Auburn a new challenge for Bobby Bentley

South Carolina will try to get its season back on track on Saturday while Auburn is seeking to soothe the wounds from its first loss. Tensions and emotion will be high on each sideline.

After a joyful reunion.

“It’s going to be very rewarding,” Auburn offensive analyst Bobby Bentley said. “It’s amazing to see what this great game will do for you. I see how Nick has blossomed and Dylan’s blossomed. It’s going to be a fun time, and I hope to grab a hug and a smile from both of them.”

Bentley, the coach who turned Byrnes High into a national powerhouse, is in his first season with the Tigers. He’ll get to reunite with his former receiver, Nick Jones, and a former quarterback student, Dylan Thompson, when the Gamecocks visit Jordan-Hare Stadium.

Somebody will leave feeling bad, but beforehand, it’s all good tidings, including a happy birthday wish for Thompson.

“Nick played with (son Chas Dodd) throughout youth league. Dylan, I trained him pretty much since middle school,” Bentley said. “We’re all excited about it, and I keep telling them, ‘We’ve got to get a good picture.’ ”

“He taught me how to be a better man,” Jones said. “Football will take you where you can’t take yourself. I’ve been to Oregon, to California, just because of football and coach Bentley.”

Bentley’s first stint at Byrnes was from 1995-2006 when he instituted a spread offense and transformed the Rebels into a dynamic squad. The system, which was also installed in the youth leagues of Duncan and surrounding areas, had players learning the same plays they would one day use in high school.

Bentley posted a 107-52 record in that span, winning four consecutive state championships from 2002-05, a stretch during which the Rebels lost two games. Numerous players earned college scholarships, and when Bentley returned to Byrnes as offensive coordinator in 2008 after two years as Presbyterian College’s coach, the success continued.

The Rebels won four more state titles and began producing players such as Jones and Marcus Lattimore, along with Bentley’s sons Dodd (Rutgers) and Shuler Bentley (Old Dominion). Bentley was content, seeing the system and the community he loved thrive, but he always wondered if he could coach at a big-time college.

A phone call offered that chance.

“I’ve known coach (Gus) Malzahn since 2004. We met in Hoover (Ala.), where we were doing a 7-on-7 camp,” Bentley said. “He was at Springdale (Ark.) High School, and our two teams stayed in the same hotel. We became friends, and when he was at Tulsa, I went out and studied with him. We always said we wanted to work together.”

Bentley had taken over as Byrnes head coach in 2012 when Malzahn asked if he would like to join his new staff at Auburn. Bentley thought about it but didn’t want to uproot Shuler, who was about to play his senior season. He politely turned down the offer and coached Shuler and the Rebels to a 12-2 record and state semifinals appearance in 2013.

But after the season, watching Auburn finish 13 seconds from the national championship, Bentley’s wife Paulette looked at her husband.

“She said, ‘You wish you were there, don’t you?’ ” Bentley said. “She knew that I did. So, she said it was time for us to go, to take the next challenge.”

Dodd is coaching at Byrnes Middle School and will play professionally in Italy in January. Shuler is redshirting his first season at ODU. The rest of the Bentleys – Jake, a high school sophomore, and twins Brooks and Emily, age 10, moved to Opelika, Ala., and Bentley began the next step of his career.

As an offensive analyst, Bentley breaks down tape of Auburn’s plays and tendencies and tries to find as much data as possible for the coaching staff. He is in the press box during games, and works with the Tigers’ quarterbacks and running backs.

The family has settled in, with Jake playing quarterback at Opelika High and Bentley achieving his dream. Byrnes and Duncan are never far from his mind. Coach Brian Lane returned to Byrnes from Woodruff High and has the Rebels No. 1 in the state’s Class 4A poll.

Bentley misses it, but realizes it was time to go. He had his run at Byrnes and he still gets to see players he coached – such as on Saturday.

“It’s a new challenge for him, and I know he’s loving it,” Jones said. “I was kind of sad he left Byrnes, but I’m always happy for a person who has a chance at bigger and better things.”

Bentley has enjoyed the ride and is forever excited about the next practice, the next game. Football has been an avenue for him, and he offered it as a path for his players.

“It was difficult, but looking at it, thinking back, the way this thing has all played out, and you see God’s hand all in it,” Bentley said. “I did what I wanted to do at Byrnes. There are seven coaches off that staff that are head coaches now. They’re planting seeds and building fine young men.

“For me, there was another challenge out there. I just see that it was kind of meant to be.”

This story was originally published October 22, 2014 at 9:45 PM.