Why Chip Lindsey and Garrett Riley Can Be a Dynamic Duo: The Read Option

Welcome to "The Read Option," a series featuring Missouri On SI's beat reporters providing analysis or intel on the Tigers.

When Missouri football duos are mentioned, the running back room led by Ahmad Hardy and Jamal Roberts is typically at the forefront of conversations. By the end of the season, some popular combinations may be linebackers Nicholas Rodriguez and Robert Woodyard Jr. or former Ole Miss teammates Cayden Lee and Austin Simmons.

Although athletes garner the most attention when it comes to dynamic duos, the relationship between coaches must be considered as well and the Tigers certainly bring an intriguing duo into the mix. New offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey and quarterbacks coach Garrett Riley could form a more explosive offense due to their sum of intelligence and coaching experience.

Lindsey has been coaching or coordinating in college since 2010. Missouri is the seventh team he has been the offensive coordinator of, including stints at Auburn, Michigan and North Carolina. This year will mark the first time Lindsey is the offensive coordinator and not quarterbacks coach as well, proving Riley's importance to the squad.

When Lindsey was given the reins to bring in help after being hired in December 2025, he brought in Clemson's former offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in Riley.

"To be able to not be intimidated to bring in a former Broyles Award winner like Coach Riley, who's got unbelievable skill set and coaching set... it takes a special coach to do that," head coach Eli Drinkwitz said during SEC Media Days.

Clemson's offensive coordinator steps on the field. — Clemson offensive coordinator Garrett Riley enters the field before the game with Clemson and Louisiana State University at Memorial Stadium in Clemson, S.C. Saturday, August 30, 2025. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Riley, like Lindsey, is an established coach that has served as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for SMU, TCU and Clemson. Despite a resume that includes a 2022 Broyles Award — given to the top assistant coach in college football — after three years at Clemson, Riley was fired due to the Tigers' down year offensively.

Riley produced two top-15 offenses in two seasons at SMU, then he led the 2022 TCU team to the College Football Playoff National Championship Game backed by a top offense and at Clemson made strides in developing Cade Klubnik. Riley elevated Klubnik to a top-caliber quarterback who threw 36 touchdowns and six interceptions in his junior season, but then regressed during his senior season.

Despite the firing, it is undeniable that Riley has developed succesful offenses and quarterbacks including TCU's Heisman runner-up Max Duggan.

Lindsey has also coached and developed top-tier quarterbacks including North Carolina's Drake Maye, Auburn's Jarrett Stidham and Southern Miss's Nick Mullens. Maye and Mullens each had years with over 4,000 passing yards and 38 touchdowns under Lindsey.

"He's got great relationship skills and relationship building," Drinkwitz said. "He's got an understanding of holding a standard... and he's got a great track record of coaching quarterbacks and he's been in this league before."

The two coaches will be developing Ole Miss transfer Austin Simmons, who has been named as the starting quarterback.

Simmons' communication skills and "photographic memory," Drinkwitz said, paired with his strong arm, compliments Lindsey and Riley's proven offensive minds with years of experience with quarterbacks.

"I love the way (Simmons has) gone about his business, embracing his role as a leader of our team and a quarterback," Drinkwitz said. "I think his combination of Garrett Riley and Chip Lindsey are really going to be good."

Drinkwitz cited Lindsey as having great relationship skills and relationship building during SEC Media Days. The skills Lindsey possesses and both coaches' success with quarterbacks, will pair well with Simmons' high-level communication in the upcoming season.

"I think the best thing about Austin is his communication skills. He can communicate at a high level about what he's seeing, what he understands, how routes are similar to what he's done in the past that he really liked," Drinkwitz said. "That's accelerated the growth between Coach Lindsey, Coach Riley and what we're doing."

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