Al Golden
Al Golden went 59–59 as a head coach, 2006–2015, at Temple and Miami. Share
- Record
- 59–59 career
- Seasons
- 10
- Schools
- 2
- Final AP top 10
- 0 seasons
- Best season
- 2009 9–4
Season by season
| Season | School | Record | Conference finish | Bowl | AP final | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Temple | 1–11 | ||||
| 2007 | Temple | 4–8 | T–4th (East) | |||
| 2008 | Temple | 5–7 | T–2nd (East) | |||
| 2009 | Temple | 9–4 | T–1st (East) | EagleBank Bowl L | ||
| 2010 | Temple | 8–4 | 3rd (East) | |||
| 2011 | Miami | 6–6 | T–4th (Coastal) | |||
| 2012 | Miami | 7–5 | T–1st (Coastal) | |||
| 2013 | Miami | 9–4 | T–2nd (Coastal) | Russell Athletic Bowl L | ||
| 2014 | Miami | 6–7 | T–5th (Coastal) | Independence Bowl L | ||
| 2015 | Miami coached seven of 13 games | 4–3 |
Each season links to the team’s season page; bowls and playoff games link to the game. Conference finishes from the Wikipedia article’s record table.
Players he coached
Artie BurnsNo. 25 pick, 2016
Every player from his seasons with a Heisman top-five finish, a national award, consensus All-America honors or a first-round pick. Photos: Wikimedia Commons, free licenses; credits on each player’s page.
How his teams did
| Kind of game | Games | Record | Won |
|---|---|---|---|
| Against ranked teams | 18 | 3–15 | 17% |
| Against top-10 teams | 5 | 0–5 | 0% |
| Against rivals | 27 | 8–19 | 30% |
| Conference games | 67 | 37–30 | 55% |
| Bowls and playoffs | 3 | 0–3 | 0% |
| Decided by 8 points or fewer | 41 | 21–20 | 51% |
| At home | 58 | 39–19 | 67% |
| On the road | 55 | 20–35 | 36% |
| At neutral sites | 5 | 0–5 | 0% |
| As our Elo’s favorite | 57 | 41–16 | 72% |
| As our Elo’s underdog | 61 | 18–43 | 30% |
His own 118 games on file, 2006–2015, as played (vacated wins counted, ties as half a win). Ranks are the AP poll going into the game; rivals are the ones either program’s Wikipedia article names; favorite and underdog by our own Elo rating, which reads only scores.
Against other head coaches
| Coach | Record | Their schools | Games | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paul Johnson 2006–2014 | 3–3 | Navy, Georgia Tech | 6 | |
| Doug Martin 2006–2010 | 3–2 | Kent State | 5 | |
| Frank Beamer 2011–2015 | 3–2 | Virginia Tech | 5 | |
| Joe Paterno 2006–2010 | 0–5 | Penn State | 5 | |
| Jimbo Fisher 2011–2015 | 0–5 | Florida State | 5 | |
| David Cutcliffe 2011–2014 | 3–1 | Duke | 4 | |
| Turner Gill 2006–2009 | 1–3 | Buffalo | 4 | |
| Frank Solich 2007–2010 | 1–3 | Ohio | 4 | |
| Randy Edsall 2007–2011 | 1–3 | UConn, Maryland | 4 | |
| Mike London 2011–2014 | 1–3 | Virginia | 4 |
Al Golden’s record against the head coaches he met three or more times, from the games on file, as played.
Most-faced opponents
| Opponent | Games | Record |
|---|---|---|
| Virginia Techseries | 5 | 3–2 |
| Kent Stateseries | 5 | 3–2 |
| Buffaloseries | 5 | 2–3 |
| Florida Stateseries | 5 | 0–5 |
| Penn Stateseries | 5 | 0–5 |
| Akronseries | 4 | 4–0 |
| Georgia Techseries | 4 | 3–1 |
| Dukeseries | 4 | 3–1 |
National coaching awards
The awards- 2024 Notre Dame: Broyles Award
Other roles
- Team captain, Penn State 1991
From each season’s Wikipedia article.
Career
| Years | Team | Job | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | Red Bank Catholic HS (NJ) high school | Offensive coordinator | |
| 1994–96 | Virginia | Graduate assistant | |
| 1997–99 | Boston College | Linebackers coach | |
| 2000 | Penn State | Linebackers coach | |
| 2001–05 | Virginia | Defensive coordinator | |
| 2006–10 | Temple | Head coach | |
| 2011–15 | Miami (FL) | Head coach | |
| 2020–21 | Cincinnati Bengals NFL | Linebackers coach | |
| 2025–present | Cincinnati Bengals NFL | Defensive coordinator |
Every job as the infobox of his Wikipedia article lists it (CC BY-SA), assistant jobs included.
