot of that in the root of what we did at Temple to try to get that thing turned, because we weren’t very good, so we had to learn how to be good in other areas to develop sport confidence. We did that in the community, we did that in the classroom, and the last thing that came ultimately is what we did on the field."
You alluded to this a little bit in there, but what did the six years in the NFL, and really the four years on defense, do as far as giving you a front row seat to all the kinds of new offenses that are in there but bleed over form the college game?
"That’s what you do. There’s a segment there where you go, and you evaluate players. I had the opportunity to come here two years ago to see (Te'von) Coney and (Drue) Tranquill and work them out, for instance. But so you do work out guys, you do evaluate, you do a lot more evaluations than actually workouts, because at the combine, there’s a lot of guys there. You go to some pro days. But other than that, you’re solving problems because you do not have time in a basically what is a twenty-game season before the playoffs – you do not have time to wake up on a Monday or a Tuesday and go 'Woah, how are we handling this?'
"So, so much of that is done – and I think I bring that with me. The six years of just this – you know – a jet sweep offense, how do we attack that? How do we solve those problems? This is a quarterback read offense, like Lamar Jackson. How do we handle that? And I can go on and on, this is an empty offense, a lot of empty. How do we handle that? So, I just had these little pods, if you will, of answers that I built up over six years, with obviously the help of coworkers and the collaborative efforts of really, really great coaches, so I bring them with me. And so now how do we simplify it and get it to the players so we can handle all of the issues that are going to occur or that we’ll face next year?"
With all those, that great list of mentors that you have – we already talked about Joe – who did you have time to reach out to? Who reached out to you in these last few weeks as you decided what the right next step would be?
"Again, really blessed. Just unbelievably fortunate, right? So, Coach Caldwell, Tom O’Brien, Coach Taylor, of course. Al Groh. And again, obviously Joe and Coach Walsh are no longer with us, but two Hall of Fame coaches, and Tom O’Brien."
Did (Bill) Parcells weigh in on this?
"I sent a Coach Parcells a picture of when we were at the Super Bowl site, because it made me think of him in terms of his first ’90 team. That’s the way the playoffs were going for us. It didn’t go that way at the end, but obviously, just very fortunate to be around all those guys. And as I said in there, to be around Coach Patricia as well. Just a tremendous defensive mind and just a great guy. So, really the bookends for me were Al Groh, taught me the defense, we ran the defense and then when I got back with Matt and Matt was like the retro of that that tree. He was the – he added a little cutting edge to what we had done, so he shared that with us as well. So, I’ve been fortunate, and I haven’t been in a rush. But when this thing opened, it was different."
Was this the first time, that going back to college, it might’ve opened up or did you ever think at one point I’m pro for good now?
"There’s probably a lot of days I said I’m pro for good, but I just think this is different. This is a unique place, and just being around the players today, just – man, I was like these guys remind me of where I just came from, you know? I can go on and on about the guys at Cincinnati, whether it’s Sam Hubbard or Von Bell, or closer to my position, Logan Wilson, and Pratt. Just incredible – you don’t make it there without incredible people and selfless people and I felt that today, just in the short time I got a chance to meet some of these guys, and I’m looking forward to developing relationships with all of them."
Did you come to pro days each time here?
"No, you always get deployed somewhere different based on what your needs are. That particular year, we were going to take a linebacker, so I had a chance to see both of those young people. It was great, I mean, that was the first time I saw the indoor and all that, and it was great actually come through here."
Al, in ’09 you were a reported candidate here right? Did you get to interview for the head coaching job?
I did.
How much did that experience stick with you, and did you ever feel like this is a box you wanted to check someday and work here in some respect?
"No, I didn’t. I didn’t see this coming; I could tell you that. We were in the middle of the – we were right in the middle of the season – so, you know, from that standpoint, no. It was a great opportunity back then and obviously Jack made the right hire in Coach Kelly, and I have so much respect for him. And then a year later or two years later I ended up going to Miami, so again, it’s a great place. It was great to have that opportunity."
I just have one quick one. Do you have a little bit of an adjustment? You come here with a built-in staff which is a little bit unusual, and have a very young staff. How is your adjustment going to work out?
"Well, I think it’s great. I have a lot of experience in terms of being the leader of a group of obviously, whether it’s a defense or a team or whatever the case may be. So, I’m just applying that on a daily basis, and again, I’m just – my biggest thing is that the way we’re going to go – end up where we want to end up – is through empowering, through empowering everybody on the staff to do what they can every day to bring the best and to generate ideas and ultimately pick the best course of action. Right? At the end of the day, that’s what we’re here to do. Like I said, we were here late last night. At 5, I was like “oh my God, what is this guy doing”? Today as well, so I think from that standpoint it’s great to just get started with them and we’ll build this thing as we go."
