Former Auburn assistant Will Friend has reportedly found his next opportunity.

Friend, who spent the last two seasons as Auburn’s offensive line coach, will take on the same role at Memphis on Ryan Silverfield’s staff, according to reports by The Daily Memphian and the Memphis Commercial Appeal. Memphis had yet to announce Friend’s hiring as of Thursday evening.

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Friend’s move to Memphis comes after he was not retained last month by new Auburn coach Hugh Freeze as part of his inaugural staff on the Plains. Friend spent two seasons at Auburn after former coach Bryan Harsin tabbed him to oversee the program’s offensive line ahead of the 2021 season. Along with serving as Auburn’s offensive line coach, Friend was the Tigers’ interim co-offensive coordinator for the final month of the 2022 season following the program’s firing of Harsin midseason. Friend and then-wide receivers coach Ike Hilliard shared that title under interim coach Cadillac Williams.

Prior to his two-year stint at Auburn, Friend spent three seasons as Tennessee’s offensive line coach from 2018-20, followed by a brief stop at South Carolina at the end of the 2020 season before Harsin lured him to the Plains on a two-year deal worth $700,000 per season. That contract is set to expire later this month.

Friend is the latest former Auburn assistant to land a new gig. Former linebackers coach Christian Robinson was recently named inside linebackers coach at Baylor, while former edge coach/special teams coordinator Roc Bellantoni was named defensive coordinator at Florida Atlantic last month.

A former offensive lineman at Alabama, where he was a starting guard for four seasons, Friend has more than two decades of coaching experience. He began his coaching journey in 2001 at West Alabama before spending a year as a high school assistant in Tuscaloosa. That was followed by two years as a graduate assistant at Georgia before serving as offensive line coach at Gardner-Webb from 2005-06. After that, Friend spent four seasons as UAB’s offensive line coach before returning to Georgia as the Bulldogs’ offensive line coach. Friend served in that role for Georgia for three seasons, adding the title of run game coordinator in 2013.

In 2015, Friend was named offensive coordinator at Colorado State, where he worked for three seasons before returning to the SEC with the Vols.

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