Earlier this season, the Notre Dame football faithful had to start worrying about losing their head coach. Now do they need to worry about losing their defensive coordinator?

While the rumors that Marcus Freeman was headed to the NFL have calmed down after he signed an extension in South Bend, there is new talk that Al Golden could be on his way out. The good news here might be that it doesn’t appear he’s leaving for another coaching job. The bad news is, what does it matter where he goes, if he’s leaving?

The latest rumors surrounding the Notre Dame football defensive coordinator started almost immediately after the Cincinnati Bengals fired their own DC, Lou Anarumo. National columnist Matt Fortuna was among those that believes the opening could lead to head coach Zac Taylor making the call for Golden. Notre Dame fans were quick to make it clear how little they liked those sorts of hints.

After Fortuna tweeted the eyeballs emoji on an announcement that Anarumo was fired, Irish fans came out of the wordwork in droves.

“No don’t bring it into this universe,” one user wrote.

“AG won’t go back,” another wrote. “Not now at least.”

“Rumors about Golden begin in 3…2…1..” a third user wrote.

The whispers of Golden heading to the Bengals stem from him previously working briefly for Bengals head coach Zac Taylor. During the 2020 and 2021 seasons, the Notre Dame football defensive coordinator was the linebackers’ coach for Cincy. 

Now the waiting game begins.