Chip Lindsey shares what his Michigan football offense will look like

Posted by author February 19, 2025 Football

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Michigan football fielded one of the worst offenses in the country last year and still managed to go 8-5, with big wins over Ohio State and Alabama to finish the year. However, entering his second year, head coach Sherrone Moore is no longer willing to see a moribund performance on that side of the ball.

Enter Chip Lindsey, who has had success at UCF, Auburn, and most recently, at North Carolina, overseeing those schools’ offenses. Lindsey appeared on the In the Trenches podcast on Wednesday and shared a bit of his philosophy, how it meshes with what’s already established in Ann Arbor, and where he sees his offense going.

“I’m an old high school coach. I did that for a long time, so I think when you’re a high school coach, your philosophy really is built really around your players,” Lindsey said. “What do we do the best? What can our players do? You can run an offense in high school, and if you don’t have the players to do it, you’re not going to be very successful, so I think that background helps me in a lot of ways because we’re trying to identify this spring, who are our playmakers, for sure, and it’s pretty simple.

“Let’s try to get on the ball as many times as we can and let those guys go make plays, but philosophically, I think when I first got into coaching as a high school coach, you’re trying to make it exciting and fun and play fast and be spread and wide open and get kids to come out, especially basketball players who kind of venture away from football or baseball players who do the same thing. So that was kind of the theme, and that’s how I got into college football, and then once I got into college football and worked with a guy like Todd Monken and Gus Malzahn and guys that had been in the NFL or places where running the football was a premium, I think that’s kind of where I started to see if I’m ever going to win a championship and be in that setting and — been close, got to be in the national championship game one time, but you can’t do that without being able to run the football and be physical, and that’s what really excited me about this job with Coach Moore. Watching his team from afar, you know, in ’23, ’22, he’s running the offense and that’s the cool thing.

“I think our DNA is here, it is what it is, it’s been that way for a long time, even back when you were playing, and then — but I think our goal is to have the most physical and explosive offense in the country, and that’s kind of what our mantra is.”

Lindsey is well aware that Michigan wants to run the football, first and foremost, and while he didn’t previously agree with the philosophy of running to set up the pass, he says he’s evolved to that mindset over the past few years.

Though he had some big success in Chapel Hill with Drake Maye at quarterback and Omarion Hampton at running back, Lindsey says he’s aware of the different challenges that come with being in the Big Ten compared to the ACC. But he certainly doesn’t want to continue what Michigan had become late last year, where it was almost exclusively running, noting the importance of explosive plays.

“The last two years, at the previous stop, we’ve had a 1,500-yard rusher, and then when we had Drake Maye, first-round pick, I mean, he threw for over almost 4,000 yards at the same time,” Lindsey said. “And then, I think when you go back, even at Southern Miss, I was working for Todd Monken there — he’s with the OC with the Ravens now — we had two 1,000-yard rushers in the same season and a 4,000-yard passer, and then probably that’s the most explosive offense I’ve ever been a part of, and those things are rare, but I think that’s who you got to be.

“If you’re going to win the whole thing, and that’s been proven here before, and I think the recipe is the same. I mean, we have to be able to run the football when we want to do it. I mean, you play on the road. You play late in the season. Weather’s different. I mean, that’s important, and we got to be physical, and we have to have that mindset.

“At the same time, I want to create explosive plays, and to do that, you got to be able to throw it down the field, and that’s what we’re really focused on. If you quiz me on our team right now, I probably couldn’t pass the test, especially the defensive guys from the standpoint of recognizing them without a jersey, but watching our team during bowl practice, watching video from last year, and so forth, and then the pieces we’ve added, I think we have a chance. It’s not going to be easy, and we got a lot of work to do, but it’s going to be a lot of fun.”

Michigan fans will get to see the Chip Lindsey offense in action, albeit somewhat in its infancy, come April 19 at noon when the Wolverines hold the annual spring game at The Big House.