Bengals News Conference Al Golden Officially Introduced as Defensive Coordinator
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00:00Working with Al the years we did obviously had a high opinion of him.
00:04Watching Notre Dame these last couple years was just he just did such a
00:11tremendous job knew that he'd be able to walk in this building and we'd be able
00:15to hit the ground running. He's got great familiarity with some of the players
00:18some of the coaches we have on staff. Knows what we're all about you know from
00:22an organization standpoint from a culture standpoint and felt like he'd
00:26be able to continue to deliver that message and help us play great
00:29defensive football. It's not the ultimate decision-maker certainly but it helps
00:36when you know somebody and so you know what they're about you're not gonna have
00:39to learn that feel each other out he knows he knows me I know him and so
00:43again that was really just a bonus I'd say it wasn't the decision driver but it
00:48was a bonus. Well Zach already alluded to it just the the familiarity the
00:56comfort level the fact that I enjoyed so thoroughly my last time here with
01:02the Brown family and working with Zach and the familiar familiarity with
01:08everybody on the staff and obviously knowing exactly what coach wants from an
01:13organization from a culture and being confident that I can give him what he
01:16needs. Do you think that familiarity also leads to the ability to get the most out of what is right here now?
01:23Well I think it allows me to maybe forego a couple of steps in terms of the
01:27learning process. I know exactly what we need the type of players that Zach wants
01:33wants us to identify and go out and find through free agency and then ultimately
01:38the draft. I know what the Brown family expects which is important so I don't
01:45think there'll be a learning curve there. The biggest thing is just getting with
01:48the staff right now identifying our needs and how we supplement the roster
01:53that's already in place and I think that's why I'm here today I can't wait
01:56to get going on it. What is that that the Brown family expects? Well I think it
02:03starts with a championship culture you know and the one thing you know I've
02:07been I've been around I've been old enough to be around in a lot of
02:10different places and the one thing I can tell you is it's big business but it's
02:15family-run and you could feel that when you walk in so making sure we identify
02:20people that you know are congruent with our culture and our values and you know
02:27we always talked about when I was here last time just how many gym rats can you
02:31get on your team and and and how many leaders can you get on your team how
02:34many football guys like Orlando just stopped in to see me and out of nowhere
02:40and he couldn't stop talking and and I mean that in the kindest way like he
02:46was just so energized and so you guys I was like you were a captain weren't you
02:50and I said I could tell you know and like those are the kind of guys you know
02:54when we here last time just some of the the linebackers that we identified were
02:58you know they were leaders they were guys that hung around football wanted to
03:02be here they made our roster and they made us better and that's what we have
03:06to do it every position on defense
03:13no none you know it's it's again bonus that they went that far but you saw
03:18great defense just just watching him over the years and so I knew what he was
03:21about I knew how he'd coached that group how he'd helped our defense before you
03:26know his last game in the NFL was a Super Bowl and his last game in college
03:29was a national championship game you know it's and again we want to stand on
03:32the podium and end it the right way you know that's I think the first text he
03:36sent me once he took the job but you know it's about all the right stuff
03:42watching them play you saw 11 guys playing in unison all believing in the
03:47same thing doing a great job with the ball disruption taking care of the ball
03:50playing championship level football and and I'm excited to watch our defense do
03:54that as well
03:58well exhausted and emotional if I could take a minute just to thank you know
04:03coach Freeman all the student-athletes up there that the honor of coaching and
04:08and obviously both people of aqua and and Jack's Warbrook for the opportunity
04:13to be there and be a part of that great run and it's very seldom that you have a
04:17chance to do first at Notre Dame but the host the first playoff game to win the
04:22Orange Bowl when the Sugar Bowl win 13 in a row that was great so I knew you
04:29know we made the decision last Wednesday to come I had an opportunity to sit down
04:33and talk to all the players that oh that doesn't always happen that way but
04:37coach Freeman encouraged it man I tried to reach every player I could those that
04:41I didn't see personally I communicated to I thought that was important I got in
04:46the car at 5 a.m. on Thursday and when I when I made that right off I-74 and saw
