Notre Dame has lost a key part of its national championship run with defensive coordinator Al Golden leaving to take the same role for the Cincinnati Bengals ... he turned the Irish defense ...

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

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.

Notre Dame football officially is losing Al Golden to the Bengals. However, the Irish could have an immediate replacement.

It didn’t take many by surprise to see former Notre Dame defensive coordinator Al Golden leave for the Cincinnati Bengals last week. Coach Golden spent a couple of seasons as the linebackers coach with the organization before coming to South Bend,

Notre Dame is set to hire Chris Ash as its defensive coordinator, CBS Sports' Matt Zenitz reports. The former Rutgers coach replaces Al Golden, who departed his post to take the same job with the Cincinnati Bengals in the NFL .

A key piece of Notre Dame’s support staff is reportedly following former Fighting Irish general manager Chad Bowden to USC. Notre Dame director of player personnel Zaire Turner is headed to Los Angeles for a similar job with the Trojans,

“Sources: Chris Ash has accepted the job as the Notre Dame’s new defensive coordinator,” Pete Thamel said in a post. “Ash brings a blend of coordinating experience, NFL experience and high-end results as a collegiate coordinator. A deal is expected to be finalized in the near future.”

Notre Dame is working on a deal to bring Chris Ash in as the Fighting Irish's new defensive coordinator, per ESPN's Pete Thamel. Ash replaces ex-Notre Dame

Co-defensive coordinator with Luke Fickell for Ohio State’s 2014 national champions, Chris Ash helped coach Urban Meyer’s Buckeyes go 26-2 in 2014-15.

Notre Dame was able to be one of the top defenses in all of college football as it tied for fourth in the NCAA with 15.5 points per game allowed. Adding an experienced defensive c