What’s your initial impression of your staff?
"Love it. Love, love the group. Just a diverse staff, and again, there was some talk in there about this system and that system. None of us are worried about that. Al’s got ideas that he’s bringing … Al Washington. We call him “Wash” now. Trust me. But, like Wash’s got his ideas, Chris has got great ideas, Mick. Like, they’re all bringing great ideas. You talk about “Mase, just now I’ve been so impressed with Mase because he’s the special teams coach, but he’s been with us the last two days, just grinding with us. So, I think from that standpoint it’s a really, really good group. From that standpoint, great to work with them. We’ll figure it out as we go."
Al, you mentioned you watched Marcus Freeman’s press conference. What were the circumstances of that? Did you just randomly run into that or had you sought it out?
"Well, I looked for it. Obviously, when he got promoted, I knew there was an opening there and I said, “you know, let me see what he stands for”, and literally it was late at night, probably – I don’t know the day – but it was probably a Thursday or Friday, I’m not sure, I had said to my wife, “that’s a special person”. That’s a guy who…you know, he doesn’t need notes. He knows what he wants to say, which means he’s not calculated. It is authentic and it is truly who he is. He believes it, and I felt that the longer this process went – you know we [Cincinnati] kept winning – and obviously the pressure was on him [Freeman], and no one really knew what was going on with me, and from that standpoint I admire him for that."
Yeah, how were you able to compartmentalize trying to figure out what this opportunity was and remaining focused on what you guys were doing?
"Ok, so it was a phone call here and there, because he was letting me work, and so there really wasn’t any conflict. It didn’t get to the point of having to start to think about is this the right fit for both of us? And again, Marcus had said a bunch of times, “it’s not about just me wanting to hire you, it’s about you wanting to be here and be with the staff that’s here right now and build this thing together”. So, that was the Sunday before Super Bowl week. I was able to get up here. Now that Sunday, Monday morning, and then go back and we flew out Tuesday, so that little day off, you talk about being on fumes? I didn’t even get that little day off between the preparation week and the bowl week, Super Bowl week. But as I said in there, I left here feeling like the power of this place and the amount of support that really, I personally haven’t experienced in college football. Great support here."
Coach, what is it like going from being the up-and-coming young coach, like you used to be, to now being the most veteran coach…
"Oh, you just crushed me. You can say it. [Laughter]"
To now being one of the oldest of the staff?
"Hey, I can still grind with the best of them. I’m here early and I get my Starbucks. It must be an added tax here in Indiana because it’s cost me a little bit more. [Laughter]. No, I get my Starbucks…look, I’m an efficient worker. I’ll do whatever it takes. I don’t guard my desk at night in terms of just saying, you know, just to stay late to say I stayed late. To me, that’s part of being a leader, right? Delegate, work together, hold each other accountable, and get the work done. You know, I’m glad I can share my experiences with not just the staff, but the players.
"They were all asking today what it was like – I think that’s the one thing that’s unique about me coming back to college, is they want to know what the other side looks like. They want to know what’s on the other side of the range, if you will. In the NFL. And I can share with them what’s the difference. What’s the difference between the guy that makes it and the guy that doesn’t? What’s the difference between the guy that gets the second contract and the guy that doesn’t? And I could tell you right now, a lot of it has to do with intelligence, your work ethic, how well you take care of things off the field – like all of that is important. We represent incredible institutions, both in the college and also the NFL game – the brand. Nobody wants distractions, and I think obviously in this place, we have a great opportunity to develop young people that they’ll be excited about."
I don’t know if you ever really had a list, or just in your mind – hey, these are places I would love to coach one day? Has Notre Dame always been on that list?
"That’s right."
Why is that?
"Well, I’ve already said it a bunch. It’s an incredible brand, and the mission of the university – it just means more than athletics, right? The young people that you can attract here, and the values that it represents, all those things are important to me. I always say the players I’ve coached, I always think, what would I say to my son? How would I coach my son? Would I ever ask any of these guys to do something that I wouldn’t ask my son to do? That’s the same thing I would say about this place. What we’re asking them to do here is special, and we get a change to develop really, really special young people. So, I told my agent when I went in the NFL, there’s probably only a couple places that I would leave the NFL for, and obviously this was at the top of the list."
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