Daniel Plocher contributes to Maize n Brew in several areas including podcasts, game previews/recaps, and various YouTube videos.
New Michigan Wolverines offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey has been around the block once or twice. From coaching high school in Alabama to college stops at Troy, Auburn, Southern Miss and UNC, the 50-year-old is now headed to the midwest to revitalize one of the worst offenses in college football in 2024.
Lindsey's first college stop at Troy University saw him coach the quarterbacks in 2010. The Trojans, under legendary head coach Larry Blakeney, were known for airing the ball out and the team had won the last four conference titles because of it.
Blakeney preferred hiring coaches from the high school ranks because of their proven work ethic.
"If he's a head coach in high school, which Chip was, then he understands all my problems and has dealt with things across the board,'' Blakeney told AZ Central.
Lindsey started his journey of working with quarterbacks by helping develop then-freshman Corey Robinson. In 2010, Robinson finished top-15 in the country in passing yards, attempts and touchdowns, and was the Sun Belt Offensive Player of the Year.
"He learns through practice what his players are good at and then he goes with that,'' Robinson said in a 2016 article by AZCentral. "He doesn't try to make everybody be good at everything. He takes what a kid is good at and then makes them flourish, if that makes sense...I promise you, he will always win football games because the kids will play hard for him."
After a brief stint back in the high school ranks, Lindsey returned to college as an offensive analyst for Gus Malzahn at Auburn in 2013. The Tigers were coming off a 3-9 season where the team scored just 18.7 points per game. While Lindsey did not play as prominent a role, the offense turned it around. The Tigers shot up to 12th in the country by averaging 39.5. Junior dual-threat quarterback Nick Marshall led them to the National Championship -- he posted 1,976 passing yards, 1,068 rushing yards and 26 total touchdowns.
Lindsey's takeaway from that timeframe was to "be simple. Do what you believe in. Get really good at a few things, and do them over and over in a bunch of different ways," according to the AZ Central story.
A season later, Todd Monken made him the offensive coordinator at Southern Miss after a conversation with Malzhan. "He flat-out raved about him," Monken told the Montgomery Advertiser in 2018. "The things he said were what you'd want: Loyal guy, very intelligent... that I wouldn't be calling him back and saying, 'Why'd you recommend this guy?' that he's a shooting star in the profession and he just needs to get an opportunity, and that someday he would hire him back."
Monken and Malzhan had very different coaching philosophies. Monken, at the time, was an air raid connoisseur, being a passing-game coordinator and wide receivers coach for most of his career up to that point. Meanwhile, Malzahn was much more run-heavy and relied on the ground game to open up things through the air. Calling plays, it was something Lindsey had to balance between what he wanted to run and along with a head coach's play style.
"That's part of having an offensive head coach. That's part of it. You have to filter through stuff that the head coach is saying and get the call right, and he did an awesome job. It was easy with me, because we believed the same thing. Very, very much aligned philosophically." Monken continued. "But there were a lot of good things he brought from the work that he did at Auburn that I really liked, that they did offensively run game-wise, some of the fire alarm stuff they do. There were some things I really did like that I thought added to what we already did. You always want to add to your package, and there were things that I thought really added to it, as well, some things he brought from Auburn that added to our success. He was a tremendous part of that."
At Southern Miss, Lindsey was the offensive coordinator for now Minnesota Vikings backup Nick Mullens. Mullens played for Lindsey in high school in Alabama as well, so their ties date back to the early 2010s. Mullens spoke with Al.com about their relationship and how Lindsey works with quarterbacks.
"He's relaxed. It's more of a teaching period than a get-on-out and criticize-you type period, in that sense." Mullens said. He's going to walk you through it every single play, but just so detail-oriented and a relaxed, patient teacher. I think that's the biggest thing and I think it's why his quarterbacks learn so well.
"He puts the quarterback in good positions to succeed; that's the biggest thing. You're going to know exactly what to do and you're never going to be put in a bad situation, and so that's the biggest thing. It is, he's so detail-oriented and never likes to over-complicate things, and that makes it easier on the quarterback."
Under Lindsey's guidance, Mullens was the Conference USA Player of the Year and set program records in passing yards and touchdowns (both in a season and career) that still stand almost a decade later.
Monken had mentioned that Malzahn wanted to hire Lindsey back, and he did just that -- a few times. First was back to Auburn after Lindsey served as Arizona State's offensive coordinator for one season. Immediately, Malzhan handed the offensive play-calling responsibilities over to Lindsey.