04:52the stadium and I knew I was home and so it's it's emotional and you know I was
04:59telling Zach this morning we we went to work on July 16th and we just finished
05:04on January 21st so he keeps telling me to take a break but I'm so energized by
05:09this opportunity what have you noticed in terms of translatable things from
05:15college defense to the NFL what maybe doesn't as much or what did you learn
05:20about I think it's closer now than it was a decade ago for sure just certainly
05:26with the RPO or you know just watching yesterday with the quarterback run game
05:29the Reid's own series or just the design quarterback run so I think there's a lot
05:32of carry over there I think I was blessed to be around guys that were you
05:38know they had their house in order they just wanted to learn ball the really
05:42smart team you know a really high FBI football intelligence you know that that
05:48kind of background allowed us to push him in and coach him in a way that was
05:53very much similar to what we experienced here or in Detroit when I
05:57was there so and I think that's really important because the biggest thing for
06:03for us is just it's not so much we're gonna do X Y & Z it's it's the belief
06:09system that everybody involved believes the same thing that the secondary
06:13believes the same thing as the linebackers linebackers believe the same
06:16thing as the D line and when you get that when you get that unit strength and
06:21you're bound by certain fundamentals or techniques or concepts great things can
06:27happen and obviously that's what we want to do here
06:31I think talented I would say you know very very talented starting with you
06:39know Jerry on the D line just again I was in the NFC North why you know coach
06:46an offense while he was on defense and and for you to stay nine years in one
06:50position speaks you know volumes to me or that you transcend you know head
06:59coaches or you transcend coordinators says a lot about who he is and type of
07:04coach that he is so I'm excited about him obviously I've worked with Jordan
07:09Jordan was like my right-hand man when I was here last time coach Kovacs and just
07:15watched him grow over the last couple years and coach Banks just Burke excuse
07:21me I had a chance to spend some time with him last Thursday in the building
07:27and just he grabbed the pen and we just sat there for like two hours and just
07:32covered so many different things which was which was awesome and then coach
07:36Hodges obviously comes well-recommended had a chance to visit with him just
07:40recently and same thing six years in in one place says a lot about him so I'm
07:45excited about about those guys and you know getting together here on Monday and
07:50starting to plot a course say it again I'm sorry well I think you know one
08:01heartbeat for sure we all have to believe in the same thing and we talked
08:05about it earlier there's going to be you know there's not going to be much gray I
08:08don't live in that gray world I think it's it's very important that for us to
08:13be a championship defense we're gonna have to be empowered I can't make all
08:16the calls same thing with the staff you make a certain call the players have to
08:22have you know the trust and ingenuity and confidence to make a specific
08:28adjustment on the field and so at some point you have to turn the keys over to
08:32the to the players there'll be a certain way that we disrupt the football there'll
08:36be a specific way that we tackle in certain environments and certain
08:40situations there's going to be indicators for us in situations that
08:47that we're gonna have to recognize situation and perform accordingly and
08:50ultimately we want to be we want to be really good you know at tackling and
08:56doing a little things well so I think you know one heartbeat core fundamentals
09:02that that bind us and then ultimately a team that's that's player-driven
09:08something you've mentioned in the past going to be good fundamentals you just
09:12mentioned tackling how do you go about being good at those things improving at
09:17those types of things especially in a league and in a time period where you
09:20don't do it a whole lot yeah yeah I think there's a process involved in it I
09:24think you have to identify what the errors are and are those errors you know
09:27systematic you know and if so then you have to you have to take a hard look at
09:32yourself and say all right what can we change so I think there's a way to teach
09:35certain things I have really strong beliefs I think those beliefs will be
09:40tested by you know the staff as we get together and maybe we'll find a
09:44different way a better way but ultimately we're gonna we're gonna
09:48convene and plot a course for how we want to tackle how we want to disrupt
09:52the football we're gonna teach it we're gonna drill it we're gonna quality
09:56control it we're gonna show the application to the game and then we're
09:59gonna show the standard whether that's Bengals or other guys in our division or
10:03around the league that we are chasing that standard and we'll repeat that
10:07process until it's refined and owned by the players and for that to happen it's
