It’s pretty safe to say that former University of Miami and Temple head coach Al Golden won’t be wearing a tie this go around.
After falling short this college off-season for a handful of jobs at the college level, including the head coaching gig at Rutgers, Golden has signed on to be the Tight Ends coach for the Detroit Lions.
Despite the speculation and troubles at Miami, Golden has been known as a players coach, that builds strong relationships with those that he coaches. He has a long history of coaching defenses at the collegiate level, serving as Virginia’s defensive coordinator from 2001-2005. He was also a linebackers coach from 1997-2001 at Boston College and Penn State.
It might seem strange that Jim Caldwell would look to add a coach to the offensive side of the ball that has zero professional experience there. Golden played tight end at Penn State University and also broke through in the NFL with the New England Patriots. He also has a prolific track record as an offensive coordinator at the high school level in the state of New Jersey.
With the hiring of Golden, Devin Fitzsimmons will move back to coaching special teams for the 2016-17 season. Ron Prince, who coached the tight ends, before moving to the offensive line slot midway through the season, will remain as Caldwell’s offensive line coach.
Golden went 32-25 as the head coach of the Miami Hurricanes from 2011 through part of the 2015 season.
One of the biggest keys to making the cut as a position coach in the NFL is being able to make adjustments throughout the game. Something that Golden wasn’t able to do as a head coach at Miami.
From 2011-2014, Golden went 3-17 in games that his team was traveling at halftime.
The hiring of Golden won’t be favorited by most out there, but switching to offense might just be the ignition for Golden to return to the high-level coach that he once was, as one of the highest sought after young coaches in college football.
