Posted by Sabrina B. @gametimegirl

The University of Miami hired Al Golden to be its next football coach Sunday evening.  The school will introduce Golden in a news conference Monday.

The 41-year-old Golden spent five seasons at Temple, transforming the Owls from a program that was 1-11 in his first season to winning 17 games in his past two seasons at the Philadelphia school.

“From the beginning of this process, one candidate stood above the rest as the right fit for the University of Miami,” AD Kirby Hocutt said in a statement. “We are proud to welcome Al Golden to The U. His desire, leadership, communications skills and preparedness stood above the rest and he is the right man to meet the championship expectations of this program.”

A source told The Associated Press that the deal is believed to be for at least four years and worth up to $8 million.

Golden succeeds Randy Shannon, who was fired after the Hurricanes (7-5) finished with a loss to South Florida.

The Owls went 8-4 this season, beating a Connecticut team that is headed for a BCS bowl by two touchdowns. They were not invited to a bowl game.

Temple was 0-11 the year before Golden arrived. In 2009 he led the Owls to their first bowl game in 30 years. He also presided over a dramatic improvement in the program’s Academic Progress Rating — one Golden and the school have previously called the greatest turnaround in the NCAA’s APR era.

Golden, a New Jersey native and former Penn State tight end, has earned a reputation as a dogged recruiter and strong motivator in addition to being a disciplinarian.

Golden met twice in person with Miami athletic director Kirby Hocutt, once in New York and then in Philadelphia, during the interview process. Former Miami assistant coach Marc Trestman, the coach of the two-time defending CFL Grey Cup champion Montreal Alouettes, also received strong consideration for the job, as did UConn coach Randy Edsall and Houston coach Kevin Sumlin.

Golden previously worked under Al Groh as Virginia’s defensive coordinator. He was also an assistant under Joe Paterno at Penn State and under Tom O’Brien at Boston College.

Miami is playing in the Hyundai Sun Bowl against Notre Dame on Dec. 31. Interim coach Jeff Stoutland is expected to lead the Hurricanes against the Fighting Irish.

Bruce Feldman is a senior writer at ESPN The Magazine.