The NFL’s Baltimore Ravens are hiring top Notre Dame defensive assistant Mike Mickens, FootballScoop has confirmed.
Blue & Gold Illustrated as well as Irish Sports Daily’s Matt Freeman also shared the news.
It’s a blow to Marcus Freeman’s Notre Dame program, which had counted Mickens as the Irish’s longest-tenured assistant coach.
Mickens was hired to Notre Dame by former Irish head coach Brian Kelly and then stayed aboard with Freeman once Freeman was named head coach after the 2021 season. Both Freeman and Mickens previously had worked together at the University of Cincinnati, where Mickens was a star, All-America player who this past summer was enshrined into the school’s hall of fame.
At Notre Dame, Mickens emerged as one of the top defensive backs coaches anywhere in college football. He developed multiple star players in the Irish secondary, including helping Kyle Hamilton become an NFL Draft first-round pick, as well as finding and developing Ben Morrison — a second-round pick last year by the Tampa Bay Bucs, in addition to workin with former All-America, award-winning safety Xavier Watts. Watts just enjoyed a breakout-season in his rookie campaign with the Atlanta Falcons.
Leonard Moore is the latest Irish star to break out under the guidance of Mickens, with Moore earning All-America honors in 2025 and, a rising junior, already projected among the top corners in the 2027 NFL Draft.
Previously, Notre Dame lost linebackers coach Max Bullough to Pat Fitzgerald’s Michigan State program — Bullough’s alma mater. He’s set to be the co-defensive coordinator in Fitzgerald’s inaugural staff atop the Spartans program.
Per sources, Irish award-winning special teams coordinator Marty Biagi also has been approached about multiple jobs that include options in both the NFL and at the Power Conference level in college football.
Mickens late Sunday night informed his current Irish players that he was departing the program for the NFL’s Ravens, the franchise that just parted ways with longtime coach Jim Harbaugh and hired former Los Angeles Chargers and ex-national championship-winning Michigan Wolverines defensive coordinator Jesse Minter to become the franchise’s head coach.
In recent years, Lincoln Riley and the USC Trojans tried to hire away Mickens after the 2023 season. Additionally, Mickens interviewed a year ago for the Georgia Tech defensive coordinator’s role. Mickens is a former FootballScoop Defensive Backs Coach of the Year nominee.
With six years on staff, Mickens had been by far Notre Dame’s most-tenured coach.
Now, he’s set to join the first-year regime of Minter in his first-ever NFL coaching opportunity — after spening time as an NFL player with the Dallas Cowboys, Tampa Bay Bucs and Cincinnati Bengals.