Bengals reportedly create two coaching reunions with one hire as defensive staff is nearly complete
The Cincinnati Bengals are putting the finishing touches on its coaching staff following the hire of defensive coordinator Al Golden, and that includes one of Golden's assistants from Notre Dame.As first reported by John Brice of Football Scoop, the Bengals are hiring Notre Dame senior defensive analyst Mike Moon to Golden's staff on defense. Moon's […]
The Cincinnati Bengals are putting the finishing touches on its coaching staff following the hire of defensive coordinator Al Golden, and that includes one of Golden's assistants from Notre Dame.
As first reported by John Brice of Football Scoop, the Bengals are hiring Notre Dame senior defensive analyst Mike Moon to Golden's staff on defense. Moon's new role was not specified in Brice's report.
As confirmation of the report, Moon has updated his X/Twitter profile accordingly with a Bengals header photo and putting Cincinnati, OH as his location.
Moon spent four seasons at Notre Dame starting in 2021 as a defensive graduate assistant with a focus on the defensive line. He kept that role through the 2022 season, Golden's first year in South Bend, before transitioning to a defensive analyst role with linebackers being his specialty in 2023. He changed tasks again in 2024, becoming a senior defensive analyst, but stuck with the linebackers as his focus. He held similar roles at his previous stop at Old Dominion from 2017-20
Moon was already with the Fighting Irish before Golden arrived, but Golden liked Moon enough to keep him on staff and elevate him two separate times in three years. It's not a big surprise to see Moon following Golden in the latter's return to Cincinnati.
Coincidentally, Moon took over as ND's senior defensive analyst right after incumbent Ronnie Regula left for the Bengals that offseason. Regula was a Golden hire in '22, and he remained on Cincinnati's staff this offseason as a defensive assistant. Now they're both working under Golden together again.
The Bengals had two coaching vacancies left to fill after defensive line coach Jerry Montgomery and linebackers coach Mike Hodges were officially hired last week. Moon will either fill the shoes of former senior defensive assistant Mark Duffner, or defensive quality control coach Louie Cioffi, each of whom part of January's firings.
Should the Bengals want to fill both positions this offseason, then there will need to be one more hire on top of Moon.
