For the majority of Auburn fans, the past three seasons can be summed up in one word, disappointment. Since falling short in the national championship game against Florida State in 2013, the Tigers and Gus Malzahn’s once high octane offense have declined. Each year brought new expectations, and one after the other, those expectations weren’t met leading to frustration and a fan base ready to shut down the “Gus Bus”.
Malzahn found himself on the hot seat at the end of this season as he was the year prior. Although Rhett Lashlee was not fired, Auburn fans can assume that he was forced out because Malzahn knew a change needed to be made if he wanted to remain as the head football coach at Auburn University at the end of the 2017 football season.
Enter Chip Lindsey.
After a long search, Gus Malzahn introduced Lindsey as the new offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for the Tigers. Now this is not the first time the two have worked together, Lindsey came to Auburn from Spain Park high school in 2013 as an offensive analyst. Four years later, he returns to the Plains as the new offensive coordinator to implement his own variation of the hurry up, no huddle offense.
At times in 2016 the Auburn offense looked promising, scoring 38 points at Mississippi State, 56 at home against Arkansas and 40 points on the road at Ole Miss. But, most of the season, especially in rivalry games, the offense was pitiful and struggled to muster up first downs, not to mention touchdowns. Despite leading the conference in rushing this past season, the play-calling was unauthentic and the offense was, for the most part, stagnant and predictable. In 2016, the Auburn passing attack was a train wreck. The Tigers ranked 110th in passing yards per game (171 yards) out of 128 Division 1 FBS schools, and dead last in the SEC. The Tigers desperately need help on the offensive end, and Lindsey can bring that. It is time for Auburn to dispose of the run-heavy offense and aim for a more balanced attack.
Lindsey’s offense is built around air raid concepts which focus on passing with four wide receivers at speed, with quick passes and wide splits. In Lindsey’s time as the offensive coordinator at Southern Miss in 2015, the Golden Eagle offense ranked 9th nationally in total offense averaging 519 yards per game, while also ranking 12th nationally in scoring at 40.6 points a game. While at Arizona State, Lindsey led the Sun Devil offense to the 31st best passing attack in the country averaging 266 yards per game, 79 spots ahead of the Auburn Tigers.
Lindsey is touted as a skilled quarterback coach with an immense knowledge on how to develop them and extract the best from his players each day. This is a huge advantage considering that not only has the quarterback play been horrendous the past few years with the likes of Jeremy Johnson and John Franklin III. Also, Auburn cannot afford to waste a high-caliber talent like Jarrett Stidham. The Baylor transfer needs to be in the right system under the right guidance if he is going to flourish. Who better to do this than Lindsey. Under Lindsey’s coaching at Southern Miss in 2015, Quarterback Nick Mullens torched teams by throwing for a whopping 4,476 yards and setting a school record with 38 touchdowns.
In addition, the new offensive coordinator can energize Auburn’s quarterback recruiting and give it a much needed boost. Lindsey has high school coaching ties in the Southeast, which will prove very effective on the recruiting trail. He started as an assistant coach at Hoover High School in Alabama before moving on to serve as the head coach at Lassiter High in his home state of Georgia. Then, he traveled back to Alabama when was hired as the head coach of Spain Park High School before ending up at Auburn. His familiarity with high school football in Alabama and Georgia will surely be key to the Tigers recruiting success for years to come.
Auburn needs a drastic turn around in its passing scheme if Malzahn wants to keep his job after the 2017 season. Lindsey may not be the big time hire that every Auburn fan was hoping for, but he checks off every box that Malzahn was looking for. Malzahn hired a coach he was familiar with, a coach that can recruit and develop quarterbacks, and an offensive mind that is proven to throw the ball effectively. Lindsey’s previous offenses have put up monster passing numbers, while Malzahn’s run-heavy offense led the conference in rushing but failed to ever establish a solid passing game. If Lindsey can meld these two schemes together, then Auburn can return to the heights it reached in 2013 with Nick Marshall and contend for a championship in the SEC. With the SEC’s leading rusher, young talent at the wideout position, and the biggest quarterback talent since Cam Newton all at Lindsey’s disposal, the pieces are there for an offensive juggernaut. All that is needed is guidance from a rising star, Chip Lindsey.
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