Chip Lindsey new OC

[ClaytonAU 4,606]

31 minutes ago, VipersStrike1 said:

Not saying Lindsey is a "Gus guy" or is in Gus' "coaching tree." Merely stating Gus already put enough faith in him to hire him once, so it's no shock he would do it again.

Gus never hired Hand at Tulsa. They were merely colleagues hired by Todd Graham, who ironically, also hired Lindsey, thus that small Gus fraternity is alive and well.

I gotcha. Appreciate the level headedness and response. 

[VipersStrike1 230]

3 hours ago, ClaytonAU said:

I gotcha. Appreciate the level headedness and response. 

Always was. My posts were never to say Lindsey is a product of Gus. However, absolutely Lindsey was Gus' fall-back plan because of familiarity.

[gravejd 3,270]

22 hours ago, oracle79 said:

I think you bring up a very big concern.  If it truly is CL's offense and he's deciding who plays, I think we'll have a starter named shortly after A-Day.  If it's one of those, they're all competing hard, and everybody is making progress, then we'll know GM hasn't truly let go of the offense.  I expect to see a fairly firm depth chart coming out of spring practice if Lindsey is truly in control.

And don't give me the "why let your opponent know who your QB is?" crap.  You think Belichick gives a crap if people know Brady or Garoppolo is starting?  Or Saban cares if you know he's starting a true freshman?  Get your starter named.  Get him reps and chemistry with the other starters and worry about executing your offense as opposed to how the other team is going to react.

I hope they don't name a starter that soon. Let it play out and make them work over the summer for it. Plus 1 of the top contenders will likely be hurt during the spring. No way with a new OC and new QB that they name a starter that soon. Spring will be everyone getting to know each other. And in fall whoever hits the ground faster wins the job

[aubiefifty 16,822]

Chip Lindsey a 'home run' hire for Auburn, says former colleague Rush Propst

Wesley Sinor | wsinor@al.com

Rush Propst has a vivid memory of the moment he realized Chip Lindsey was special.

It was 2007, and the Hoover Buccaneers were hosting Hueytown in the second round of the AHSAA Class 6A playoffs.

On just the second play of the game, Hoover lost starting quarterback Tyler Ray to a concussion. The backup was Propst's nephew Simon, who had little experience as a sophomore. Under the guidance of Lindsey, Hoover's offensive coordinator at the time, the young quarterback finished the night 17-of-30 for 262 yards and four total touchdowns. 

"My nephew came in as a 10th grader and we beat a very good Hueytown team that night 44-42," Propst said. "That told me right quick that Chip knew what he was doing, because you don't throw a 10th grader into the second round of the playoffs.

"Chip and I have talked about it a lot since then. That's when you know a guy knows what he's doing. He's always, to me, had a knack for it."

Lindsey, who was Propst's offensive coordinator at Hoover in 2007, was hired as Auburn's newest offensive coordinator last Saturday. 

"One thing you can say about Gus Malzahn is he hires very good people and winners," Propst said. "Chip's a winner and he's had to come up the hard way."

 

Auburn hires Lindsey as new O.C.

After more than nine days, Auburn has found its next offensive coordinator.

 

Lindsey has been on the fast track to success in recent years, having coached at the high school level for the majority of his career. He remains close with Propst, who believes he's always been able to handle the big stage.

Prior to his arrival at Hoover, Lindsey spent two seasons at Colbert Heights, which was in Class 2A in 2005 and in Class 3A in 2006. He had also previously coached at Florence, Deshler, Sparkman and Springville.

"When he first got to Hoover, I wasn't sure he could handle the 6A deal," Propst said. "Within two or three months I found out real quick. I came from a 1A school, so I related to those kind of guys who had to do a lot of different things. Chip's a guy who has worn a lot of hats and he's done an outstanding job. I'm awfully proud of him. I think this was a home run for Gus."

After his lone season at Hoover, Lindsey became the head coach at Lassiter High School in Georgia for two seasons. He even coached against Prospt, who took a job a Colquitt County in Moultrie, Ga., after resigning at Hoover in 2007 with five state championships on his resume.

