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.
Chip Lindsey at Auburn
Role
Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks coach
Offense inherited
- Overall: 32nd
- Rushing: 34th
- Passing: 44th
- Standard Downs: 51st
- Passing Downs: 18th
- Efficiency: 36th
- Explosiveness: 81st
- Quarterback: Sean White (SO) – 133/208 (63.9%), 1,679 yards, 9 TDs, 3 INTs/43 rushes, 264 yards, 2 TDs
- Running Back 1: Kamryn Pettway (SO) – 209 rushes, 1,224 yards, 7 TDs/2 targets, 2 catches, 14 yards, 0 TDs
- Running Back 2: Kerryon Johnson (SO) – 182 rushes, 895 yards, 11 TDs/23 targets, 17 catches, 125 yards, 0 TDs
Year 1 (2017)
- Overall: 34th (-2 spots)
- Rushing: 36th (-2 spots)
- Passing: 22nd (+22 spots)
- Standard Downs: 18th (+33 spots)
- Passing Downs: 58th (-40 spots)
- Efficiency: 41st (-5 spots)
- Explosiveness: 72nd (+9 spots)
- Quarterback: Jarrett Stidham (SO) – 246/370 (66.5%), 3,158 yards, 18 TDs, 6 INTs/72 rushes, 361 yards, 4 TDs
- Running Back 1: Kerryon Johnson (JR) – 285 rushes, 1,391 yards, 18 TDs/25 targets, 24 catches, 194 yards, 2 TDs
- Running Back 2: Kamryn Pettway (JR) – 76 rushes, 305 yards, 6 TDs/3 targets, 3 catches, 32 yards, 0 TDs
Lindsey inherited an offense at Auburn that was excellent and managed to keep the level of quality the same, which – as backhanded as that sounds – is a credit to him, especially considering starting a transfer quarterback who had not played at all the year prior. The secret sauce, however, was the return of both running backs, Kerryon Johnson and Kamryn Pettway. And even when Pettway was lost for the season five games in, Johnson managed to perform at a high level with Stidham providing enough of a running assist on his own. Paired with an elite Kevin Steele defense, Auburn became slightly more explosive (but still very bad at it) while Stidham upgraded their passing accuracy and efficiency. Auburn won 10 games and the SEC West before getting wiped out by Georgia in the SEC Championship game and then losing to Scott Frost’s undefeated masterpiece UCF team in the Peach Bowl.
Year 2 (2018)
- Overall: 47th (-13 spots)
- Rushing: 76th (-40 spots)
- Passing: 34th (-12 spots)
- Standard Downs: 66th (-48 spots)
- Passing Downs: 27th (+31 spots)
- Efficiency: 65th (-24 spots)
- Explosiveness: 77th (-5 spots)
- Quarterback: Jarrett Stidham (JR) – 224/369 (60.7%), 2,794 yards, 18 TDs, 5 INTs/49 rushes, 175 yards, 3 TDs
- Running Back 1: JaTarvious Whitlow (FR) – 150 rushes, 787 yards, 7 TDs/25 targets, 15 catches, 173 yards, 2 TDs
- Running Back 2: Kam Martin (JR) – 103 rushes, 458 yards, 1 TD/12 targets, 10 catches, 64 yards, 0 TDs
And then Year Two happened.
Lindsey returned his starting quarterback and their top five wide receivers and got demonstrably worse. Even when returning their best linemen they couldn’t run the ball well, could not throw as effectively as the previous year, and were neither efficient nor explosive. Even with a Top 5 defense carrying them through the season, the 2018 Auburn Tigers went 8-5, scoring more than 30 points against P4 competition only twice under Lindsey’s direction.
What happened at the end of this tenure?
- Lindsey – potentially seeing an opportunity of being properly scapegoated for Auburn’s issues – took the first ticket out of Auburn, agreeing to become kansas’ offensive coordinator on December 3rd, 2018, 25 days before Auburn played Purdue in the Music City Bowl.
- Auburn proceeded to detonate the Boilermakers in Nashville with a final score of 63-14, a point total higher than the combined scores of their last three SEC games.
- On January 10th, 2019 – 38 days after agreeing to join Les Miles’ staff at kansas – Lindsey left his post to become Troy’s head coach.
- Auburn Head Coach Gus Malzahn lasted another two years at Auburn, with his 2019 offense immediately bouncing back to 26th-best in the nation the year after Lindsey departed.
- Jarrett Stidham was drafted 133rd overall in the 2019 NFL Draft, going in the 4th Round to the New England Patriots. His professional career is the most notable as backing up Tom Brady and then coming off the bench in relief efforts for Cam Newton. He’s currently on the Denver Broncos roster.
- Running back Kamryn Pettway never caught on as a undrafted free agent. JaTarvious Whitlow and Kam Martin never made it to the NFL, and both are currently coaches.
- Running back Kerryon Johnson was drafted in the 2nd Round of the 2018 NFL Draft, being picked 43rd overall by the Detroit Lions. He finished his four-year career with 1,225 rushing yards and 8 touchdowns.
What’s the take away?
This one is a mixed bag. He was able to utilize a new quarterback in a wrinkle of the Malzahn system to elevate the offensive play immediately, but even with the most important pieces returning in Year Two Auburn declined dramatically. And, still, he did not field an explosive offense and the passing concepts were more horizontal-based than vertical, relying on screens and quick hitters based on an RPO. It worked and then it didn’t and Lindsey didn’t really have a counter to it other than leave.
This Hater’s takeaway: anyone can make a great first impression and then fail to follow it up. Just ask Kirby Moore! I’ll say Lindsey’s time at Auburn was completely mid.