10:12got to move from their head to their heart and and that's you know each guy
10:16takes a journey that's a little bit different young guy versus a veteran but
10:20if they can get to the point where we all believe in the same thing and you
10:24start to see it on tape that's when magic happens I don't I don't necessarily
10:34see it that's just the way we evolved I think the thing that made us difficult
10:39was we played a lot of different coverages we may not have played as
10:44many zones as some people wanted but our change-ups were really great you know our
10:49middle field open change-ups our three zone change-ups that came off of that
10:53you know man-to-man look I think that's what made us hard it just grab it we
10:57just gravitated towards being a more you know on body man team last year and but
11:03that's not to say that's what we're gonna be best at so put the players in
11:06the right position identify what they do best and and then plot a course and
11:10that's what we'll do here with coach you know Burks and Jordan and defensive
11:16staff well it was good because there was other guys I talked to and and
11:22getting a great experience from that you know look at Jerry Montgomery Jerry
11:27Montgomery is a guy I've had on my list since we played the Packers in 2018 when
11:31I was at the ramps you know and you got to look up who's the D line coach and
11:34that's when Jerry's name came to my radar and so just as I went through the
11:38interview process of coordinators I also at the same time was talking to some of
11:41these position assistants before they took jobs elsewhere and then when Al's
11:45you know accepted the job you know last Wednesday as we talked and felt like it
11:50was the right decision for both of us we immediately get on the phone with
11:53Jerry you know and make sure Al and Jerry can connect as well and that Al
11:56sees it the same way I do so there was a lot of good things that you have to do
12:00in between a lot of phone calls you get to make to a lot of different position
12:03guys and so we got a chance to use all that time and then when Al became
12:07available we made sure we talked and it was right fit for us here now that's our
12:17process to be honest with you the coach just gave us that instruction just to
12:21make sure we go back and and you know it's hard to go and evaluate you know
12:26other other teams players or guys in the draft without knowing what your base is
12:31so that's our first challenge as a staff is to make sure we really know that our
12:36players inside and out and so that's what I got to get to work on so it would
12:40be premature for me at this stage to comment on that just know that we'll
12:45identify the strengths and weaknesses of each player and then see you see
12:50where we go here in the next stage I do I think player development is again it
13:04starts with the head coach starts with Zach starts with the strength staff it
13:08starts with nutrition starts in the training room just everybody being on
13:12the same page and then just having a clear plan for them I think it's really
13:16important I said earlier like I don't want anything to be gray I want the guys
13:21to be stimulus response defense you know just you know when you recognize go you
13:27know and part of that is just how do we make it quiet in their minds and and we
13:32do that in the offseason with development with making sure that each
13:37player knows the two or three things that they got to get better at while
13:41they're learning the systems and and just really drilling down on that
13:45because everybody needs to improve everybody you know started with me you
13:50know as soon as they come back and and that's what we're gonna do we're gonna
13:54make sure it's really tight package and make sure it's it's it's condensed in
13:59terms of what they need to improve on and keep it small keep it small keep it
14:02small refine it play fast play with energy and play together
14:08as well regardless of the pick is having a plan carrying it out all of
14:12those things that you just mentioned from yeah yeah certainly from a
14:17development standpoint that um we talked about this last Wednesday just that
14:20onboarding you know how good can you get on you know as onboarding when the
14:26rookies come in you know because you know I think the one thing that we were
14:31proud of last year in South Bend was the number of freshmen that played for us
14:35and played significantly and to do that you have to be great at onboarding you
14:39know there has to be a quick transition they have to know precisely where their
14:43eyes need to go in the playbook exactly what techniques were teaching and and
14:49take the source to them go go right to them in terms of how they learn best and
14:54whether that's on their phone through video whatever that case may be just
14:58make it make it really really accessible so they can be a continuous learner and
15:03I think that's gonna start the second you know we get we get that we make that
15:07phone call and we draft somebody for three for two nickel but again I think