Coaching tree
Worked under
- George WelshVirginia
- Tom O’BrienBoston College
- Joe PaternoPenn State
- Al GrohVirginia
- Zac TaylorCincinnati Bengals
- Marcus FreemanNotre Dame
Assistants who became head coaches
- George DeLeoneSouthern Connecticut State
- Matt RhuleTemple, Baylor, Nebraska, Carolina Panthers
- Ryan DayOhio State
- Ed FoleyTemple, Fordham
- Jedd FischUCLA, Arizona, Washington
- Larry ScottHoward
Worked under (6)
| Head coach | Team | Years | His job | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| George Welsh | Virginia | 1994–96 | Graduate assistant | |
| Tom O’Brien | Boston College | 1997–99 | Linebackers coach | |
| Joe Paterno | Penn State | 2000 | Linebackers coach | |
| Al Groh | Virginia | 2001–05 | Defensive coordinator | |
| Zac Taylor | Cincinnati Bengals NFL | 2020–26 | 2020–21: linebackers coach; 2025–26: defensive coordinator | |
| Marcus Freeman | Notre Dame | 2022–24 | Defensive coordinator |
Coached under him, later head coaches (6)
| Coach | With him | Head coach at | |
|---|---|---|---|
| George DeLeone | Temple, 2006: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach; 2007: offensive coordinator and offensive line coach | Southern Connecticut State | |
| Matt Rhule | Temple, 2006: defensive line coach; 2007: quarterbacks coach; 2008–10: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | Temple, Baylor, Nebraska, Carolina Panthers | |
| Ryan Day | Temple, 2006: wide receivers coach | Ohio State | |
| Ed Foley | Temple, 2008–10: tight ends and offensive line coach | Temple, Fordham | |
| Jedd Fisch | Miami, 2011–12: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | UCLA, Arizona, Washington | |
| Larry Scott | Miami, 2013–15: tight ends coach | Howard |
Other assistants under him (7)
| Coach | With him | |
|---|---|---|
| Jeff Nixon | Temple, 2006: running backs and wide receivers coach | |
| Mark D’Onofrio | Temple, 2006–07: defensive coordinator; 2008–09: assistant head coach and defensive coordinator; 2010: assistant head coach, defensive coordinator and linebackers coach; Miami, 2011–15: assistant head coach and defensive coordinator | |
| Rob Spence | Temple, 2010: wide receivers coach | |
| Brennan Carroll | Miami, 2011–12: tight ends coach; 2013–14: wide receivers coach | |
| George McDonald | Miami, 2011–12: wide receivers coach and passing game coordinator | |
| Matt Applebaum | Miami, 2011–12: graduate assistant | |
| James Coley | Miami, 2013–15: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach |
From coaches’ Wikipedia infoboxes (CC BY-SA) and each season’s article for its coordinators: an assistant’s seasons at a school count under its head coach in our records; jobs in the NFL and elsewhere, under the head coach whose own article lists the job that year. Names without a page here link to their Wikipedia articles.
How he coached
Golden’s teams went for it on 19% of fourth downs and on 33% of those where the model said go for it, passed on 49% of plays and took 25.9 seconds a play, 2006–2015.
| Season | School | Went for it on fourth | When the model said go | Pass rate | Seconds a play | EPA a play | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 10 g | Temple | 19 of 89 21% | 38% | 57% | 31.4 | −0.29 | |
| 2007 8 g | Temple | 16 of 72 22% | 30% | 55% | 24.0 | −0.14 | |
| 2008 9 g | Temple | 11 of 73 15% | 33% | 50% | 25.5 | −0.16 | |
| 2009 11 g | Temple | 14 of 78 18% | 46% | 35% | 26.9 | −0.06 | |
| 2010 12 g | Temple | 10 of 85 12% | 17% | 44% | 25.3 | −0.06 | |
| 2011 12 g | Miami | 17 of 75 23% | 42% | 49% | 27.7 | +0.03 | |
| 2012 12 g | Miami | 17 of 95 18% | 29% | 56% | 22.1 | +0.05 | |
| 2013 13 g | Miami | 17 of 88 19% | 35% | 48% | 24.3 | +0.08 | |
| 2014 13 g | Miami | 24 of 100 24% | 37% | 50% | 26.6 | +0.03 | |
| 2015 12 g | Miami | 15 of 103 15% | 27% | 55% | 26.0 | +0.04 | |
| All 112 g | 160 of 858 19% | 33% | 49% | 25.9 | −0.04 |
His seasons as a head coach from 2004 on, from ESPN’s play by play: fourth downs where he went for it out of every fourth-down decision; how often he went when SportsDataverse’s fourth-down model said going for it was the better call; the share of his offense’s plays that were passes; seconds of game clock per offensive play (lower is faster); and expected points added per offensive play (EPA, a measure of how much each play moved the offense toward points). The season in progress counts its games so far. SportsDataverse’s coach tendencies, from ESPN’s play by play; the EPA and the fourth-down model are SportsDataverse’s.