Mike Zimmer, who spent last season as the Dallas Cowboys ' defensive coordinator, said he will not be returning to the team on new head coach Brian Schottenheimer's staff and likely will retire from coaching in the NFL, according to a report Sunday from NFL reporter Ed Werder.

The Cincinnati Bengals defensive coordinator job has been open for more than two weeks now, but there hasn't been much movement on a possible hiring and now we know why: The team was waiting for Notre Dame to finish its season.

New defensive coordinator Al Golden and the Cincinnati Bengals filled some holes on their coaching staff, hiring Jerry Montgomery and Mike Hodges, the team announced Monday.

Cincinnati is finalizing a deal to hire Notre Dame defensive coordinator Al Golden to run its defense. Golden helped lead the Fighting Irish to Monday night’s College Football Playoff national championship game where they lost to Ohio State. He is expected to officially sign with the team on Thursday.

"There's only 32 of these," Golden said when asked why he wanted to return to the Bengals after a successful stint in the college ranks, at Notre Dame. "There's even less that have Joe Burrow."

Al Golden was introduced as the new Cincinnati Bengals defensive coordinator Monday. Golden is no stranger to Cincinnati nor head coach Zac Taylor. Before arriving at Notre Dame in 2022, Golden worked as the Bengals linebackers coach from 2020 through 2021.

The Bengals have made it official with their new defensive coordinator. Cincinnati announced that the club has hired Al Golden for the role. “Al is a very highly regarded coach, and we are excited to welcome him back to the Bengals as defensive ...

The Cincinnati Bengals have hired Notre Dame defensive coordinator Al Golden as the next defensive coordinator of the franchise, ESPN's Pete Thamel reported Wednesday. Golden currently serves as Notre Dame’s defensive coordinator after two years on head coach Zac Taylor’s staff from 2020-21.

Chris Ash, a former Rutgers head coach who spent the past four years in the NFL, will be Notre Dame's new defensive coordinator.

Golden should have an advantage over a lot of other defensive coordinator candidates in this department. He coached against 19 different ranked teams in three seasons as Notre Dame's defensive coordinator.

Reuters, the news and media division of Thomson Reuters, is the world’s largest multimedia news provider, reaching billions of people worldwide every day. Reuters provides business, financial, national and international news to professionals via desktop terminals, the world's media organizations, industry events and directly to consumers.