Lindsey then served as quarterbacks coach at Troy in 2010, head coach at Spain Park in 2011 and 2012, an analyst at Auburn in 2013, offensive coordinator at Southern Miss in 2014 and 2015 and offensive coordinator at Arizona State last season.

While dealing with several quarterback and receiver injuries at ASU, Lindsey's offense still ranked 39th nationally with 259.3 passing yards per game and 11th in the red zone with a 91.5 percent scoring rate.

His numbers were particularly impressive at Southern Miss, where the Golden Eagles set five school records in 2015 -- offensive yards (6,758), passing yards (4,263), touchdowns (67), completions (312) and points (528). USM became the second school in FBS history to have a 4,000-yard passer, 1,000-yard receiver and two 1,000-yard rushers.

"He's a guy that's easy going and people trust him and kids like playing for him," Propst said of Lindsey. "If I was an Auburn player I'd be excited about the opportunity to have some new things. Any time you change coordinators you refresh the offense and you don't get away from the core values."

Since Nick Marshall left the Plains in 2014, Auburn has struggled in the passing attack with Sean White and Jeremy Johnson under center. The Tigers passed for 2,203 yards and 12 touchdowns in 2016. In 2015 they threw for 2,257 yards and just 11 touchdowns.

Malzahn's rushing attack has remained stellar over the years, and Propst believes Lindsey will bring a more balanced attack to Auburn next fall. There's also a new quarterback on campus, former Baylor star Jarrett Stidham, who appears poised to take over the starting job.

After he announced the hire, Malzahn said he's "retiring" his play-calling clipboard and giving Lindsey full freedom.

 

Malzahn hands offensive keys to Lindsey

Gus Malzahn said he is relinquishing control of Auburn's offense to new coordinator Chip Lindsey and that the rest of the Tigers' offensive coaching staff will remain in the same role as last season.

 

"There's no question Gus Malzahn knows how to run the football," Propst said. "I think the mixture of what Chip does in the passing game and what Gus does in the running game will be a great mixture of offense, I really do.

"I don't think any one person should have complete say on one side of the ball. You've got 10 guys coaching and you need input from everybody. People are going to have good ideas from time to time and you have to be smart enough to know what's good and what's not so good. Knowing Gus like I know Gus and knowing Chip for over 10 years, I just think it's a great marriage between two guys that I think trust one another."

As for recruiting, Prospt feels Lindsey will thrive now that he's back in his home state where he climbed up the coaching ranks. Lindsey has only served on college coaching staffs for five seasons, but has had his fair share of success luring quarterbacks.

Last season at Arizona State Lindsey helped land commitments from Ryan Kelley and Blake Barnett, who transferred from Oregon and Alabama, respectively. He also helped maintain a commitment from Dillon Sterling-Cole, who had previously pledged to play for ASU's previous offensive coordinator.

 

[Auburnfan91 1,407]

I've refrained from posting in this thread but I've decided to finally do it. 

I'm lukewarm on the hire but lean more towards being pessimistic. I mean yeah, Chip Lindsey is a step up from Rhett Lashlee in terms of experience, but really anyone with any experience being an OC would be considered a step up. I'm still concerned though that he still doesn't have enough experience to handle this big of a job and coming in at a time where there's a lot of pressure being placed on the results of next season.

He was only at Arizona State one season, which had a lot of injuries, so the sample size of his experience with a major program is limited. He was an offensive analyst here in 2013. He hasn't been an OC for very long. This is really an unproven hire.

I wished that we had gotten someone who was more proven and had more experience. You can compare this hire to Al Borges or Kevin Steele all you want but both of those coaches had more experience prior to being hired at Auburn and had some prior proven success with a major program. 

Edited January 31, 2017 by Auburnfan91

[Beaker 2,457]

I just heard some nuggets I found very interesting:

1. In 4 yrs of Lindsey coaching in college, he had 2 QB earn either Player of the Year or Freshman of the Year for their conference.  I call will it call 2 out 3 yrs b/c at Zona St he played 5 QB, b/c they were decimated by injury.  Pretty impressive. 

