Mike Mickens 2025-26 Football Staff

THE MICKEN’S FILE

Hometown: Dayton, Ohio
High School: Wayne
College: Cincinnati (2011)
Wife: Jessica
Children: Millie

PLAYING EXPERIENCE

2005-08 Cincinnati Cornerback
2009 Dallas Cowboys Cornerback
2009 Tampa Bay Buccaneers Cornerback
2009 Cincinnati Bengals Cornerback
2009 Calgary Stampeders Cornerback

BOWLS PLAYED

2006 Cincinnati (International)
2007 Cincinnati (PapaJohns.com)
2008 Cincinnati (Orange)

COACHING CAREER

2011 Cincinnati Defensive Assistant
2012 Indiana State Defensive Assistant
2013 Idaho Cornerbacks
2014-17 Bowling Green Cornerbacks
2018-19 Cincinnati Cornerbacks
2020-22 Notre Dame Cornerbacks
2023- Notre Dame Cornerbacks/Defensive Pass Game Coordinator

BOWLS COACHED IN

• 2011 Cincinnati (Liberty Bowl)
• 2014 Bowling Green (Camellia Bowl)
• 2015 Bowling Green (GoDaddy.com Bowl)
• 2018 Cincinnati (Military Bowl)
• 2019 Cincinnati (Birmingham Bowl)
• 2020 Notre Dame (CFB Semifinal at the Rose Bowl Game)
• 2021 Notre Dame (Fiesta Bowl)
• 2022 Notre Dame (Gator Bowl)
• 2023 Notre Dame (Sun Bowl)
• 2024 Notre Dame (CFP First Round)
• 2025 Notre Dame (CFP Quarterfinal – Sugar)
• 2025 Notre Dame (CFP Semifinal – Orange)
• 2025 Notre Dame (CFP National Championship)

PERSONAL INFORMATION

• Played at the University of Cincinnati where he became the school’s career leader in interceptions (14) and interception return yards (296); earned All-America honors from the FWAA and Playboy in 2008.
• Was a semifinalist for the Thorpe Award in 2008, as well as a first team All-BIG EAST selection, helping the Bearcats to an Orange Bowl berth.
• Dayton, Ohio, native graduated from Cincinnati with a bachelor’s in criminal justice in 2011.
• At Wayne High School, was teammates with current Notre Dame Dick Corbett Head Football Coach Marcus Freeman.
• Selected by the Dallas Cowboys in the 2009 NFL Draft
• Had stints with Tampa Bay and Cincinnati, as well as the CFL’s Calgary Stampeders, before retiring due to injury.

