Michigan football has made a significant move as Sherrone Moore has hired Chip Lindsey to lead the team's offensive charge. At 50 years old, Lindsey brings a wealth of experience from various college football landscapes. He has spent time in the ACC and SEC footprints, having coached at Troy (as the head coach), Auburn, North Carolina (most recently), UCF, and even Arizona State.

Revolutionize Michigan's Offense with Chip Lindsey's Expertise

Previous Coaching Stops

Lindsey's coaching journey began at Springville High School in Alabama, where he started as an assistant and worked his way up. He then moved on to Sparkman High School and later took on roles at different high schools in Alabama. He even served as the head coach at Colbert Heights High School. His college coaching stops are equally diverse, including positions at Troy, Auburn, Arizona State, UCF, and now North Carolina. Each stop has contributed to his extensive coaching repertoire.

Here is a detailed look at his coaching history:

• 1997-98: Springville High School (Alabama), Assistant
• 1999: Sparkman High School (Alabama), Assistant
• 2000-04: Deschler High School (Alabama), Assistant
• 2005-06: Colbert Heights High School (Alabama), Head Coach
• 2007: Hoover High School (Alabama), Offensive Coordinator
• 2008-09: Lassiter High School (Georgia), Head Coach
• 2010: Troy, Quarterbacks
• 2011-12: Spain Park High School (Alabama), Head Coach
• 2013: Auburn, Offensive Assistant
• 2014-15: Southern Mississippi, Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks
• 2016: Arizona State, Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks
• 2017-18: Auburn, Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks
• 2019-21: Troy, Head Coach
• 2022: UCF, Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks
• 2023-24: North Carolina, Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks

Offensive Philosophy

While working at the high school level, Lindsey was also a teacher, which has helped him in mentoring his players. In terms of scheme, he has been versatile. He was involved with high schools that ran the Wing-T and the Air Raid. In college, he learned from Todd Monken and Gus Malzahn and took elements from their systems. He initially prioritized the Air Raid in his college coaching tenure and worked to innovate from that scheme.

After his time at Arizona State under Todd Graham, he reunited with Malzahn at Auburn, where he oversaw Jarrett Stidham in 2017 and helped the Tigers achieve a remarkable feat of having 3,000 yards passing and 3,000 yards rushing in the same year. Lindsey's offensive philosophy emphasizes building the offense around the players' strengths. As he stated, "The concepts are the concepts, it doesn't really matter what you call them. But our goal is to build the offense around our players. Obviously, with Drake Maye at North Carolina, the passing game will be heavily involved, and we'll do the same stuff that they've done here. But our goal is to be able to run the ball better when we want to and continue to match the things that fit our personnel, even in the run scheme."

Most Offensively Successful Years in College

According to CFB Stats, which only goes back to 2016, Lindsey's offensive coordinator stints have shown impressive results. Here are the rankings of his offenses during this period:

• 1. 2022 - UCF, 16th in offensive ranking, 3,337 passing yards, 3,197 rushing yards, total 6,574 yards
• 2. 2023 - North Carolina, 7th in offensive ranking, 3,889 passing yards, 2,497 rushing yards, total 6,386 yards
• 3. 2017 - Auburn, 26th in offensive ranking, 3,267 passing yards, 3,056 rushing yards, total 6,323 yards
• 4. 2024 - North Carolina, 37th in offensive ranking, 2,807 passing yards, 2,274 rushing yards, total 5,081 yards
• 5. 2018 - Auburn, 79th in offensive ranking, 2,892 passing yards, 2,177 rushing yards, total 5,069 yards
• 6. 2016 - Arizona State, 81st in offensive ranking, 3,111 passing yards, 1,578 rushing yards, total 4,689 yards

For comparison, Michigan's past four years of offense are as follows (keeping in mind the different number of games played):

• 2024 - 128th in offensive ranking, 1,603 passing yards, 1,928 rushing yards, total 3,531 yards
• 2023 - 69th in offensive ranking, 3,205 passing yards, 2,536 rushing yards, total 5,741 yards
• 2022 - 24th in offensive ranking, 3,078 passing yards, 3,345 rushing yards, total 6,423 yards
• 2021 - 24th in offensive ranking, 3,202 passing yards, 3,001 rushing yards, total 6,203 yards

Lindsey's passing numbers are on par with what Michigan has achieved with an elite quarterback, and he emphasizes running the ball just as much as passing.

Players He's Worked With

At Auburn, Lindsey worked with QB Jarrett Stidham and RB Kerryon Johnson in 2017-18. At Troy, he recruited current Oregon standout wide receiver Tez Johnson, who stood out in both his final year with the program and the year after. As the QB coach at Troy in a previous stint, he coached Corey Robinson, who was the Sun Belt freshman of the year in 2010 after throwing for 3,707 yards.At UCF in 2022, he had a strong quarterbacks room with John Rhys Plumlee as the starter and Mikey Keene (currently at Fresno State) and Thomas Castellanos (Boston College standout) as backups.At North Carolina, Lindsey had Drake Maye at quarterback (8th-most prolific passer in 2023 under his tutelage), and he had Omarion Hampton, who rushed for over 1,500 yards in each of the past two seasons.

As a Recruiter

Lindsey wasn't a highly prolific recruiter at UNC, but he has had his moments. According to 247Sports, here are some of the top recruits he has brought in at various schools:

• Bo Nix - 5-star, 33rd overall, Auburn, QB, 2019
• Joey Gatewood - 4-star, 49th overall, Auburn, QB, 2018
• Bryce Baker - 4-star, 80th overall, North Carolina, QB, 2025
• Ja'Varrius Johnson - 4-star, 357th overall, Auburn, WR, 2019
• Kamar Bell - 3-star, 572nd overall, Auburn, OG, 2019

Most of his recruiting success came in the 2019 Auburn class, although he didn't get to coach that class as he took the Troy head coaching job. His ability to identify talent, such as Tez Johnson from Pinson (Alabama) Valley, shows his recruiting prowess. The majority of his recruiting wins came from Alabama and Georgia. If he is to contribute to Michigan's recruiting efforts, he will need to focus on these states.