Michigan investing significantly more in new offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey
Doug Samuels Dec 21, 2024
Sherrone Moore and the Wolverines are committing significantly more to their new offensive coordinator hire than they did to Kirk Campbell.
After Sherrone Moore was elevated from offensive coordinator to head coach, one of his biggest decisions as a first-time head coach was elevating quarterbacks coach Kirk Campbell to the offensive coordinator spot.
It was a move that few questioned at the time, as the Wolverines had just captured a national title in due large part because of a stellar performance from quarterback JJ McCarthy all season long.
Campbell signed a three-year worth about a $1 million annually, but the Wolverines finished the 2024 season ranked 111th nationally in scoring and were 130th out of 134 teams in passing offense, sparking a change at play caller.
Moore and the Wolverines search led them to North Carolina offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey, who spent a few seasons at the head coach at Troy, and he's set to make significant more than his predecessor, Tony Garcia of the Detroit Free Press shares.
Tasked with leading a quarterback room that will feature one of the nation's top young quarterbacks, Bryce Underwood, who the Wolverines flipped in a very public manner from LSU with a monster NIL package, Lindsey will make a base salary of $4.5 million over three years.
Lindsey will make $1.4 million year one, $1.5 million year two, and $1.6 million Year 3.
Lindsey's incentives in his contract include:
$100k if top 4 offense in Big Ten
$100k if top 15 offense in the country
$50k for each win beyond a nine-win season (up to $200k)
Some of those incentives are quite lofty.
Dating back to 2016, Michigan has never had an offense that ranked higher than 24th nationally (2021 and 2022), and they've managed to finish among the top four in the Big Ten just three times since then.
Lindsey is also due a $60k signing bonus within 30 days of putting pen to paper (which was December 12th), the report adds.