15:16I've never liked to be painted into a corner in terms of that because what are
15:21our strengths you know what what do our guys do best and and then what will our
15:25auxiliary fronts be you know how can we be a little bit different than maybe the
15:29standard and that's where you know we'll get together with coach Hodges
15:34and Jerry and then say okay what what you know what did you guys like in the
15:38past what do you think gives people problems and then you know juxtapose
15:42that with with the division you know because everything's gonna start with
15:46the division yeah I've already you know reached out to Trey and I had so much
15:57respect and a great relationship when I was here last time and just watching him
16:01evolve as a pass rusher and again our our job is going to be continue to put
16:06him in positions number one you know earn the right to rush the passer right
16:10so getting getting more passing downs and and give him opportunities and get
16:14him the matchup that we need to so make no mistake when you have somebody like
16:18that it's this job number one to put them in position to continue to do that
16:21or surpass that I think I think it is important especially given our division
16:30and that will start obviously in the spring and then carry over to to
16:35preseason camp but there's no doubt about it you know we need to be strong
16:40we need to be able to stop the run we need to get people behind the sticks and
16:43then ultimately cash in on that you know on third down I do
16:51I thought we were tough I thought we were mentally tough I thought we were
16:54physically tough I thought we ran to the ball really well so again you know part
17:01of the challenge of being here or the challenge of watching TV yesterday is
17:05that it's not it's not a good feeling in terms of you know we're not we're not
17:09there you know and that's what motivates you to get up today and say okay you've
17:14got to do something about it so that's what we plan to do
17:22and here it all is or do you like pieces you know little installation pieces I
17:26mean yeah I try to keep it to ten installations again that will marry up
17:30to what coaching and pitch and those guys want to do on offense but we'll try
17:35to marry it up I do believe in maybe challenging a little bit more in the
17:40spring just so there's better recall in the summer and then ultimately in
17:47preseason camp I'm not a big believer in drawing up something crazy on a
17:52Thursday night or you know I just don't believe in that I think you know you can
17:56you can quality control enough in the offseason that you can develop a menu
18:00that can endure the entire season certainly they'll be new little nuances
18:05that you have to do but if you want the guys to play fast then just be highly
18:10organized and be able to pull things that can help you you know versus
18:14opponent X or opponent Y I didn't need that motivation but it's not fun watching
18:27that that's as simple as I can put it
18:32in your career taking high-profile jobs this one telling your kids that you're
18:38awesome you know my son is a freshman in college and and obviously I have I have
18:47two in high school here so just a great moment for our family and you know again
18:53not just for our family because we have moved around and that's part of the deal
18:57is coaching but to be here in Cincinnati to be able to do it in Cincinnati in
19:01this community where we've established roots where our kids go to high schools
19:05and you know where we have so many friends and in family which is which is
19:10awesome so excited to be back just like coaches said I don't need much more
19:16motivation to be a pro and be the best I can every day but the fact that I'm
19:20doing it here with my family is awesome I did I did no doubt no I would never
19:29give up that experience or you know just being in that being in the last
19:34game and all it took to get there and the collective you know work if
19:39everybody because it takes everybody upstairs staff you know it takes
19:44everybody in organization to do that and obviously that's what we want to get
19:47done here in 2025 hard process was great just because coach Freeman was so
20:02amenable to you know what what I needed and what my needs were with with the
20:07family and so you know that that that was a challenge but you know I think if
20:15if it was you know out on the west coast or something we we probably could not
20:19have had done it or managed it so it worked out it worked out for us and I
20:25still got to spend an awful lot of time with my family which is great
20:31a lot somebody asked me if I got a ticket ever and I said yeah my first day
20:38on the job I got a ticket my first day my first very first day on the job so
20:44that was the only ticket I got yeah how you spoke about the way you signed off
20:49and Notre Dame how Marcus encouraged you to go about doing that but in totality
20:56how hard is it to step away from and be a place like that when you have it
21:02rolling like you guys did well number one I think they're built to last for a
21:06really long time now and I think the one thing you know when you get to be my age
