Chip Lindsey’s Career: Part IV

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:

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1. He was the head coach, not a sole offensive coordinator

2. Mizzou is hiring him as an offensive coordinator, not as a head coach

3. 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.

Chip Lindsey at Central Florida

Role

Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks coach

Offense inherited

• Quarterback: Mikey Keene (FR) – 173/272 (63.6%), 1,730 yards, 17 TDs, 6 INTs/18 rushes, 69 yards, 1 TD

• Running Back 1: Isaiah Bowser (SR) – 159 rushes, 703 yards, 9 TDs/11 targets, 9 catches, 75 yards, 0 TDs

• Running Back 2: Johnny Richardson (SO) – 104 rushes, 733 yards, 3 TDs/28 targets, 25 catches, 226 yards, 1 TD

Year 1 (2022)

• Rushing: 14th (+40 spots)

• Passing: 53rd (+44 spots)

• Standard Downs: 15th (+42 spots)

• Passing Downs: 48th (-2 spots)

• Efficiency: 25th (+50 spots)

• Explosiveness: 93rd (-61 spots)

• Quarterback: John Rhys Plumlee (SR) – 218/346 (63.0%), 2,586 yards, 14 TDs, 8 INTs/159 rushes, 862 yards, 11 TDs

• Running Back 1: Isaiah Bowser (GR) – 205 rushes, 799 yards, 16 TDs/15 targets, 14 catches, 185 yards, 0 TDs

• Running Back 2: R.J. Harvey (JR) – 118 rushes, 796 yards, 5 TDs/28 targets, 22 catches, 215 yards, 0 TDs

After being fired 80% of the way through his third season at Troy, our boy Chip needed a life raft job and his ol’ buddy Gus Malzahn threw him one. Malzahn had just finished his first, rough, beginning-of-the-rebuild season in Orlando and brought his old OC in to help manage that side of the ball. Being familiar with the Malzahn system and program, Lindsey fit right in. Upgrading from an overwhelmed freshman quarterback in Mikey Keene to a seasoned, built-in-a-Malzahn-laboratory quarterback in John Rhys Plumlee, helped the offense make incredible leaps forward in Year Two. However – and this is important – Lindsey did not call plays. It was all Malzahn. So however much credit you want to give for the 40+ spot jumps in SP+ – and the 60 spot tumble in explosiveness once again – is up to you to decide.

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What happened at the end of this tenure?

• On December 15th, 2022, Lindsey was hired by Mack Brown to replace Phil Longo as North Carolina offensive coordinator. Lindsey departed 13 days before UCF was beat by Duke in the Military Bowl.

• UCF Head Coach Gus Malzahn lasted another two years at Central Florida, resigning from his post on November 30th 2024 to become Florida State’s offensive coordinator.

• 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 Isaiah Bowser is currently in the CFL while R.J. Harvey is in his first season with the Denver Broncos after getting drafted in the 2nd Round.

What’s the take away?

It’s a one year job where he didn’t call plays. I’m not sure how much weight – if any – you can legitimately put on this job, especially since it appears that it was a temporary life raft thrown his way by a friend of his when said friend needed a bridge offensive coordinator. Hell, he spent less than a full year at this job before moving on to the next gig, I’m not sure how much influence or input he managed to imprint on this offense. But it did improve from the ‘21 version to the ‘22 while – YUP YOU GUESS IT – regressing massively in explosive plays.

This Hater’s takeaway: mid