2. I read the article above about coaching in the moment: taking a backup HS soph and inserting him into the playoff game and winning, speaks volume about able to relate to a QB.  Nobody wins a playoff shootout with a back-up soph QB.  Soph? Maybe if he played a bunch.  "Back up soph" playing 90% of the game with minimal reps in the week?  No

Lastly, seems he knows 'why' his offense works.  That is HUGE.  Remember he took a yr off to come to Auburn as an analyst to learn.  Thus I have confidence he will be able to blend existing run game to his scheme.   

[I_M4_AU 7,863]

11 hours ago, Auburnfan91 said:

I've refrained from posting in this thread but I've decided to finally do it. 

I'm lukewarm on the hire but lean more towards being pessimistic. I mean yeah, Chip Lindsey is a step up from Rhett Lashlee in terms of experience, but really anyone with any experience being an OC would be considered a step up. I'm still concerned though that he still doesn't have enough experience to handle this big of a job and coming in at a time where there's a lot of pressure being placed on the results of next season.

He was only at Arizona State one season, which had a lot of injuries, so the sample size of his experience with a major program is limited. He was an offensive analyst here in 2013. He hasn't been an OC for very long. This is really an unproven hire.

I wished that we had gotten someone who was more proven and had more experience. You can compare this hire to Al Borges or Kevin Steele all you want but both of those coaches had more experience prior to being hired at Auburn and had some prior proven success with a major program. 

JMO, but Gus' ego would prevent him from hiring anyone he perceived to be more experienced.  A more experienced OC would be a threat to his hold on the offense.  As he grows into the job of head coach, hopefully, he will just be the head coach with input to the offensive side of the ball.  This might be a very good transition hire for Gus to get to the other side.

[JoeinPF 94]

So I wonder what CGM is going to do with all the free time on his hands? Looking at today's signing, there's no doubt it's CCL' O now not Gus's. Two TE's who can run pass patterns. Two tall WR's who can fly (not known for their ability to block).

Today this old, old Auburn fan is seeing a vision. One or two 1,000+ yd RB's and WR's, like Clemson or OU. And, of course lessening to the turds whin.

[milehighfan 1,240]

If Gus does, in fact, hand the keys to the offense over to CCL, then I will say HOO-RAH, Gus, you are finally starting to grow into your job. If not then we are back to square one. I guess we'll find out soon enough. 

Edited February 2, 2017 by milehighfan

[FoundationEagle 637]

On 1/27/2017 at 10:34 AM, oracle79 said:

I think you bring up a very big concern.  If it truly is CL's offense and he's deciding who plays, I think we'll have a starter named shortly after A-Day.  If it's one of those, they're all competing hard, and everybody is making progress, then we'll know GM hasn't truly let go of the offense.  I expect to see a fairly firm depth chart coming out of spring practice if Lindsey is truly in control.

And don't give me the "why let your opponent know who your QB is?" crap.  You think Belichick gives a crap if people know Brady or Garoppolo is starting?  Or Saban cares if you know he's starting a true freshman?  Get your starter named.  Get him reps and chemistry with the other starters and worry about executing your offense as opposed to how the other team is going to react.

No possible way they name a starter before fall. White has a broken arm and won't be available for spring ball. Yes that sucks, but SW deserves his shot to retain his own position. If they name Stidham in the spring, if I'm SW I'm transferring immediately before I use another year of eligibility. If that happens, then we've screwed our entire program should Stidham get hurt. That would be a terrible plan. 

Edited February 2, 2017 by FoundationEagle

[WarEagle231 52]

51 minutes ago, FoundationEagle said:

No possible way they name a starter before fall. White has a broken arm and won't be available for spring ball. Yes that sucks, but SW deserves his shot to retain his own position. If they name Stidham in the spring, if I'm SW I'm transferring immediately before I use another year of eligibility. If that happens, then we've screwed our entire program should Stidham get hurt. That would be a terrible plan. 

1

You think Sean will be held out of all of spring practice? I'm hopeful he's not.