21:12not everything works the way you want it to work but the one thing that I always
21:16wanted to do is leave something better than I found it and and I believe that
21:19my little part of of that I did and we did you know because it's a collective
21:26thing so it's always hard to leave because you invest so much in people you
21:31know what I mean it's not so much the brick-and-mortar but it's the people so
21:33that part of it was challenging but I think even the young kids understood the
21:40value of this and there's only 32 of these you know and there's even less
21:45that have Joe Burrow and and I think you know that that to me coupled with you
21:50know having worked here before being being around the Brown family being
21:55around coach before and and and obviously having a great feel for this
21:59community in this town made it easier I'd love to ask you how did the current
22:05NIL climate impact your thought process well does that make it easier or harder
22:09to know I think that's a question for other coaches I would say that our you
22:14know just our overall culture they're kind of not that we were immune to it
22:20but we were shielded we still had so many kids that were trying to get
22:23graduate degrees we had so many graduates on the field the other day and
22:26kids just trying to do it the right way and and and that's the kind of families
22:30that were attracted there so you were a little bit immune to it and to me that
22:34was a blessing I'm probably not the guy to ask that question but there's some
22:40things that certainly need to get fixed and need to get fixed quickly
22:46yeah I mean what's kind of in the thought in your mind as you kind of think
22:50about how the season went like what's kind of been the one thing you've been
22:53coming back to maybe well the thing I'm coming back to is I'm re-energized you
22:57know and ready to go for next year so you take two or three days yourself but
23:02you know you got these new hires coming in the building that re-energize you and
23:05get you ready to roll watching the games like you mentioned we didn't need that
23:10re-energy but but you want to be in those games you want to be in those
23:13moments and we know that we're capable of doing that and we didn't handle
23:16everything we could have the right way this season we put ourselves in a hole
23:19early finished the right way and so we got to continue and build on that
23:23momentum and and I'm really excited to do that yeah familiarity and and best
23:37people for the job so again I'm not there's always been snowboro you want to
23:43hire someone you're comfortable with and familiar with they're your friend
23:46whatever no I want to hire the people that are gonna help us win championships
23:48and so I think that we've done an excellent job of hiring coordinators
23:53position coaches quality controls and we don't take those hires lightly we spend
23:59a lot of time on them we want to hire a quality control that we envision
24:03becoming a position coach in a position coach that we envision becoming a
24:06coordinator and a coordinator you envision becoming a head coach and
24:09helping you win championships along the way so there's a lot of time and effort
24:12put into that and so we're always in a position to maybe bring somebody back or
24:16promote from within and and it always means because we felt like that was the
24:20best person for the job and I got a chance to interview some people that
24:23make it hard I mean they're outstanding football coaches just felt right now for
24:28us I was the best guy for the job and pitch was the best guy for the job last
24:32year and and excited about both those guys
24:36but one idea that comes with all the changes in college football and
24:41understanding that your experience at college football goes back decades at
24:44this point why that is that the college game has grown closer to the pro game
24:52like is that an idea that you would buy like you think they've gotten closer
24:55over the course of the last couple days oh I think there's no doubt you know
24:59even to the point where you know we're using the green dot in college now and
25:03you know they might as well just go ahead and do the goalpost in the field
25:06and and just get it over with you know I know there's a lot of defensive
25:10coordinators that would prefer guys not be four yards downfield on pass plays so
25:14that might be something that doesn't that doesn't fly in the NFL I know that
25:18so the money's close to this that's yeah it depends who you talk to
25:33there's a possibility the market will correct it always does
25:48I don't think it would be hard I mean the the ultimate beauty of the NFL is
25:53it's meritocracy and you know I always use the analogy of you know it's it's
26:01NASCAR right it's it's all the same body it's you know you got the same tire same
26:06gas you know so how do you create a culture that is a winning culture you
26:11know in other words how do we knock two seconds off you know our lap and that we
26:16do it with people right so I think that's the most important thing and
