First-year Head Coach Chip Lindsey takes the reigns of the Troy University Trojans from Neal Brown, who is now the head coach at West Virginia University. Brown, in just four seasons as head coach for Troy, churned out three consecutive years of at least ten wins with a bowl win in each. Not to mention, Coach Brown and the Trojans were Sun Belt Conference champions in 2017 behind a 11-2 overall record (5-1 conference record) and a remarkable 24-21 win at LSU.

Lindsey, who was with the Trojans as an assistant coach in 2010, was hired during the off-season back in January of this year. Not counting the short one-month stint with the Kansas Jayhawks, Lindsey was most recently the offensive coordinator for the Auburn Tigers during their SEC West title in 2017. Auburn ranked third in total offense behind 3,267 passing yards and 3,056 rushing yards, good for third and fourth in the SEC, respectively.

Lindsey’s previous group of five job was as offensive coordinator for Conference USA’s Southern Miss in the 2014-2015 season when the Golden Eagles finished first in C-USA West, posting a 7-1 conference record and finishing 9-5 overall.

Lindsey is looking to continue to right the ship as Neal Brown did the past three years. Instilling in his players the four pillars of Character, Smart, Discipline, and Toughness, Head Coach Chip Lindsey hopes to bring Troy to the top of the Sun Belt.

Looking ahead to the 2019 season, fans can expect Lindsey to be the primary signal caller for the Trojans’ offense. Certainly, Lindsey is not lacking experience as a play caller. What he is lacking though is head coaching experience at this level. On top of spearheading the offense, Lindsey will have to balance the many duties that come with being a head coach, particularly managing his staff and players.

Among his staff is first-year defensive coordinator Brandon Hall, who coached the outside linebackers and special teams for the Trojans last season. In addition, Coach Lindsey steps into a program in the midst of a QB battle in which he remains to say is wide open for the taking (Look for more insight into Coach Hall and the QB battle in separate articles in the upcoming weeks).

Beyond his most recent tenures as OC for Southern Miss, Arizona State, and Auburn, Lindsey served as an offensive analyst for Auburn’s 2013 SEC Championship Team and assistant coach at six different high schools across the state of Alabama. Largely a product of Alabama state football, Lindsey brings with him a potential pipeline of in-state high school recruits.

If he can continue to build on the success that Troy has had over the last few seasons, Lindsey should have no problem landing a number of highly-talented Alabama high school athletes who may not have received offers from the likes of Alabama and Auburn, the state’s two SEC powerhouses.

In a year where the App State Mountaineers are poised to make another run at being named Sun Belt Conference Champions, Lindsey is up for the challenge. Coming off a strong 2018 season where the Trojans finished 2nd in the East and ultimately missed the conference championship, expect Troy to play with a chip on their shoulder as they look to take down top-ranked Appalachian State and capture the Sun Belt title in Lindsey’s first year as head coach.