1-on-1 With Bengals Defensive Coordinator Al Golden Full Interview
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00:00In the Bengals locker room with defensive coordinator Al Golden.
00:03Al, welcome to Cincinnati.
00:05The first thing I want to ask you is about the process because
00:09I've seen it.
00:10I'm a University of Cincinnati graduate.
00:12I've seen how college coaches can get jobs and it happens
00:15quick and it can happen in the middle of bowl season.
00:19Just the way the Bengals handled this, Zach handled this, you
00:22were able to handle it.
00:22It didn't feel like it was a distraction.
00:25No, not at all.
00:26And they just had such a class approach to it.
00:29And just really were supportive in our run and in South Bend
00:34and allowed us the freedom just to work and they asked for
00:37permission, you know, after the championship game and had a
00:39chance to talk to Zach last Tuesday night and Wednesday and
00:44formally Wednesday.
00:48And then decided that this was the best, you know, move for
00:51you know, our family moving forward.
00:53Have you, knowing that your family was here, did you ever
00:56think about the possibility of coaching in stripes again?
00:59Can you allow yourself in the coaching profession to do
01:03that or do you just not think about that?
01:06No, I never, I really never thought, you know, obviously
01:09if you tried to do the odds of that relative to where I was
01:13and how content I was to be at Notre Dame, that's something
01:18that never really crossed, you know, my mind.
01:23But when it did, when the opportunity did avail itself,
01:26obviously, you know, it's magical, you know, that timed up
01:31the way it did and have the opportunity to be back here.
01:34What was your family's reaction to knowing that you wouldn't
01:38have to commute anymore and do all the things that you've
01:40been doing?
01:40Yeah, no, they're excited and they're excited because they
01:43believe in Cincinnati, you know, they believe in the community.
01:47They have established roots here and obviously they know how
01:50we feel about the Bengals, about the Brown family, you know,
01:55about, you know, Coach Taylor and obviously the staff that
01:58he's putting together and, you know, my respect for Coach
02:00Simmons, for example, just, I mean, Joey Boze, just any of
02:04the people that I've had an opportunity to work with and
02:07consummate professionals and obviously can't wait to be their
02:11partner.
02:11If a Bengals fan is at UDF pumping gas or getting ice cream
02:15and you come up, the new Bengals defensive coordinator, what
02:18would you want them to know?
02:19How would you describe yourself as a coach?
02:21I listen a lot.
02:25I'm not a screamer, you know, I try to be really poised.
02:29I try to be a problem solver.
02:32I try to make everybody around me better and I'm organized.
02:38I try to empower the coaches that I work with and ultimately
02:42empower the players and we're going to go only as far as
02:47the players want to take us this year and in coming years.
02:51And so it's really important that we build this together.
02:54We have buy-in together and that they understand that it really
02:59can't be one on the board and it can't be one in the classroom.
03:04It's got to be one on the field and to do that you have to
03:07empower guys to get us in the right play, to get us in the
03:10right call.
03:10Hey, they went to empty.
03:11We got to do this.
03:13Oh, they shifted again.
03:14We have to do this and you have to have guys that are empowered
03:16that have confidence that have beliefs that are, you know,
03:20congruent with yours and consistent with yours and then
03:23ultimately the confidence to go ahead and get us in the right
03:26spot. How do you build that confidence in general with young
03:29guys or younger players whether it's rookies or second and third
03:32year guys?
03:32Yeah, keep it quiet.
03:34Keep it quiet.
03:34Don't don't have a lot of gray area.
03:37Keep it small, refine, refine, refine.
03:42Try to make sure that you know, they have the trust and the
03:45respect and the confidence to ask questions and to be engaged
03:50and and if they need, you know, an extra walk through or an
03:53extra meeting or extra, you know, lab work or whatever it is
03:57whatever they need to provide that for them so that they can
04:01be their best.
04:01I don't think there's anybody that's going to walk in the
04:03locker room that that doesn't want to improve.
04:05So we have to put them in the best spot to do that best position
04:10to do that.
04:11If players improve the units going to improve and that's
04:15what we're looking for both individually and collectively given
04:19the fact that you've and I think it's 19 different ranked teams.
04:21You guys have played over the past three years at Notre Dame
04:25huge games multiple games against Ohio State.
04:27You obviously played Georgia.
04:29Will that help you during this offseason evaluating the NFL draft
04:33class?
04:34I it will I told the story this weekend just of you know, you
04:40watch certain players on tape or certain players have specific
04:45accolades or you know, they're you know, this guy's getting
04:49the ball out.
04:50He's a heck of a player.
04:52But when your players come over the off the sideline, you know
04:54after a drive or two and like my good this guy's different, you
04:58know, they said that about one of the Louisville wide receivers
05:01early this year and and so yeah that stays with you like, you
05:05know, the players know the players know when somebody's on
05:08a on a completely different, you know Plateau or level and how
05:13they have to adjust their game accordingly.
05:14So that helps you that helps your feedback and then, you know,
05:19just having like you're saying just being able to play however
05:22many will be play 30 games the last two years.
05:24And so you that's a lot of exposure to a lot of really really
05:28good players and and and ultimately hopefully I can share that
05:33with the organization.
05:34You obviously are in the process of finalizing your staff multiple
05:37guys truck Berks is returning Jordan Kovacs returning guys like
05:41Jerry Montgomery.
05:42You're bringing in what has that process been like?
05:45I know it's a whirlwind but to finalize a staff that's obviously
05:48going to be crucial.
05:48Yeah, it's been a whirlwind a lot of these guys come so highly
05:52recommended through coach Taylor and guys that the organization
05:57has had on their board.
05:59So it was easy to build once, you know, we had the green light
06:04to do that just to get in front of these guys.
06:07And like I said, I drove up here last Thursday and had a chance
06:10to interface with coach Berks and and again see Jordan again,
06:14but I was just really I was really enamored by coach Berks and
06:19his knowledge and just we just sat there with no film nothing
06:23nothing planned.
06:24Just just take me through certain things that you did and I'm
06:29excited about that.
06:30I'm excited to learn what they do best as a staff and and obviously
06:36share with with them certain ideas and values that we believe
06:40in. I know you're about to do a bunch of these interviews.
06:43So I appreciate the time.
06:44Appreciate it.