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Auburn hires Arizona State's Chip Lindsey as offensive coordinator
Auburn has found its new offensive coordinator.
A little more than a week after Rhett Lashlee surprisingly left the Tigers for the same position at Connecticut, Gus Malzahn has officially brought in Arizona State’s Chip Lindsey to oversee his offense. Auburn announced the news early Saturday afternoon.
“I’m excited to welcome Chip Lindsey to the Auburn family,” Malzahn said. “I have the utmost confidence in his ability to lead our offense and his strength in developing quarterbacks makes him the perfect fit. Chip is a man of integrity and character who will fit well within our staff. He has great knowledge and enthusiasm for the game and is a rising star in this profession.”
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Lindsey is certainly familiar with Malzahn and Auburn. Back in 2013, Lindsey was an offensive analyst for the Tigers. Four years later, he’s back with the program in a much more significant role.
In addition to his year at Auburn, Lindsey has vast experience in the state of Alabama. The Madison, Alabama, native spent a year as the quarterbacks coach at Troy in 2010 on top of more than a decade coaching in the state as a high school level. He had five stops as an assistant and a two-year stint as head coach at Spain Park High School in Birmingham in 2011 and 2012 before joining the Auburn staff.
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“My family and I are very excited to return to Auburn and our home state,” Lindsey said. “Both are very special places to us. I am looking forward to reuniting with Coach Malzahn and his staff. They are great coaches and great people. I look forward to being part of something special and helping Auburn win championships.”
After his year at Auburn, Lindsey landed the offensive coordinator job at Southern Miss and stayed there for two seasons. From there, he joined Todd Graham’s staff at Arizona State. In 2016, the Sun Devils were 81st nationally in total offense (390.8 yards per game) and 40th in scoring offense (33.3 points).
In the process to land Lindsey, there was reportedly a bit of back-and-forth between Malzahn and administration. According to Al.com, Malzahn’s list of candidates to succeed Lashlee, which reportedly included former Baylor offensive coordinator Kendal Briles, NC State’s Eliah Drinkwitz and Lindsey, “did not receive a favorable reaction from people with influence over the program.”
Despite the reported friction, Lindsey ended up being the man for the Tigers, who were 43rd nationally in total offense (440.8 yards per game). Much of that production came on the back of running backs Kamryn Pettway (1,224 yards) and Kerryon Johnson (895 yards) as the passing attack (No. 112 nationally) struggled. Quarterback Sean White was banged up for much of the year and now the Tigers have added Baylor transfer Jarrett Stidham to the quarterback room.
Stidham and White, who broke his arm in the Sugar Bowl loss to Oklahoma, will compete for the starting role entering the 2017 season.
With the loss to OU, the Tigers finished 2016 with an 8-5 record.
For more Auburn news, visit AuburnSports.com.
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Sam Cooper is a writer for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!
