Does this sound familiar?

Honestly, this could be anyone. A few years is a long time in the publishing world. He might not even be around anymore. I'd tell your friend to look for another agent, one you know is out there and can be found.

I'm wondering if this could be Donald Maass? Not because he specializes in that, but because he mentions situations like those quite a few times in Writing the Breakout Novel. Perhaps fuzzy memory turned that into a specialty? (I hope that doesn't sound disrespectful, I don't mean it to be; my memory plays tricks like that all the time, is all.)

I was also thinking it sounded like Maass, although TBH, he was not overly flattering about the quality of said writers' works.