There are many layers to the Al Golden story, from his Jersey Shore roots to his coaching success at football’s highest levels. But peel it all away and what emerges is one of the more compelling storylines surrounding Thursday’s Orange Bowl (7:30 p.m., ESPN) in the College Football Playoff semifinals.
It was as a Penn State tight end that Golden first showed up in the national spotlight, catching the game-tying TD pass from Tony Sacca in the Nittany Lions’ upset of No. 1 Notre Dame in 1990.
It all comes full circle 34 years later.
As the coordinator of a resurgent Notre Dame defense, Golden’s wealth of experience will be invaluable as the Fighting Irish try to take down his alma mater and reach the national championship game.
“Al Golden, he’s one of us. He’s a Penn Stater,” Penn State head coach James Franklin said Saturday. “I’ve known Al for a long time. Been a head coach, been in the NFL. He’s doing a great job with their defense.”
Defense wins championships
It’s a winding career path that’s delivered Golden, a Colts Neck native, to this unique moment in college football history. And make no mistake, his fingerprints will be all over the result, with the coaching job he’s done this season widely recognized as one of the best in the country.
The Fighting Irish held Georgia to just 10 points in the Sugar Bowl last week. And only two Notre Dame teams since 1985 have giving up few points-per-game (13.5) than this one: The 1988 national championship team; and the 2012 team that lost to Alabama in the national championship game.
The Nittany Lions are averaging 34.5 points over the first two rounds of the playoffs.
“He’s been a tremendous hire for our program, not just our defense,” Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman said Saturday. “He finds a way to motivate his players and to get them to play at a high level – he’s been huge. And the thing I love about him is that he’s able to work together well with his staff and they produce a great output.”
Freeman’s fondness for Golden’s work can be seen in how the Irish have been aggressive all season with the ball on fourth downs, including against Georgia in the fourth quarter of the Fiesta Bowl when the Irish were pinned inside their own 20 yard line on a 4th and 1. A trick play pulled Georgia offside and essentially locked the game up.
Clearly Freeman trusts Golden’s defense to be ready if a situation like that goes awry – but do the two coaches consult on field position decisions?
“No. I wish he would check with me once in a while,” Golden said with a laugh when he met with reporters before the Georgia game. “No, we have those conversations during the week, and really on game day he makes the call. And you don’t want to have that discussion at that time, because people are always looking or it’s on the Jumbotron and you’re having a discussion and all that. I don’t know what’s the best way to say it – everything he calls is measured.”
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Climbing the ladder
A standout in high school at Red Bank Catholic, where he began his coaching career as offensive coordinator in 1993, Golden’s rise through the coaching ranks has seen him take on some of the most difficult challenges.
After serving as a graduate assistant at Virginia, he was hired by Tom O’Brien, the former Cavaliers’ defensive coordinator, at Boston College in 1997, when O’Brien was tabbed to clean up the points shaving scandal that rocked the program a season earlier.
He returned to his alma mater to coach the linebackers in 2000, before returning to Virginia to serve as Al Groh’s defensive coordinator from 2001-2005.
But it was at Temple that Golden truly made a name for himself. Hired in 2006 with the Owls coming off an 0-11 season, Golden led them to their first bowl game in 30 years in in 2009, winning nine games.
He got one of the highest profile jobs in the country when he was hired at Miami. But his tenure was doomed from the beginning when, just prior to the start of his first season in 2011 the scandal broke involving Nevin Shapiro, a big financial backer of the Miami program who orchestrated a massive Ponzi scheme, with the fallout resulting in a bowl ban and lost scholarships.
After three seasons with the Detroit Lions (2016-19), he went to the Super Bowl as the Cincinnati Bengals linebackers coach in 2002, before returning to the college ranks at Notre Dame.
“There’s no substitution for experience,” Freeman said. “And if Al Golden, or anybody else on our staff, has experience in a situation that maybe I don’t, I’m a fool not to use the wisdom that they’ve gained from their experience.”
And coaching in a national championship game would be the latest chapter in a unique football story that traces from the Jersey Shore through Penn State, with the Nittany Lions now standing in the way of chance to play for a national championship.
Stephen Edelson is a USA TODAY NETWORK New Jersey sports columnist who has been covering athletics in the state and at the Jersey Shore for over 35 years. Contact him at: @SteveEdelsonAPP; sedelson@gannettnj.com.
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: NJ football: Al Golden’s Notre Dame defense faces alma mater Penn State