26:20that's the beauty of the NFL whether it's the caps or you know the just
26:25everybody's on the same same rules and that's what you know that's what I'm
26:30excited about how important is it to convince guys whether they're freshmen
26:39in college or a rookie in the NFL that you're starting over when you get here
26:43you're you're learning the way we do things you're getting used to yeah I
26:51think you know everybody's a little bit different right somebody's on they're
26:56all on different career paths and everything but you know we're not going
26:59to be successful if if if we don't all talk the same language and and we can't
27:04can't all hold each other to a certain standard in each of those realms so I
27:09think it's important that you know you know Trey's gonna want to be challenged
27:13and he's gonna want to be coached hard but Trey has earned a different level of
27:16respect and perhaps a rookie that's coming in so I think you can treat
27:21people differently but I think it's really important that we try to coach
27:24them all the same be uniform in terms of what what the standard is and what the
27:29expectations are and in in each particular context and and then go from
27:34there
27:36three weeks ago have told you that your staff looks the way it does now when you
27:41made those changes is excited you know it's a group that's professional number
27:48one and how they approach their jobs whether it be coordinator or position
27:51job and guys I have a ton of respect for guys they're really hungry you know and
27:55extremely motivated and so I just think it's a really good collection of coaches
27:59that we have come in that are all going to speak the same language when we
28:03define what that language is defensively and and start moving piece
28:07by piece evaluate our own guys evaluate the the combine guys and the free agents
28:12get ready for the draft and then coach our guys up so it's it's an experience
28:16that again rejuvenates the word I said not not that you just need a couple days
28:21after the season to kind of not get the season out of your system but but get
28:25ready for the next one and and we're ready to go now and you know I'm trying
28:29to get out to take days off it doesn't appear he's excited take any days off
28:33you know I took my couple days off here this weekend I'm excited to get back in
28:37the building and get to work and get these guys back in here and start
28:41getting ready to evaluate all these prospects and so just excited for the
28:44next opportunity we've got how much were you over the last three years able to
28:50observe or pay attention to the Bengals from afar well we I mean we're always
28:56fans and obviously with my children being here they would go to a game
29:02occasionally and that type of thing and but it's really hard when your seasons
29:06congruent you know besides you know wishing coach good luck or other guys on
29:11the staff Darren or whoever hey good luck no this game's big you know that
29:15kind of thing so but the fact that my family was here we never really we never
29:22left the community so it was always part of the fabric of it
29:27speaking of player evaluation you said the guy to your right go through a month
29:34of like the hardest competition that football can offer and looking in on
29:39some of the best talent in the college game I know you know because just on
29:44that this year yeah and maybe that's not a long-term perk of him being on the
29:50staff but do you think that's an advantage oh no that's a resource we're
29:54gonna use in all three phases you know he's he's been at Notre Dame and Notre
29:58Dame plays teams from throughout the country so he's seen the best athletes
30:01he's probably seen him play for two or three different teams as he's coached
30:04against him but you know that's the truth of it so I think there's probably
30:08a lot of prospects we're gonna go through in this draft where you know
30:12we'll be getting out up there and giving his two cents on scheming for a guy or
30:15playing against a guy or or the plenty of guys that Notre Dame has on the
30:19roster so that'll be great resource that we'll be sure to utilize
30:25the fact that you play tight end you coach tight ends you coach linebackers
30:29you know you've been on both sides of football how big an advantage is that to
30:36get you to where you are today oh I think it's a big advantage I think
30:40where it continues to manifest itself the most is probably on game day just
30:47big picture wise you know how a team is you know where their mic point is in the
30:52run game and who they're you know who their double team in two and who they're
30:56pulling for just little things that you learn when you're in the NFL you know
31:00certain protections and those types of things so I've never been I never shied
31:05away from coaching a different position or you know continuing to grow and it
31:10will be no different now you know I just want to continue to grow and get better
31:13and find out you know where's the best where can I make the most impact on this
31:19staff and and obviously we'll find out here in coming coming weeks