ADOB: An end to a pair of strange years for Lindsey

Chip Lindsey's reputation before his arrival at Auburn was stellar — a no-nonsense RPO enthusiast with a high-school background in Air Raid and a taste of Gus Malzahn's misdirection run game to begin his college career.

He left Auburn Monday after two middling seasons as offensive coordinator on the Plains, though his reputation probably won't be dinged for the statistical slide he oversaw in name. Why? Because there always was talk, some of it totally legitimate, that Malzahn was dabbling with or perhaps meddling in the operation.

Was this Lindsey's offense? Yes. Were these Lindsey's plays? Many of them were.

Was Lindsey choosing plays on Saturdays?

The answer there comes down to what you choose to believe. Malzahn always has protected publicly Lindsey's autonomy, but then we'd see the head coach barking orders into his headset while holding a play sheet. And some of the calls during the past two seasons were curious to say the least. And then as a sub-set of those curiosities you have the strange reliance on up-the-middle runs that collectively became the most glaring reason for Auburn's embarrassing loss at LSU last season.

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Malzahn then pledged to make things right. True to his word, Malzahn watched as his team's offense improved dramatically in October and November on its way to the SEC Championship game. A solution had been developed. The belief was that Lindsey had found a way to unlock Jarrett Stidham's potential by emphasizing throws he preferred (as opposed to throws Auburn preferred) and sticking with run paradigms that actually yielded useful results.

The program was teeming with optimism heading into the 2018 season, but things fell apart quickly. The rebuilt offensive line couldn't provide the same level of resistance as its predecessor. Kam Martin couldn't create on the fly the way Kerryon Johnson had a season before. Stidham never seemed comfortable — even when the offense became remarkably reliant on screen passes.

How much of that regression was on Lindsey?

Behind all the difficulty was a belief from some observers that Lindsey was being overruled by his boss. That was in keeping with Malzahn's omnipresent desire to control the machinations around him, sure, but was there any truth to it?

Again, it's a function of whom you choose to believe.

With that in mind, some respected coaches are taking a strong look at Lindsey as he exits Auburn. He recently interviewed for the job at Tennessee, which is helmed by another former Alabama high-school coach, Jeremy Pruitt. Also, Lindsey reportedly is in the running for a job with Les Miles at his new outpost in Kansas.

Those head coaches weren't bothered by Auburn's offensive confusion in 2018.

Lindsey was a consummate professional throughout his time on the Plains. He said all the right things, supported his boss, always endeavored to make the Tigers better. There was frustration, of course, that the statistical markers weren't matching what Lindsey felt his offense was capable of delivering this fall. The remedy? Improvement. He always felt group was just a few improvements away from taking a meaningful step forward.

Ultimately, though, that breakthrough never occurred. Auburn again was shut out during the second half at Georgia and powered down during the Iron Bowl after a surprisingly strong start. Lindsey knew it was time to go.

The Lindsey era may yield one important change moving forward: Will Malzahn put to rest the accusations of meddling and become the Tigers' coordinator? Is he willing to hire a coordinator with a track record so strong that seizure of play-calling duties wouldn't even be a possibility?

A few informed observers believe former Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze is considered, at least inside the football complex, the best solution to Auburn's problems. His Rebels offenses in 2015 and 2016 were among the league's most potent, though Freeze subsequently was fired for off-the-field issues.

Time will tell if he'll emerge as a realistic candidate.

As for Lindsey, we haven't seen the last of him. He's among the most introspective, shrewd assistants to have coached at Auburn during the past 20 years. He'll learn from his time at Auburn and take advantage of his next brush with true autonomy.