"I think I told him -- my old offensive clipboard...I retired it officially," said Malzhan in Lindsey's introductory press conference. "So that kind of tells you where I'm at, how much confidence I have in this guy right here. This is going to be Chip's offense. This is going to be his responsibility. I have a lot of trust in him like I said. He's going to do a great job."
Future Denver Broncos backup quarterback Jarrett Stidham had transferred from Baylor to Auburn and was a five-star high school recruit. In his two seasons with Lindsey as his offensive coordinator, Stidham became one of the best quarterbacks in the history of Auburn football, and the Tigers' offense scored more than 30 points per game in both 2017 and 2018.
In 2017, not only did Stidham lead the SEC in completions and completion percentage, but the Tigers also had the conference's leading rusher, Kerryon Johnson. Johnson was a Day 2 NFL Draft pick to the Detroit Lions following a season where he ran for 1,391 yards and 18 touchdowns, finishing ninth in Heisman voting.
After three years of being head coach at Troy, Malzhan hired Lindsey again, this time at UCF. Malzhan's love for Lindsey continued into their third gig together at two separate programs.
"Chip is a guy that I know well. He knows me well. He is a great quarterback developer. He's really strong in that area." Malzhan said to UCF Sports in 2022. "He just had something special to him. When I got the head job at Auburn I hired him off the field to be really my right-hand man. Head coach's analyst. That's the year we almost won the National Championship. He moves on Southern Miss and went straight to offensive coordinator after that. Had a really good two years there. Then he went to be the OC at Arizona State. Did very well. Then obviously come back to me. In 2017 we were really good on offense and really close to winning, we won the SEC West. We won together. He was the head coach at Troy the last three years. It'll be really good for me. I'm still going to call plays, but he's going to assist me. We're real blessed to have him."
With the Knights, Lindsey led an offense to 32.9 points per game, the No. 31 overall offense in the country. His quarterback room included a transfer starter, John Rhys Plumlee, future Fresno State starting quarterback Mikey Keene, and former Boston College starting quarterback Thomas Castellanos. Rhys Plumlee had come from Ole Miss and was a dual-threat for UCF, totaling almost 3,500 yards and 25 touchdowns in his first full season as a starter under Lindsey.
From there, Lindsey got a call from Mack Brown at North Carolina asking him to be the offensive coordinator. Mack was extremely impressed with Lindsey's resume entering Chapel Hill.
"Chip is multiple in his approach and has the unique skill of adapting based on personnel. He's developed quarterbacks at a high level including two current NFL QBs in Nick Mullens and Jarrett Stidham," said Brown when introducing Lindsey. "Chip does a great job teaching the young men he works with and giving them the ability to maximize their potential. Everyone I spoke with during the search raved about him as both a coach and a person and we're thrilled he and his family are part of our program."
Lindsey entered a UNC coaching staff full of unique experience. Run-game coordinator and tight ends coach Freddie Kitchens had 25 years of professional coaching, and offensive analyst Clyde Christensen, who worked with both Tom Brady and Peyton Manning, were having conversations with the new UNC offensive coordinator daily.
Brown told On3 he was impressed with how Lindsey reacted with other great minds in the room: "The other thing that happens with Chip that's so good, he embraces Freddie being here. He embraces Clyde Christensen being in there and asking questions and talking. A lot of people aren't confident enough to want Clyde Christensen sitting in your meeting because of all he's accomplished. And Chip embraces it. He brings it on."
On the field was one of the most impressive quarterback prospects of the decade, Drake Maye. With a breakout 2022 season, Maye became a common name in NFL Draft room before Lindsey even entered the building. It wasn't broken, so Lindsey had nothing to fix at the quarterback position, instead implementing simpler schemes for his superstar signal caller. Maye was a top pick in the NFL Draft and UNC averaged almost 35 points per game in 2023.
Then, in 2024, it was almost a complete flip for the offense. The 2024 focus became Omarion Hampton, a six-foot 220-pound back who led the ACC in rushing attempts, yards, and touchdowns. He'd finish the season with over 2,000 all-purpose yards and was a Doak Walker Finalist, a All-American, and a member of the first-team All-ACC.
Coming to Michigan, Lindsey will have the ability to coach Bryce Underwood, the No. 1 overall recruit in the country. Prospect-wise, this is the highest-quality quarterback he will have the opportunity to coach. But, he will also do it within the confines of the Moore SMASH mentality, leaning on a strong running game and offensive line. Given what coaches have said about his adaptability and quarterbacks spoke about in terms of his coaching style, the Wolverines hope the have hit a home run at the right time for an offense that needs to improve drastically for the success they hope to achieve.