This Auburn football coach was almost poached by Georgia

The Auburn football team has dealt with a multitude of staff turnovers during this offseason. Offensive coordinator Mike Bobo was dismissed following the end of the 2021 season, and he was finally replaced with Austin Davis only for Davis to resign 43 days into the job.

Then, defensive coordinator Derek Mason jumped ship and headed to Oklahoma State, and shortly after defensive line coach Nick Eason returned to his alma mater Clemson. News broke in the middle of the Super Bowl that Bert Watts would be leaving Auburn football to take a job with the Denver Broncos in the NFL, and suddenly head coach Bryan Harsin’s staff looks very different than it did during his first year.

Ultimately, many staff members were promoted to fill the open coordinator positions. Former wide receivers coach Eric Kiesau was promoted to offensive coordinator and replaced at WR by Ike Hilliard, which is believed by many to be a homerun hire. Jeff Schmedding was promoted to the defensive coordinator position, while Jimmy Brumbaugh was hired to coach the d-line and Christian Robinson was brought on to coach inside linebackers.

Roc Bellantoni joined Auburn football’s staff to coach outside linebackers and special teams, and Carnell Williams, Brad Bedell, and Zac Etheridge remained faithful to their positions on the Plains.

Another coach that stood firm by Bryan Harsin’s side? Offensive line coach Will Friend. With the news that Georgia’s offensive line coach Matt Luke was stepping away from coaching following the Dawgs’ national championship, Friend was one of the names in consideration to take over.

With his ties to Mike Bobo, who is now an analyst for the Dawgs, Friend’s name was brought up as a candidate for the O-Line coach, but now the news has broken that UGA intends to hire Stacy Searels for the position.

Friend has been aggressively recruiting offensive linemen for the Tigers’ recruiting class of 2023, and with so many returners from last year’s offensive line, the position group is bound to be more successful heading into 2022 with the same coach.