While former NFL head coach Hue Jackson was the first name associated as a potential hire by Arizona State to replace Rob Likens, and there was a general narrative that Herm Edwards was going to concentrate on coaches from the professional ranks, two coaches from the Western region of college football, Brian Lindgren and Zak Hill appear to be the most serious candidates to assume the Sun Devils’ offensive coordinator role.
FootballScoop.com reported on this duo’s candidacy today, and Devils Digest was able to independently confirm these two names earlier in the week that were mentioned, along with another candidate's name, off the record.
We invited BeaversEdge.com Publisher Brenden Slaughter to provide insight regarding Oregon State offensive coordinator Brian Lindgren and asked Blue-Turf.com Staff Writer Michael Wittmann to do the same concerning Zak Hill, as we examine what each of these caches could potentially bring to the table if their next coaching stop would be Tempe.
For obvious reasons, Hern Edwards is more familiar with Lindgren, who commanded a Beavers offense that less than a month ago squeaked out a 35-34 win over the Sun Devils in Corvallis. While Oregon State finished with a 5-7 mark, their offense was one of the biggest surprises in the conference and not only paced the Pac-12 in first in red-zone percentage touchdowns and red-zone percentage scoring but had a dramatic improvement in average points scored from 20.7 to 31.2.
This is why Brenden Slaughter wasn’t surprised that one of Oregon State’s Pac-12 foes has been pursuing Lindgren in earnest.
“He was a coach that I really had my eye on all year as someone who would get some attention from other schools,” Slaughter commented, “but I didn't think necessarily it would happen so quickly being that this is his second year with the team. Oregon State had a lot of explosiveness in their offense this year, they played Arizona State and that was attractive to Herm Edwards. Lindgren is a rising star as far as offensive coordinators in the Pac-12. Coming into this year, there were some pieces in place offensively that needed to be groomed and matured by the right leader. Lindgren did a great job coming in last year and this year giving guidance to guys like wide receiver Isaiah Hodgins and running back Artavis Pierce and help them take that next step. I’ll throw in quarterback Jake Luton in that category too because he revitalized his career as a senior.
“Lindgren is a smart and intuitive coach who understands the game very well. With the talent they have, I wasn’t surprised to see the type of offensive games they had this year. He’s a good play caller who likes to mix things up. He ran a spread offense but was very balanced too. He prides himself on really being balanced and sticking to the script. He’s very meticulous with his preparation. He caught a lot of opponents off guard with how explosive the offense was at times. Obviously, it wasn’t a good season and the offense had some lapses. But he really did wonders with Luton (a sixth-year senior) who for the first time in his college career had the same coordinator in consecutive years. That paid dividends and Lindgren pushed all the right buttons with him and the rest of the offense.”
While Lindgren will have much more of his own recruits in 2020, he also will have to withstand massive losses on his group which include Hodgins, who is declaring early for the NFL, seniors Pierce, and Jake Luton, as well as three starters on the offensive line who have also exhausted their eligibility. Can greener personnel next year in Corvallis that could take a significant step back in production, entice Lindgren to pounce on other opportunities such as ASU?
“It’s hard to say,” Slaughter remarked. “I had the pleasure of getting to know him the last two years, I know he’s a down to earth guy but it’s hard to know what he desires most. I know he signed a three-year deal (expiring at the end of the 2020 season). He always gave me the impression that he’s committed to staying here and growing with head coach Jonathan Smith. But at the same time working in a recruiting hotbed with Herm Edwards is appealing at the very least. Most likely Oregon State will have to fight to keep him, and it could come down to financials or other factors that we don’t know of. I know the interest from Arizona State is legit.”
Lindgren who was Idaho's signal-caller from 2001-03, was San Jose State’s offensive coordinator in 2012 following his stint at NAU, and spent the 2013-17 seasons at Colorado as both offensive coordinator and co-offensive coordinator where in the latter role he help guide the Buffaloes to the 2016 Pac-12 South championship.
Lindgren is earning $500,000 annually at Oregon State which is significantly less than the $700,000 per year Likens earned in Tempe. Nonetheless, Oregon State’s recent efforts to extend Smith’s contract along with a salary increase should have a trickle-down effect that should improve his assistant’s compensation, including Lindgren of course, and aim to retain the current staff.
