It's official: Will Friend has replaced Stacy Searels as Georgia's offensive line coach.
Here's a statement from head coach Mark Richt:
"Will has played and coached under some outstanding, nationally-recognized offensive coaches. He comes with a formidable resume of offensive football knowledge and experience. I got to see first hand his work ethic when he was a graduate assistant on our staff and since that time he's developed into a seasoned, top notch offensive line coach."
And here's a statement from Friend (whom you can read about in the previous blog post):
"I'm extremely excited about the opportunity to be the offensive line coach at Georgia. To have the chance to work with one of the top football programs in the country and with Coach Richt and the staff there is a tremendous opportunity for me. When I worked with Coach Richt and the staff as a grad assistant, I had a great experience and I always wondered if I might have the opportunity to come back to Athens. I am looking forward to getting to work."
UGA says Friend's title is just offensive line coach, so he apparently will not have the title of running game coordinator, as Searels did.
Two additional nuggets that UGA included on the release:
- UAB's average offensive output per game during the last two years comprises two of the three best in school history.
- Quarterback Joe Webb, now with the Minnesota Vikings, was the Conference USA player of the year in 2009 after rushing for 2,000 yards and rushing for 1,000 in back-to-back seasons.
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UAB head coach Neil Callaway, in an interview, called Friend "an outsanding coach" and wished him well in Callaway's former position at UGA.
“His dad was a coach. He’s grown up around football his whole life," Callaway said. "He does an outstanding job recruiting and relating to the players. A very smart football player and tough coach.”
One more from Callaway, on Friend replacing Searels, who left for Texas:
“I know Stacy’s a good coach. Everybody’s on his butt but Stacy's a good coach," Callaway said. "Will will do a good job and I’m excited for him and very thankful for the job that he did here.”
Monday, February 7, 2011
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12 comments:
Good news, he certainly sounds qualified and motivated. I'm excited to see if he can help the line gel quickly and get some good protection and even ether space for Crowell to run through.
Should be "better space..."
(stupid iPhone auto-correct)
Hope he enjoys the one year stint.
Wow, some Tech fan is really doing his best job at turning Seth's posts into an AJC-esque blog over the past few days. Not enough GT material on the AJC these days, Anon 6:15?
It seems to me that Friend had better results with less talent against common opponents. This is very apparent to anyone who has read his bio. The thing left for the orange and yellow wearing trolls left to comment on will be his potential short stay. Go DAWGS!!! Welcome back to the Bulldawg Nation Will!!!
This is the new coach? Sorry, I thought it was April Fools. This is absolutely horrible hire. Who is UAB? Who is Will Friendly? 59th rushing in the country, horrendous. Conference USA--are we joking here, is this one of those internet hoaxes, has to be, surely might Georgia hasn't fallen this far.
Anon @ 7:48
I was unaware that you were an expert on coaches.
Seems like I remember some guy named Brian VanGorder who everybody was questioning when Richt tabbed him for DC... a lot of 'What a terrible hire!' talk then, and look how it worked out-- so why don't you shut your pie hole and let the professionals do their jobs?
Anon @ 7:48. No one new who Brian Van Gorder was either. That turned out just fine.
Tech/anon @ 7:48. You give anons a bad name. And please learn to write the King's English before getting on a blog.
Anon 7:48 Your coach came from.... Navy. HaHaHa
I'm a bit surprised by this hire, but a big name and a big salary doesn't guarantee quality. There are a lot of sound fundamental guys out there who get the job done with little fanfare. I hope Friend is this type of guy.
I wonder if Richt's hire of Friend indicates any desire to go back to a Calloway type of blocking scheme versus a Searels approach?
Not to be critical of either Searels or Calloway, I'm only wondering if after seeing the two methodologies, Richt decided a Calloway type approach was most in his comfort range.
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