COACHING ACCOMPLISHMENTS

• Completed his fifth season with the Irish in 2024, heralded as one of the best defensive backs coaches in the nation. Mickens’ unit garnered national recognition with the top-ranked pass efficiency defense in FBS (104.4) and multiple standout players including captain and two-time consensus All-American S Xavier Watts, freshman All-American and FWAA Freshman Defensive Player of the Year Leonard Moore, The Athletic Freshman All-American Adon Shuler, Orange Bowl Defensive MVP Christian Gray, and standout captain Benjamin Morrison. Mickens was a FootballScoop.com Defensive Backs Coach of the Year finalist
• In 2024, the Irish defense was one of the most complete defenses in the country, ranking among the FBS’ top teams. At the end of the season, Notre Dame was first in pass efficiency defense (104.4), first in turnovers gained (33), first in defensive touchdowns (6), first in blocked kicks (6), second in fumbles recovered (14), second in blocked punts (3), fourth in passing yards allowed (169.4), fourth in scoring defense (15.5), fifth in passes intercepted (19) and 11th in total defense (307.4).
• Mentored S Xavier Watts to a second consensus All-America season; Watts became one of just 17 Irish players all-time to be a two-time consensus honoree, and the first to do so since 1993. Watts was one of two repeat consensus All-Americans across the FBS in 2024, joining Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter. Watts earned Notre Dame its 111th consensus All-America selection. A 2024 Team Captain, Watts was named a 2024 First-Team All-American for the second-consecutive season by the Associated Press, Walter Camp, The Sporting News and the AFCA, earning second-team honors from the FWAA in 2024. Watts was also named a First-Team All-American by The Athletic, USA TODAY, Sports Illustrated, Pro Football Focus and Bleacher Report. Watts was named a First-Team Midseason All-American by Associated Press, The Sporting News, PFF, Athlon Sports, The Athletic and CBS Sports. Watts earned Notre Dame’s program Defensive Player of the Year award in 2024, and he was named a semifinalist for the 2024 Walter Camp Player of the Year, the Bednarik Award, the Paycom Jim Thorpe Award and the Lott IMPACT Trophy.
• Coached CB Leonard Moore to a remarkable freshman season in which he was named FWAA Freshman Defensive Player of the Year. Moore, posting 10 starts in his rookie season, totaled seven tackles in each of his first two career starts. He posted two interceptions in 2024, one against Virginia and one against Navy. Moore was named the 2024 FWAA Freshman Defensive Player of the Year and the College Football Network Freshman Cornerback of the Year, as well as being named to the Freshman All-America teams for FWAA, ESPN, The Athletic (First Team), Pro Football Focus, the College Football Network and the 247Sports True Freshman All-America Team. In 2024, Moore totaled 48 tackles, including 2.0 TFL, 10 pass breakups, two forced fumbles and a QB hurry.
• Notre Dame led the nation in turnovers gained (33). The Irish earned 151 points off of turnovers this season, compared to their opponents’ 44 (+107 point differential).
• Notre Dame held seven opponents to 125 or fewer passing yards in 2024, the most instances among all FBS programs that regular season.
• Notre Dame held opponents to 250 or fewer yards of offense in six games in the 2024 regular season, tied for the second-most in FBS in the regular season.
• The Irish allowed one or fewer touchdowns on seven occasions that season. In three multi-touchdown games, the second touchdown was scored late in the fourth quarter, once the game was already put away for the Irish. In 2024, the Irish held 12 opponents to 17 or fewer points, and just two opponents scored more than 30 points. That is the best run for an Irish defense since 2012 when Notre Dame held 10 opponents under 16 points and just one opponent (Alabama in the BCS title game) reached 30 points.
• Finished his fourth season with the Irish in 2023, while adding defensive passing game coordinator duties to his resume.
• The Notre Dame defense completed the season as the top pass efficiency unit in the country (94.91) and fourth in pass yards allowed per game (154.2).
• Developed one of the top defensive back duos in the nation with sophomore Benjamin Morrison and senior Cam Hart at the corner positions. The pair combined to break up 14 passes in 2023, while intercepting two passes and forcing two fumbles.
• Helped graduate transfer nickel cornerback Thomas Harper post the best season of his career, piling up 39 tackles, six tackles-for-loss, two sacks and three passes broken up.
• The 2023 defense ranks among the top-six all-time at Notre Dame in eight different categories, including opponent pass-yards-per-attempt (1st, 5.4), total pass yards allowed (1st, 1,85) and opponent yards-per-play (2nd. 4.4).
• Keyed the development of Benjamin Morrison in 2022, who earned Freshman All-America honors with five interceptions – which was the most for any Irish player in a season since 2012.
• The cornerback group contributed to Notre Dame’s 21st total defense national ranking, with a 42nd ranking in team defense pass efficiency. The Irish only allowed 198 yards passing per game in 2022, which ranked 23rd nationally.
• During the 2021 season, he led the cornerback group to a number of Top-20 national rankings.
• The Irish ranked 10th in turnovers gained (25) and third down conversion percentage defense (.329) and 14th nationally in interceptions (15).
• Oversaw the growth from Clarence Lewis and Cam Hart in 2021. Lewis started all 13 games at cornerback and Hart started his first 10 career games after moving from wide receiver to cornerback.
• Hart broke onto the scene against Wisconsin, picking off his first two career passes in the 41-13 win over the Badgers. He was the second Irish player to have two interceptions in a single game in 2021 (Hamilton vs. FSU).
• It is the first time since 2018 that the Irish had two players with two interceptions in a game during the same season.
• First season at Notre Dame in 2020, coaching cornerbacks; mentored graduate transfer and All-ACC Third Team selection Nick McCloud to a season with a team-leading eight PBU, adding 33 tackles, one INT and two fumble recoveries, both coming in the 47-40 2OT victory over then-No. 1 Clemson, including one to seal the win. McCloud was signed as a free agent by the Buffalo Bills.
• Came to Notre Dame following two seasons coaching cornerbacks at his alma mater, where the Bearcats had back-to-back 11-win seasons, won two bowl games and the American Athletic Conference East Division Championship in 2019.
• The 2019 UC squad led the AAC in scoring defense for the second-straight season and ranked among the league’s top-three in rushing and total defense.
• Mentored Ahmad Gardner to Freshman All-America status and first-team all-conference honors.
• The 2018 edition of the Bearcats defense ranked among the top-15 nationally in rushing defense, scoring defense and total defense.
• Spent four years as the cornerbacks coach at Bowling Green.
• Helped the Falcons to a MAC championship in 2015, as BGSU was the only team in the conference with more interceptions (20) than TD passes allowed (19), contributing to a league-leading plus-12 turnover ratio.
• The 2014 seasons saw a pair of freshman corners combine for nine interceptions, including a school freshman record of five by Nick Johnson.
• Mickens began his coaching career at Idaho after serving as a defensive assistant at Cincinnati and Indiana State.