From all reports, it was a mild fracture. He didn't even know he broke is forearm until he had played in a few more series after the injury.

Last year spring practice started on March 1st. If we followed that same schedule sean would have about eight weeks after the injury to recover. From what I have ready online, forearm fractures generally take 4-6 weeks to heal before removing the cast or brace. It's possible that he will be throwing again by the start of spring practice and they could just keep him away from any contact for a few more weeks.  

A-day was on April 9th last year so it's also conceivable that he would be ready for live action at that point 13 weeks after the injury. I know the coaches will be extra cautious with him though so who knows.

[lionheartkc 6,150]

24 minutes ago, WarEagle231 said:

You think Sean will be held out of all of spring practice? I'm hopeful he's not.

From all reports, it was a mild fracture. He didn't even know he broke is forearm until he had played in a few more series after the injury.

Last year spring practice started on March 1st. If we followed that same schedule sean would have about eight weeks after the injury to recover. From what I have ready online, forearm fractures generally take 4-6 weeks to heal before removing the cast or brace. It's possible that he will be throwing again by the start of spring practice and they could just keep him away from any contact for a few more weeks.  

A-day was on April 9th last year so it's also conceivable that he would be ready for live action at that point 13 weeks after the injury. I know the coaches will be extra cautious with him though so who knows.

Practice is starting in February this year, and they estimated 6-8 weeks for Sean's injury to heal, so you are looking at him potentially being at the early stages of rehab when practice starts.  I imagine, based on his usual attitude, that he will be throwing at some point during Spring practice, but he likely won't be 100%, so it would not be a fair competition.  I'm with others who think that Lindsay will wait until Fall to name the starter so that he can really compare apples to apples.

[aubaseball 2,629]

No need to wait for fall.  The comparison of the two quarterbacks aren't apples to apples.   JS is apples and SW is oranges.   JS is the starter and everyone else is in play for backup.   Folks AU has the best QB it's had since Cam.   If he doesn't get hurt , you will witness the best QB to play for consecutive years at auburn since Sullivan 

[lionheartkc 6,150]

35 minutes ago, aubaseball said:

No need to wait for fall.  The comparison of the two quarterbacks aren't apples to apples.   JS is apples and SW is oranges.   JS is the starter and everyone else is in play for backup.   Folks AU has the best QB it's had since Cam.   If he doesn't get hurt , you will witness the best QB to play for consecutive years at auburn since Sullivan 

While I don't disagree that Stidham should win with little trouble, I'd be HIGHLY disappointed in Lindsay if he didn't actually witness a real competition and make a decision based on that. 

Also, Sean and Jarrett are apples to apples.  It may be that Jarrett ends up being a Honeycrisp and Sean a Jonathan, but they are both cut from the same cloth and would run very similar offenses.  Woody, Frankin, and Willis are oranges.

[AUld fAUx@ 2,584]

1 hour ago, aubaseball said:

No need to wait for fall.  The comparison of the two quarterbacks aren't apples to apples.   JS is apples and SW is oranges.   JS is the starter and everyone else is in play for backup.   Folks AU has the best QB it's had since Cam.   If he doesn't get hurt , you will witness the best QB to play for consecutive years at auburn since Sullivan 

and so it begins.

I'll sit back and watch.

[SumterAubie 3,031]

So we are conceding the starting position to a qb who played little more than 3 full games two years ago. And suffered injuries in two of those three games.

[oracle79 3,569]

9 hours ago, SumterAubie said:

So we are conceding the starting position to a qb who played little more than 3 full games two years ago. And suffered injuries in two of those three games.

Nah, I want the guy that has to fling his body to the ground to throw more than 40 yards and hasn't been healthy for more that a season's worth of games in two seasons.  Geez, wake up and smell the coffee.  If JS isn't the starter, we're hunting a new head coach for 2018.  Ask Tony Romo how fair an injury is.  Injuries are part of the equation when picking a starting QB.  

And I know you aren't comparing JS injury history to SW's, because that would be ludicrous. 

