South Carolina defensive line coach Tracy Rocker is leaving Gamecocks to assume the same role with Auburn’s first year coach Bryan Harsin on the plains, reports JC Shurburtt of The Big Spur. Rocker worked at Auburn during the Tigers’ 2010 national championship season, leading the All-SEC pass rusher Nick Fairley and the team’s efforts along the defensive front.
Rocker becomes South Carolina’s third assistant on Shane Beamer’s team to leave for Tigers this month, joining the offensive coordinator Mike Bobo and offensive line coach Will be friend.
Like Bobo, Rocker had just signed a multi-year extension to stay in South Carolina. He was with the Gamecocks just one season after being hired by Will Muschamp before his senior year in Columbia to lead the defensive line.
After being hired at Auburn last month, Harsin compared his assistant team’s decisions to a lesson he learned from his father, who is a drag runner.
“When you drive more than 200 miles an hour in a car in six seconds, this thing works better, right?” Harsin said. “… We work with cars, we build cars, it takes time and people are extremely impatient. – Do you want it well done or now? That was one of his favorite lines there. … ‘I can make it work, it won’t go as you want.’
“So it is extremely important that we have the right people here. It is extremely important that we have the right coaches here. It is extremely important that we have coaches here who understand, as I feel now, what Auburn really stands for. “
Harsin at the time said the phone was ringing off the hook for coaches interested in joining him on the plains.