Chip Lindsey jumps from UCF to become offensive coordinator at UNC
UCF offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Chip Lindsey was announced as the new offensive coordinator at the University of North Carolina on Thursday.
Lindsey was hired last December after former UCF co-offensive coordinator GJ Kinne became the head coach at Incarnate Word. Lindsey previously worked with UCF coach Gus Malzahn twice at Auburn.
Although Lindsey served as the offensive coordinator at UCF, Malzahn called the plays. It’s expected that Lindsey will handle the play-calling at UNC, a person familiar with the move told the Orlando Sentinel, and he will not coach UCF in the Military Bowl against Duke on Dec. 28.
“We couldn’t be more excited to welcome Chip, his wife Cecily, and their four children, Claire, Caroline, Cooper and Conner, to the Carolina football family,” UNC coach Mack Brown said in a press release. “Chip is well-versed in UNC’s offensive style of play and he has a wealth of experience working with some of the greatest offensive minds in the country.”
The Knights enter bowl season ranked 26th nationally in scoring (34.4 ppg), 11th in total offense (480.6 ypg), and eighth in rushing offense (236.1 ypg).
Prior to his one season at UCF, Lindsey spent three years as the head coach at Troy. Lindsey went 15-19 in his three seasons there, including 5-6 in 2021, before he was fired.
While Troy didn’t have sustained success under Lindsey, not winning more than five games, the Trojans featured explosive offenses.
In 2020, Troy ranked 21st in the country and second in the Sun Belt by averaging 290.2 passing yards per game while then-sophomore quarterback Gunnar Watson led the league with 237.9 passing yards per game.
Lindsey worked under Malzahn from 2017-18 in the same coordinator role and in 2013 as an offensive analyst.
In 2017 with Lindsey as offensive coordinator, Auburn became just the eighth team in SEC history and the first in Auburn history to rush and pass for 3,000 yards in a season. That year the Tigers won the SEC West but lost to UCF in the 2018 Peach Bowl.
Lindsey also made stops at Arizona State (2016) and Southern Miss (’14-’15). His first college job came in 2010 when he served as Troy’s quarterback coach before leaving to become head coach at Spain Park High School in Alabama from 2011-12. Then he joined Malzahn at Auburn.
Now, for the second straight offseason, Malzahn will have to hire a new quarterbacks coach, who will likely earn the title of offensive coordinator as well.
UCF’s running backs coach Tim Harris Jr. also holds the title of co-offensive coordinator, a position he’s had since his arrival in February 2021.
Email Jason Beede at jbeede@orlandosentinel.com or follow him on Twitter at @therealBeede.