[Beaker 2,457]

16 hours ago, SumterAubie said:

So we are conceding the starting position to a qb who played little more than 3 full games two years ago. And suffered injuries in two of those three games.

yes;  indubitably.  

[Tiger 8,829]

I don't know about you guys but Stidham's injury history does worry me some. He got hurt in HS and within his first 3 starts in college. He really could be just as injury prone as SW but hasn't played enough games to show it. I'm hoping like all hecks that those were fluke injuries though. 

Edited February 3, 2017 by Tiger

[SumterAubie 3,031]

8 hours ago, oracle79 said:

Nah, I want the guy that has to fling his body to the ground to throw more than 40 yards and hasn't been healthy for more that a season's worth of games in two seasons.  Geez, wake up and smell the coffee.  If JS isn't the starter, we're hunting a new head coach for 2018.  Ask Tony Romo how fair an injury is.  Injuries are part of the equation when picking a starting QB.  

And I know you aren't comparing JS injury history to SW's, because that would be ludicrous. 

Ludicrous? How so? Stidham missed a couple of games as a Senior in high school due to injury and of course suffered separate injuries as a Freshman at Baylor. 

I hope those seeing Stidham as Auburn's saviour are not disappointed.

[oracle79 3,569]

35 minutes ago, SumterAubie said:

Ludicrous? How so? Stidham missed a couple of games as a Senior in high school due to injury and of course suffered separate injuries as a Freshman at Baylor. 

I hope those seeing Stidham as Auburn's saviour are not disappointed.

Lol...OK, maybe ludicrous was too strong.  He missed two games from his senior year due to a hand injury, and I'll quote from his Baylor bio what they said:

Quote

Earned 2014 Class 4A All-State second-team honors despite missing most of two games due to hand injury (earned 2014 "The Davey: Iron Man Award" for comeback from injury to throwing hand by Dave Campbell's Texas Football)

And his freshman injury at Baylor was a chipped bone in his ankle, which to me is a more flukish type of injury.

Just seems from the last 2 years that when SW is inevitably hurt, that he struggles the rest of the year trying to get healthy and re-injuring the old injury or even getting a new one.  Ultimately you're right though - you can't predict injuries in the short term.  You can look back over a players career and see if they were injury prone or not.  And you're also right, that I hope I'm not disappointed this coming season.

[aubaseball 2,629]

it has nothing to do with injuries.  JS is a tier above SW.  Not saying that SW is a bad QB.   When you see JS play,  you will notice the difference immediately.    I would compare the difference between Kelley from Ole Miss and SW.   Now if you see SW as equal to Kelley, then we don't evaluate QB's the same 

[Strychnine 1,802]

20 hours ago, lionheartkc said:

While I don't disagree that Stidham should win with little trouble, I'd be HIGHLY disappointed in Lindsay if he didn't actually witness a real competition and make a decision based on that. 

Also, Sean and Jarrett are apples to apples.  It may be that Jarrett ends up being a Honeycrisp and Sean a Jonathan, but they are both cut from the same cloth and would run very similar offenses.  Woody, Frankin, and Willis are oranges.

 

For an incoming offensive coordinator, there is no QB on the roster that is unquestionably the starter (including Stidham).  Assuming he is indeed allowed to do his job, I would imagine a competition between all QB's on the roster to be high on his list of priorities.  I do think Franklin being in that competition is a waste of everyone's time.

[lionheartkc 6,150]

1 hour ago, Strychnine said:

 

For an incoming offensive coordinator, there is no QB on the roster that is unquestionably the starter (including Stidham).  Assuming he is indeed allowed to do his job, I would imagine a competition between all QB's on the roster to be high on his list of priorities.  I do think Franklin being in that competition is a waste of everyone's time.

Agree 100%

[DAG 33,997]

The only competition that should be had should be who is QB#2 going to be. Hopefully, WB is maturing greatly. I imagine they won't name a starter anyhow, but don't drag out the inevitable. Give JS as many first team reps as possible. I want the team completely ready, with minimal offensive breakdowns as soon as we step on the field.