{"id":720957,"date":"2026-02-01T07:33:49","date_gmt":"2026-02-01T07:33:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/720957\/"},"modified":"2026-02-01T07:33:49","modified_gmt":"2026-02-01T07:33:49","slug":"notre-dame-lbs-coach-al-washington-leaving-for-miami-dolphins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/720957\/","title":{"rendered":"Notre Dame LBs coach Al Washington leaving for Miami Dolphins"},"content":{"rendered":"

Notre Dame football linebackers coach Al Washington<\/a> is leaving the program for the same position with the Miami Dolphins, according to John Brice of FootballScoop. Blue & Gold<\/a> recruiting insider Mike Singer confirmed Brice\u2019s report on Thursday night. <\/p>\n

Washington is the third assistant coach to depart the Irish this offseason, following previous linebackers coach Max Bullough<\/a> and defensive backs coach Mike Mickens<\/a>. On Sunday night, Blue & Gold reported<\/a> that Mickens was joining the Baltimore Ravens in a similar role. Last month, Bullough left the team to become the co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at his alma mater, Michigan State. <\/p>\n

Bullough\u2019s move in December created the first opening on the Irish coaching staff this offseason. Rather than seeking an external candidate, coach Marcus Freeman<\/a> promoted Washington to linebackers coach. Washington earned the nod after having spent the previous four seasons at Notre Dame as the defensive line coach. <\/p>\n

Earlier this month, the Irish announced the addition of former Indianapolis Colts DL coach Charie Partridge<\/a> to the same position. <\/p>\n

Washington moved to South Bend in 2022 to be Freeman\u2019s first defensive line coach. He helped produce three NFL Draft picks in\u00a0Isaiah Foskey<\/a>,\u00a0Javontae Jean-Baptiste<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Rylie Mills<\/a>. Before joining the Irish, Washington was the linebackers coach at Ohio State from 2019-21 and Michigan in 2018. Now, he\u2019s off to Miami. <\/p>\n

Washington joins newly appointed Dolphins head coach Jeff Hafley\u2019s<\/a> staff. Hafley and Washington have a past history. They were on the same Buckeyes staff together in 2019 when Hafley served as co-defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach. <\/p>\n

Washington and Hafley have remained indirectly tied together since then. After the 2019 season, Hafley became the head coach at Boston College. However, he left the college ranks after the 2023 season to become the Packers\u2019 defensive coordinator, creating a head coaching vacancy. Washington, a former BC defensive lineman, interviewed for the job. But they went with Bill O\u2019Brien<\/a> as their next head coach. <\/p>\n

So, Washington returned to Notre Dame in 2024 and bolstered his r\u00e9sum\u00e9, helping the Irish reach the College Football Playoff despite his defensive line being ravaged by injuries. This past season, he developed defensive end Boubacar Traore<\/a> into a potential NFL Draft pick. Before Traore decided to return to Notre Dame, the third-year Irish pass rusher reportedly was viewed as a Day 2 NFL Draft prospect, meaning he could have been drafted as high as the second round. <\/p>\n

Washington also made a statement on the recruiting trail, signing five-star edge rusher Rodney Dunham<\/a> and another top-50 EDGE in Ebenezer Ewetade<\/a>, both out of North Carolina. According to Rivals, Dunham and Ewetade were the best edge rushing duo in the 2026 class. <\/p>\n

Washington also recruited and signed the Nos. 17 and 43 defensive linemen in the class, including Elijah Golden<\/a> and Tiki Hola<\/a>. Both players have the potential to be difference makers for the Irish at 3-tech and nose guard. <\/p>\n

Before Thursday night\u2019s news broke, Washington was in Ohio recruiting for the Irish and even offered 2027 class linebacker Brayton Feister<\/a> from Akron Archbishop Hoban<\/a>. Now, for the second time this offseason, Notre Dame will be looking for a new linebackers coach to recruit and develop players for the Irish. And it still needs a defensive backs coach, too. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Notre Dame football linebackers coach Al Washington is leaving the program for the same position with the Miami…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":720958,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2049],"tags":[217,7,216,251,2087,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-720957","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-miami-dolphins","8":"tag-dolphins","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-miami","11":"tag-miami-dolphins","12":"tag-miamidolphins","13":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115994222526589665","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/720957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=720957"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/720957\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/720958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=720957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=720957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=720957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}