Sherrone Moore has chosen Chip Lindsey to be the next offensive coordinator at Michigan.

Important to Moore was getting balance from his offense and developing his players, especially at quarterback.

“Just balance, we want to be a balanced team,” Moore said. “Still gotta be able to run the football, that’s gotta be a thing to do, but someone that’s gonna develop a quarterback at a high rate and put them in a great position. And obviously you’ll be able to teach a young guy, whether he starts day one, week two, year two, whatever it is, like you got to develop them and you got to see the progress. As far as what the offense will look like, that will take shape as we go.”

Anyone expecting a massive scheme change is probably not intrigued by the hire. Anyone listening to Moore over the last two to three years knows exactly where this is heading.

Smash is not going away. It shouldn't. We've seen with programs like Wisconsin recently moving to the air raid, and honestly Michigan with Rich Rodriguez, that moving too far from a program identity is detrimental. You have to know what you can recruit, as far as what the talent in your pipeline is good at, and what recruits will be interested in your program.

In his playing days, Moore was an offensive lineman blocking for Adrian Peterson at Oklahoma. But he also blocked for Sam Bradford. He's been clear since 2023, he wants to run the football, but he wants to be more explosive. Explosive plays mean more points, but it also means more room to run.

So, that's what Lindsey will be expected to do. Run a balanced offense, that can be explosive, and develop the talent. You could argue having a quarterback like Bryce Underwood automatically makes your more explosive, but can Lindsey be the guy to get the explosive plays out of Underwood while developing him.

Lindsey has coached football for nearly three decades.

He explained his philosophy in 2015;

“In high school, I was more of a spread you out guy,” Lindsey said. “You still have to run the football and we still had that element, but you’ve got to get the best athletes you can on the field. In college, you realize you better be able to run the football, then, you can have play-action and tempo and the screen game and all those other things.”

He began his career as an assistant at multiple high schools in Alabama. After brief stints as an analyst at Troy and QB coach under Gus Malzhan at Auburn, he was hired by Todd Monken as the offensive coordinator at Southern Miss in 2014. Monken became a successful OC at Georgia and is currently the OC for the Baltimore Ravens.

While at Southern Miss, Lindsey developed Conference USA 2015 Offensive Player of the Year and NFL quarterback Nick Mullens, who ranked second in the league in passing yards (4,145) and TD passes (36) and ranked in the top eight nationally.

After one year at Arizona State in 2016, Lindsey was back at Auburn as offensive coordinator under Malzhan in 2017 and 2018. Lindsey was a massive success as OC. Auburn became just the eighth team in SEC history to rush and pass for 3,000 yards in a season.

Jarrett Stidham was the second Auburn player to eclipse 3,000 passing yards in a season, was named All-SEC

Lindsey would go on to accept the head coaching job at Troy in 2019. He would post a 15-19 record in three seasons.

While the wins weren't always there, his offenses continued to be explosive. Troy ranked top 25 nationally and second in the Sun Belt in passing yards per game.. In 2019, the Trojans topped 500 yards in offense six times and scored more than 35 points eight times.

The Trojans finished ninth nationally in passing offense. Lindsey developed quarterback Kaleb Barker to one of the best seasons in Troy history.

Lindsey would reunite with Malzhan at UCF in 2022. UCF would score 34 points a game with 480 yards of offense in his one season in Orlando. UCF ran the ball for over 200 yards eight times that season and was top 10 in rushing touchdowns.

In 2023 Lindsey took over for Phil Longo at UNC under Mack Brown. Again, Lindsey led a balanced and explosive offense. UNC was one of only two teams to pass for at least 300 yards per game and rush for at least 190 yards per game.

A consistent theme exists. At all of his stops, Lindsey has led offenses that are balanced with explosive plays that come from passing and running. Strong offensive lines and tight end threats in the passing game are also a staple. The overlap to the Moore and the Michigan scheme seems clear. Lindsey is an adjusted spread coach.

---

Discuss this article with our community on our premium message boards

Not a subscriber to Maize & Blue Review? Sign up today to gain access to all the latest Michigan intel M&BR has to offer

Follow our staff on Twitter: @JoshHenschke, @Berry_Seth14, @TrevorMcCue, @DennisFithian, @BrockHeilig, @JimScarcelli, @Jerry_Diorio

Subscribe to our podcasts: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and Spotify

Check out Maize & Blue Review's video content on YouTube

Follow Maize & Blue Review on social media: Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, Instagram and BlueSky