A look at Auburn’s retooled staff under interim coach Cadillac Williams

A look at Auburn’s retooled staff under interim coach Cadillac Williams

Auburn reconfigured its on-field coaching staff following the firing of Bryan Harsin and several staffers with Boise State ties on Monday.

Along with tabbing Cadillac Williams as interim coach for the remainder of the season, Auburn shuffled the roles of six staffers to account for the firing offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Eric Kiesau and tight ends coach Brad Bedell, who were among the six other staffers shown the door Monday.

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Offensive line coach Will Friend and wide receivers coach Ike Hilliard will work in tandem to call Auburn’s offense for the final four games of the season as co-offensive coordinators, a source with direct knowledge of the situation confirmed to AL.com on Tuesday afternoon. Friend is the lone member of Auburn’s remaining staff with prior experience as an offensive coordinator at the FBS level, serving in that role from 2015-17 at Colorado State under Mike Bobo, who was the Tigers’ offensive coordinator last season. Hilliard brings extensive NFL experience to the role after joining Auburn’s staff this offseason following 10 seasons as an assistant coach in the league.

That will take care of the coordinator side of things following the termination of Kiesau, who was in his first year as the Tigers’ offensive coordinator after joining Harsin’s staff in 2021 first as an analyst and then wide receivers coach. Meanwhile, offensive analyst Mike Hartline will assume the role of quarterbacks coach, the source confirmed. Hartline, who joined Auburn’s staff in the offseason, was already working in the Tigers’ quarterbacks room. Prior to his arrival at Auburn, Hartline — a former starting quarterback at Kentucky — spent three seasons as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Ohio Dominican University, a Division II program. He also spent two seasons as an assistant quarterbacks coach at Cincinnati from 2017-18.

With Friend helping call the offense, offensive analyst and Auburn great Kendall Simmons will oversee the Tigers’ offensive line. Simmons, a former two-time All-SEC lineman on the Plains and first-round NFL pick who went on to win a Super Bowl, has been an analyst at his alma mater since 2019 under then-coach Gus Malzahn.

Joe Bernardi, who also has been helping coach the offensive line, will assume the role of tight ends coach to replace Bedell, the source confirmed. Before coming to Auburn, Bernardi had previous on-field coaching experience at San Jose State and Fresno State. He was offensive line coach at SJSU from 2017-19, and he spent 2016 coaching tight ends for Fresno State.

Meanwhile, the source confirmed to AL.com, offensive analyst Jeff McDaniels will work with Auburn’s running backs room to help ease the load on Williams as he assumes the position of interim head coach. A former wide receiver at Davidson, McDaniels was a graduate assistant at Boise State before joining Auburn’s staff last season. He also has experience as a cornerbacks coach at his alma mater.

Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.