Friend's offseason 'not as hectic as you would think'

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Auburn assistant Will Friend's offseason 'not as hectic as you would think'

By Tom Green | tgreen@al.com

5-7 minutes

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Will Friend’s offseason was eventful, to say the least.

After spending the last three years as the offensive line coach at Tennessee, Friend was courted to the same position at South Carolina as part of first-year head coach Shane Beamer’s staff on Dec. 27 — a little more than a week after the Vols’ season came to an end. Then, 11 days later, Friend was hired at Auburn, taking over as the Tigers’ offensive line coach on Bryan Harsin’s inaugural staff.

To top it all off, Friend tested positive for COVID-19 shortly after Tennessee’s regular-season finale against Texas A&M on Dec. 19. Despite all that going on for Friend, the veteran offensive line coach said his offseason “wasn’t as hectic as you would think.”

“It wasn’t a whole lot I could do but sit around in the house,” Friend said. “I tested positive right after our (last) game, had to wait the 14 days and was in Columbia (South Carolina) for a couple of days, then in Auburn.”

It wasn’t exactly the journey Friend anticipated embarking on once Tennessee’s season came to an end, but he’s excited about the destination it led him to at Auburn, where he is reuniting with longtime friend and colleague Mike Bobo. That reunion was always part of the plan this offseason, with Friend first joining South Carolina’s staff to link up with Bobo, who was originally retained by Beamer at South Carolina after serving as the Gamecocks’ offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach last season.

After Harsin tabbed Bobo for the same role on his staff at Auburn, the two wanted to bring Friend to the Plains as part of the Tigers’ staff too. For Friend, it was an opportunity that was too good to pass up, given his longstanding relationship with Bobo and familiarity with Harsin, as well as his deep ties to the state.

Between his bout with COVID-19 and the quick change to Auburn, Friend hadn’t even had a chance to settle or buy a house in South Carolina.

“I have a lot of respect for the South Carolina program and Coach Beamer; I think he’ll do a really good job there,” Friend said. “So, no knock for him with what I’m saying, but he’s an outstanding coach and that’s a good program. It was just a matter of having the opportunity to come with Mike and have the opportunity to be back in a state that I’m — I’ve lived a lot of my life in. And my family’s from here. Like I said earlier, how much respect I have for this program, but also how much respect I have for the state of Alabama, for football, for how important football is in the state of Alabama. It’s home for me. I lived 18 years in Mississippi and probably just as close to as many years in the state of Alabama. So that was exciting.”

Friend may have grown up in Philadelphia, Miss., but he went to school at Alabama, where he was a four-year starter and two-time All-SEC offensive lineman. He also got his coaching career started in the state at West Alabama in 2001 before spending a season as a high school assistant coach in Tuscaloosa the following year. He also spent four seasons as an assistant at UAB from 2007-10.

That time at UAB was sandwiched by two stints on staff at Georgia, first as a graduate assistant from 2003-04 (followed by two years as offensive line coach at Gardner-Webb), then as the Bulldogs’ offensive line coach from 2011-14. It was during those stop at Georgia that Friend developed a relationship with Bobo, who was Georgia’s quarterbacks coach during Friend’s first stint in Athens, Ga., and had been promoted to offensive coordinator by the time he returned for a second stint with the Bulldogs.

“We were both young coaches… and that’s kind of where our relationship started on that staff, together, and just kind of always stayed in touch with each other,” Friend said. “Our dads were high school coaches. We believed in the same things offensively and really just had a good working relationship, and off the field our families were close. Families live close to each other. So, all of that kind of played into part, too.”

When Bobo left Georgia after the 2014 season to become head coach at Colorado State, he brought Friend along with him as the Rams’ offensive coordinator and offensive line coach. The two worked hand in hand for three seasons, culminating in a 2017 campaign that saw Colorado State’s offense rank 11th nationally in total offense (492.5 yards per game) and 31st nationally in scoring (33.4 points per game).

Friend left Colorado State after that season for an opportunity at Tennessee, but he knew he wanted to work with Bobo again at some point. Then the opportunity presented itself this offseason — even if it came in an unorthodox manner, first at South Carolina for a couple of weeks and now at Auburn, where he is taking over a position group that, while returning all of its starting experience from a year ago, remains one of the biggest question marks on the roster.

“Really just some of the best professional years that I’ve had were working with Mike, working within his system,” Friend said. “So, that was a blessing. We wanted to get back together. Kind of made a stop somewhere else and then ended up in Auburn. But it’s great to get back working with each other.”

Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.