Bobo’s immediate future to be at SEC school not named South Carolina, reports say
South Carolina football coach Shane Beamer could be in the market for a new offensive coordinator less than two weeks after declaring Mike Bobo the man for the job. And Bobo might not be the only USC assistant leaving Columbia.
Bobo, along with former Vanderbilt coach Derek Mason, “emerged as the top candidates” to join new coach Bryan Harsin and his staff at Auburn, 247Sports’ Brandon Marcello reported.
AL.com on Thursday reported Mason as set to be hired by Auburn. Mason interviewed with South Carolina last month, sources told The State.
The more impactful news for Gamecocks: Harsin is poised to hire Bobo for the Tigers’ offensive coordinator job and new USC assistant Will Friend as Auburn’s offensive line coach, FootballScoop and SEC Network’s Cole Cubelic reported Thursday.
“Auburn will finalize Mike Bobo as the offensive coordinator & Will Friend as the offensive line coach very soon,” Cubelic posted Thursday to Twitter.
ESPN later reported Bobo and Friend were expected to join Auburn’s staff.
Bobo’s decision could come down to money. He makes $1.2 million annually at South Carolina, and his contract was extended this week through the 2022 season. Bobo would owe USC $200,000 for leaving, according to his contract. TheBigSpur’s J.C. Shurburtt, citing a source, called Auburn’s pitch to Bobo a “big-time offer.”
The school’s board of trustees approved a $700,000 annual contract this week 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.
Former Gamecocks receivers coach also might be reportedly joining Auburn’s staff, according to Football Scoop. McLendon was at Oregon last year.
Auburn’s $6.76 million assistant salary pool ranks seventh nationally, according to USA Today (behind Alabama, Ohio State, Clemson, Texas A&M, LSU and Georgia). The Gamecocks’ assistants were scheduled to make a combined $5.28 million in 2020, before COVID-19 related salary reductions lowered that total to just under $5.1 million.
The Tigers paid former defensive coordinator Kevin Steele $2.5 million a year — tied for the highest assistant salary in the country — but paid Chad Morris $735,000 annually as offensive coordinator. Former Auburn coach Gus Malzahn called plays for the Tigers.
Bobo was a longtime offensive coordinator at Georgia before becoming the head coach at Colorado State and then joining South Carolina. USC was 10th in the SEC and 98th nationally in total offense in 2020.
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. Will Muschamp was fired Nov. 15, and Bobo served as interim head coach for the final three games.
The Gamecocks are scheduled to face Auburn again 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.
He expressed fond feelings for living in Columbia as the season wrapped up.
“I wouldn’t have came to Columbia if it was not a place I did not want to be and raise my family. It wasn’t the only opportunity I had last year,” Bobo said. “And I obviously chose this place (for) a chance to work with Will, that I talked about when I got here.
“But a lot goes into that as well: where are you going to raise your family, where they’re going to go to school. And I’ve got (school-aged) kids ... so it’s important I went somewhere that hopefully we could see ourselves long term. Now we all know that in the coaching profession that things change. And at the end of the day, I said this after the Kentucky game, we’ll end up where we’re supposed to end up. And family is where your feet are, I firmly believe that. But I like Columbia, my kids like Columbia.”
What we know about South Carolina’s 2021 football schedule
Non-conference games
Sept. 4: home vs Eastern Illinois
Sept. 11: at East Carolina
Oct. 2: home vs. Troy
Nov. 27: home vs. Clemson
SEC games
Home games: Auburn, Florida, Kentucky, Kentucky
Road games: Georgia, Missouri, Texas A&M, Tennessee
This story was originally published January 7, 2021 at 10:16 AM with the headline "Bobo’s immediate future to be at SEC school not named South Carolina, reports say."
