Shane Beamer searching for new offensive coordinator as Mike Bobo leaves Gamecocks
Shane Beamer’s quest to fill South Carolina’s coaching staff took an unexpected turn with an interesting twist Thursday.
The turn: Offensive coordinator Mike Bobo is leaving to take the same position at Auburn under new coach Bryan Harsin. Bobo will also coach QBs for the Tigers.
The twist: Offensive line coach Will Friend, just hired by USC, is leaving for Auburn as well.
Hired on Dec. 5, Beamer is now without an offensive or defensive coordinator.
Auburn announced Bobo’s hire Thursday afternoon and Friend’s later on in the evening. Bobo and Harsin both coached against each other in the Mountain West Conference when Bobo was at Colorado State and Harsin was at Boise State.
“I have a great amount of respect for Coach Harsin, both as a coach and as a person,” Bobo said in a statement from Auburn. “I competed against him for five years as a head coach and we’ve talked ball on numerous occasions over the years. I know what he’s about and his commitment to excellence. I know that Auburn is a great community with a tremendous passion for and commitment to Auburn football. I’m excited to get started and look forward to helping Coach Harsin compete for championships.”
Bobo expressed fondness for living in Columbia as the 2020 season ended. He was part of USC’s staff meetings as recently as Wednesday, The State was told.
There was no official announcement on Friend’s hire at Auburn as of late Thursday afternoon.
Beamer now has four positions to fill on his 10-person, on-field coaching staff just days after the school’s board of trustees approved new contracts for Bobo, Friend and six others.
Beamer himself recently addressed how unpredictable the coaching carousel can be as he introduced new members of his staff.
“You know, when I got hired at South Carolina, I didn’t anticipate Auburn necessarily making a change, and that certainly changes things across the dynamic of college football,” Beamer said. “I think you’ll see a lot of stuff happen after some of these openings coming up, whether it be coaches getting let go, coaches changing jobs.”
South Carolina has yet to hire a defensive coordinator but reportedly met with Mississippi State defensive coordinator Zach Arnett on Thursday and also has shown interest in former Vanderbilt coach Derek Mason and former Auburn defensive coordinator Kevin Steele. Auburn announced its hire of Mason early Thursday evening.
Some of the names being mentioned by 247Sports for USC’s offensive coordinator job are SMU’s Garrett Riley and former Arkansas and SMU coach Chad Morris, who was an assistant at Auburn last year and also coached at Clemson with Dabo Swinney.
Riley is the brother of Oklahoma head coach Lincoln Riley. Beamer was at Oklahoma before coming to USC.
Will Muschamp brought Bobo onto his staff last year to be his offensive coordinator. Bobo was named the program’s interim coach when Muschamp was fired in November.
The nature of Bobo’s departure isn’t unprecedented in the coaching profession, but he might get some of negative reaction from fans after he was critical of USC players who opted out during the season — a choice the NCAA allowed them to make without penalty because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“When it is told to kids you don’t have to play this year and you can opt out because it doesn’t count. It gives them a way out, in my opinion,” Bobo said during the season. “I think it is so important that it is a team game and it is about us, not about you individually.”
Bobo made $1.2 million last year and was scheduled to make the same amount this year. His contract, recently approved by the school’s board of trustees, extended his deal through 2022. Bobo will owe USC $200,000 for leaving, according to his contract.
The school’s board of trustees on Monday approved a $700,000 annual contract for Friend. He would owe USC $100,000 if he left the school in his first year of the deal, but it wasn’t immediately clear if the Gamecocks would enforce Friend’s buyout.
Bobo worked closely with Gamecocks freshman quarterback Luke Doty and is also one of the main ties to Class of 2022 five-star QB commitment Gunner Stockton.
Bobo was a longtime offensive coordinator at Georgia before becoming the head coach at Colorado State and then joining South Carolina. The USC offense made strides in the run game, but never got the production from play-makers to get the pass game going.
USC was 10th in the SEC and 98th nationally in total offense in 2020.
Beamer opted to retain Bobo along with three other assistants who served under Muschamp, saying the Oklahoma offense and Bobo’s scheme were not too far apart philosophically.
Auburn and South Carolina are scheduled to meet again on the field in 2021. The Tigers were locked in as USC’s rotating SEC West opponent for the upcoming season before being a late add to the revised 2020 slate.
The Gamecocks defeated Auburn 30-22 on Oct. 17 in what was the team’s signature win in a 2-8, pandemic-shortened 2020 season.
The coaching departures are the latest people leaving the USC program. Eight players have either announced they were transferring or headed to the NFL Draft, including defensive backs Jaycee Horn and Israel Mukuamu and quarterback Ryan Hilinski.
This story was originally published January 7, 2021 at 3:22 PM.
