Chip Lindsey is Missouri’s newest offensive coordinator and I am extremely skeptical of this hire. To put it nicely. In order to show you why I think this/talk myself into this hire, I’m going to review
his resume and offer a break out of how he’s done at each job he’s had previously.
I am not going to go over his stint as the head coach of Troy, however. Why? Couple of reasons:
- He was the head coach, not a sole offensive coordinator
- Mizzou is hiring him as an offensive coordinator, not as a head coach
- He’s the first Troy football coach since 1991 to not have a winning season, nor win at least one conference title; he clearly sucked and there’s no need to dive any deeper than that to prove to you that he sucked at Troy
This is the second entry: his single year as Arizona State’s offensive coordinator.
Part I – his time at Southern Mississippi – is right here.
Part II – his time at Arizona State – is right here.
Part III – his time at Auburn – is right here.
Part IV – his time at Central Florida – is right here.
Chip Lindsey at North Carolina
Role
Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks coach
Offense inherited
- Overall: 16th
- Rushing: 55th
- Passing: 20th
- Standard Downs: 49th
- Passing Downs: 9th
- Efficiency: 33rd
- Explosiveness: 31st
- Quarterback: Drake Maye (R-FR) – 342/517 (66.2%), 4,321 yards, 38 TDs, 7 INTs/184 rushes, 698 yards, 7 TDs
- Running Back 1: Elijah Green (R-SO) – 131 rushes, 558 yards, 8 TDs/19 targets, 17 catches, 107 yards, 1 TD
- Running Back 2: Omarion Hampton (FR) – 88 rushes, 401 yards, 6 TDs/6 targets, 6 catches, 40 yards, 1 TD
Year 1 (2023)
- Overall: 21st (-5 spots)
- Rushing: 8th (+47 spots)
- Passing: 36th (-16 spots)
- Standard Downs: 9th (+40 spots)
- Passing Downs: 36th (-27 spots)
- Efficiency: 14th (+19 spots)
- Explosiveness: 43rd (-12 spots)
- Quarterback: Drake Maye (R-SO) – 269/425 (63.3%), 3,608 yards, 24 TDs, 9 INTs/83 rushes, 574 yards, 9 TDs
- Running Back 1: Omarion Hampton (SO) – 253 rushes, 1,504 yards, 15 TDs/32 targets, 29 catches, 222 yards, 1 TD
- Running Back 2: British Brooks (GR) – 74 rushes, 375 yards, 2 TDs/17 targets, 14 catches, 73 yards, 0 TDs
Lindsey was hired by Mack Brown at North Carolina to replace the departed Phil Longo, an air-raid guru who left to give a massive facelift to Wisconsin. While Longo was turning Wiscy’s generational dedication to run first-second-and-third, Lindsey came in and changed Longo’s air raid to a more run-oriented attack. He inherited Drake Maye, currently the quarterback that is elevating the woebegone New England Patriots to potential 1-seed in the NFL Playoffs. So, you know, he’s an elite quarterback.
And Lindsey made him worse.
Whether it was due to scheme or the talent around him, Maybe got worse in accuracy, total yards, total touchdowns, interceptions, all rushing stats, and most advanced passing stats. The overall offense slipped down 5 spots in quality, thanks to a huge leap in rushing competence at the cost of passing efficiency and OF COURSE explosiveness.
Notice a trend?
Year 2 (2024)
- Overall: 38th (-17 spots)
- Rushing: 47th (-39 spots)
- Passing: 113th (-83 spots)
- Standard Downs: 86th (-77 spots)
- Passing Downs: 67th (-31 spots)
- Efficiency: 89th (-75 spots)
- Explosiveness: 54th (-11 spots)
- Quarterback: Jacolby Criswell (GR) – 186/320 (58.1%), 2,459 yards, 15 TDs, 6 INTs/47 rushes, 256 yards, 3 TDs
- Running Back 1: Omarion Hampton (JR) – 281 rushes, 1,660 yards, 15 TDs/44 targets, 38 catches, 373 yards, 2 TDs
- Running Back 2: Davion Gause (FR) – 67 rushes, 326 yards, 4 TDs/6 targets, 4 catches, 45 yards, 0 TDs
Drake Maye left at the conclusion of 2023 and North Carolina’s offensive competency went with it. Every metric regressed due to the fact that Jacolby Criswell was not the aforementioned Maye. Omarion Hampton still ran for 1,600+ yards but the offensive efficiency took a nose dive by 75 spots and the explosiveness – already middling – regressed even further.
What happened at the end of this tenure?
- On December 13th, 2024, Lindsey was hired by Sherrone Moore at Michigan to replace the fired Kirk Campbell, 15 days before North Carolina lost to UConn 27-14 in the Fenway Bowl.
- On November 26th, 2024, North Carolina announced that the 2024 season was Head Coach Mack Brown’s last season. Freddie Kitchens was announced as the interim head coach. The Tar Heels – an alluring job with lots of resources and the timing to hire the in-demand Jon Sumrall – decided to hire fired New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick. The Tar Heels went 4-8 in 2025.
- Jacolby Criswell transferred to East Tennessee State where he played in 5 games, started 1, and attempted 53 passes.
- Omarion Hampton was drafted in the 2nd Round of the 2025 NFL Draft by the Los Angeles Chargers and spent most of the season on the injured reserved roster.
- Davion Gause is still at North Carolina, managing 61 rushes for 259 yards and 3 touchdowns in 2025.
What’s the takeaway?
Lindsey was a panic hire by a fading head coach who lost his scheme offensive coordinator and was desperate to find someone who wanted to look with a coach and program tandem entering their twilight era. Under his tutelage the running offense got better in year one while everything else regressed – including his NFL quarterback – and then the whole dang thing regressed in year two. I know I’m being a hater but it’s really tough for me to see these two years as anything but a failure in execution. Was it worth it to cannibalize what your NFL-caliber quarterback can do to make your NFL-caliber running back better?
I would argue no.
But I’m a hater.
This Hater’s takeaway: failure