“That’s the key – can Oregon State make a competitive offer?” Slaughter said. “Can they put themselves in the same playing field as Arizona State? That could sway Lindgren to stay. At the same time, Lindgren really started his coaching career (as an offensive coordinator) at Northern Arizona (from 2006-11) so maybe he likes the state? There are just a lot of little things that go beyond fitting on the staff, like how family likes the area…
“You look at Oregon State and they are trying to get out of the Gary Andersen era and get up and going. That is why I see Oregon State giving a significant bump to all of its assistants because Athletic Director, Scott Barnes, knows that consistency is key. He wants to invest in the football program which showed a lot of promise this year. So I bet they will do everything in their power to keep Brian Lindgren, knowing what kind of a coordinator he is. Will it be enough? Hard to say. That’s the beauty of the college coaching carousel.”
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While Lindgren shot like a meteor in 2019, Boise State’s offensive coordinator Zak Hill has been a model of consistent excellence with the Broncos, who ranked in the Top-30 in total offense the last two seasons under Hill, who is in his fourth year with the staff. In 2016 he served as co-offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach, and at the start of the 2017 season was named the Broncos’ sole offensive coordinator. Currently, Boise State ranks 13th nationally in scoring with 37.3 points per game which is significantly higher than Arizona State’s 25.2 average which places them 94th.
Michael Wittmann feels that Hill excelled not only as a talented football mind, but also as a recruiter of quality quarterbacks such as Chase Cord and Hank Bachmeier, and helped develop Brett Rypien earlier in his Hill’s tenure.
“He runs a pro-style offense,” Wittmann said, “with a lot of two-tight ends and fullback formation. So, if he got the job at Arizona State it will be interesting to see what style he runs over there. When he was at Eastern Washington, he ran more of an RPO system. So, will he try to morph both schemes or go back to what he was more comfortable with (RPO)? I know the quarterbacks he coached throughout the years like him a lot and feel that he explains things very well. He uses his quarterbacks’ strengths very well and doesn’t have the one size fit all mentality. He developed a lot of different quarterbacks which each has their own style.”
Hill was a record-breaking quarterback at Central Washington from 1999-2003. He broke more than 20 league records and passed for 8,882 career yards and 76 touchdowns while completing 60.2 percent of his passes. In 2002, Hill led Central Washington to an 11-1 record and was named a third-team All-American. He helped oversee the offense of an Eastern Washington program that made the FCS playoffs five times over his seven years and captured the 2010 FCS national title. The Eagles also reached the FCS semifinals twice more, in 2012 and 2013, and won or shared the Big Sky Conference crown six times. Hill joined Boise State from Hawai’i, where he was named offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in December 2015, but left for the Broncos just a month later.
Wittmann feels that Boise State’s gaudy scoring numbers and overall offensive explosiveness this season, which have them placed no. 19 in the current College Football Playoff rankings, were surprising given that the Broncos had to replace its starting quarterback and running back from last year. At the same time have a solid core of returning wide receivers naturally help offset those losses.
“He’s a coach that always comes up with a good game plan,” Wittmann commented. “He schemes very well, but sometimes he can be stubborn and want to keep on trying a certain thing until it works.”
Unlike Oregon State, Boise State’s head coach Bryan Harsin has been one of the hottest names rumored for multiple vacant head coaching positions. How could that affect someone like Hill in terms of his desire to stay or leave the Broncos?
“I personally think Harsin will stay at Boise State,” Wittmann stated. “I’m sure Missouri reached out but I don’t know if he would leave for that program. He’s in a good situation where pretty much every year he has a Top-25 program. So he can really be selective in which Power 5 school he would go to, if he were to leave. I think he would only go to certain conferences like the Pac-12 or Big-12, looking for a good fit and not jumping at the first Power 5 program that contacted him.
“If Harsin left, I do think Hill would be a candidate but I don’t think he would be promoted. I know they usually try and promote from within, but I think they would really go after Andy Avalos who used to be the defensive coordinator here and now is at Oregon. They (Boise State) like to promote someone who has strong Boise ties and Hill has only been there since 2016. Avalos played at Boise State and coached here for seven seasons. He’s the born and raised.”
Hill currently earns $310,000 annually with the Broncos, so he will easily double that figure should he be hired by the Sun Devils.
“This is the first year Hill has been in the coaching rumor mill,” Wittmann noted. “That doesn’t mean that there weren't any calls made, but this is the first time we heard his name as a candidate for another team.”
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