South Carolina offensive line coach Will be friend I learned a long time ago that the job of an assistant coach comes down to, and it’s kind of obvious, even if you’ve never trained a day in your life.
It was in 2002 when Friend learned the valuable lesson. Incidentally, the head coach was his father, Chuck, who was the head coach at Tuscaloosa Central High School in Alabama.
“He said, ‘Hey, listen, you have a lot of good ideas, but the job of an assistant coach is to make the job of the head coach easier, not harder,” said Friend. “I think that’s why you have assistant coaches. There are tasks that the Beamer technician will place for us and our job is to make his job easier.
“We have a job to do and that is a big role for an assistant coach, but Coach Beamer is ready for that. Not unlike anyone, when Coach Bobo had his first year as head coach, this is the role of assistants, doing what the head coach asks, to make the head coach’s job easier. “
South Carolina coach Shane Beamer hired a friend to work alongside the offensive coordinator Mike Bobo. The two assistant coaches are old friends from the days when they worked together in Georgia.
Bobo later hired Friend as an offensive line coach and offensive coordinator in Colorado State. Their familiarity can help them both make life easier for South Carolina’s first-year head coach. A potential key to making this possible is Bobo’s willingness to adapt.
“One of the things that has made Coach Bobo so successful is that there are different ways to attack the defense and different ways to succeed,” said Friend. “He did this with a number of different attack styles. As an offensive coach, sometimes you have to be able to play with the people you have and you go back and look at the coach when we were in Georgia and the same thing when we were in Colorado State – some of the best defenders in the history of the Conference Southeast have played in this attack.
“Also, we had guys who led the league, were at the top of the league in races, so there are many different ways to attack and the coach does a great job with the skill he has and the people he has.
“A lot of that comes from Mike, who is very balanced. … When you are balanced and have enough things in your offensive scheme, I think it allows your attack to match your people, so the coach has always been able to adapt, because of injuries or maybe because of less talent in certain points, and still succeed.
“I think a lot of that comes from your overall system. He is able to do so many different things and staying balanced has allowed him to do so. “
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