Former Notre Dame defensive coordinator Al Golden has won the Broyles Award as college football's top assistant coach, the Frank & Barbara Broyles Foundation announced Thursday night.
Named after the College Football Hall of Fame coach of Missouri and Arkansas, the award has honored the nation's top assistant since 1996.
Golden, named the Cincinnati Bengals defensive coordinator on Jan. 23, is the second former Notre Dame coach to be named the nation's top assistant, joining 2012 victor Bob Diaco. With the win, Notre Dame becomes the eighth program to celebrate multiple Broyles Award winners, joining Alabama, Auburn, Clemson, LSU, Michigan, Ohio State, and Oklahoma.
Finalists for the award were Arizona State offensive coordinator Marcus Arroyo, Tennessee defensive coordinator Tim Banks, Indiana defensive coordinator Bryant Haines, and Texas defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski.
After six seasons coaching in the NFL, Golden returned to the college game to lead Marcus Freeman's defense, a 3-year run that culminated in a berth in Notre Dame's first College Football Playoff championship game.
Notre Dame closed the season ranked 11th in total defense and yards per play, and led the nation in passing efficiency. Opposing quarterbacks completed a national-worst 52.1 percent of their 451 pass attempts for 6.0 yards per attempt while tossing 14 touchdowns against 19 interceptions.
A former Penn State and New England Patriots tight end, Golden entered coaching as the offensive coordinator at Red Bank Catholic High School in New Jersey in 1993. His first college job came as a graduate assistant at Virginia in 1994, and future stops took him to Boston College, Penn State and back to UVA before becoming Temple's head coach in 2006. He spent five seasons apiece leading Temple and Miami before joining the NFL ranks as an assistant for the Detroit Lions and Cincinnati Bengals from 2016-21.
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