ESPN first reported Notre Dame was targeting Golden, who spent the last two seasons as the Cincinnati Bengals linebackers coach, to be defensive coordinator.
Golden went 32-25 in four-plus seasons as Miami’s head coach from 2011-15. He was fired seven games into his final season.
Golden, a former Penn State tight end in the 1990s, was head coach at Temple before he took over at Miami. The New Jersey native helped turn around a languishing program over five seasons at the Philadelphia school. The Owls went 17-8 under Golden in his final two seasons.
He has been an NFL assistant with the Bengals since being let go by Miami.
At Notre Dame, Freeman, a Wayne High School graduate who played at Ohio State, was promoted in December from defensive coordinator to head coach days after Brian Kelly left for LSU.
Mike Elston was initially expected to be Notre Dame’s defensive coordinator, but the veteran assistant left for Michigan in January, opening up a spot on Freeman’s staff.
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