Golden worked with Bengals offensive line coach Jim Turner at Boston College, hired wide receivers coach Bob Bicknell as his offensive line coach at Temple, worked with offensive coordinator Brian Callahan in Detroit and crossed paths with Anarumo during their stints in Miami.

"I feel very comfortable around these guys even after just a couple of days," Golden said. "I feel very comfortable with Zac. He's very sharp, very positive, empowering. A great listener. I'm impressed with the operation and how he handles things."

Playing behind Pro Bowl tight ends Marv Cook and Ben Coates in New England, Golden never played in a game in that 1992 rookie season in Foxboro and when Parcells took over in '93, he was gone. But not before he tried to get Golden a roster spot with head coach Bill Belichick's Browns. That didn't work and he ended up briefly with the Chargers, where he also never saw game action. But he had been given Parcells' seal of approval.

"He released me, but the irony is he introduced me to everybody in his (coaching) tree," Golden said.

One of those Parcells guys was Al Groh, his defensive coordinator and a University of Virginia product and that's where Golden began his coaching career as a graduate assistant in 1994. Seven years later when he became the head man at Virginia, Groh made Golden his defensive coordinator.

That's the 3-4 school and Golden was true to his roots as a head coach. But while the Bengals base defense was a 4-3 last year in Anarumo's first season, they played enough 3-4 looks that the scheme can be considered a hybrid.

"We were hybrid the last couple of years in Detroit," Golden said. "To be honest, a lot of NFL teams are running hybrid because of the multiplicity of looks you see week to week. There are a lot of spread attacks, but any given week you see a pro-style offense, a little more standard two tight-end look or fullback action. It's a very diverse league right now and defenses have to be equally diverse."