Auburn's Harsin hires OC Bobo away from Carolina
AUBURN, Ala. (AP) - Mike Bobo and Will Friend, who had their contracts finalized this week as part of new football head coach Shane Beamer's first staff at the University of South Carolina, have left to be part of the staff at Southeastern Conference foe Auburn.
Bobo will be the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, while Friend will be the offensive line coach, the same positions they held at USC, for new Auburn head coach Bryan Harsin.
Bobo was retained as the Gamecocks' offensive coordinator at a salary of $1.2 million. He just completed his first year in Columbia, starting off as the OC and becoming the interim head coach when Will Muschamp was fired after seven games. USC lost the three games in which he was coach.
Friend had been with Carolina for just 11 days, coming from Tennessee for $700,000 per year.
Along with needing to now find an offensive coordinator and an offensive line coach, Beamer is still needing to name a defensive coordinator along with two other on-field assistants.
Harsin, who came to Auburn from Boise State, and Bobo squared off against each other when Bobo was the head coach at Colorado State. The two were Mountain West Conference foes.
Bobo was South Carolina's offensive coordinator and quarterback coach last season after five years at Colorado State. He also played quarterback for Georgia, where he was offensive coordinator from 2007-14.
"I've wanted to work with Mike now for quite some time as he complements the many things we want to do with our offense," Harsin said. "We are going to be very versatile in what we do and Mike's offensive background speaks for itself.
"I'm really excited to combine forces with Mike as we create the Auburn offense, a high-powered, attacking and physical unit that will come at you in many ways."
Bobo led Colorado State to bowl games in each of his first three seasons. His 2017 team set the school record for most total yards per game.
Bobo went 28-35 overall and 20-20 in the Mountain West.