Reports: Arizona State to hire Southern Miss' Lindsey

Southern Miss offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey has been hired to fill the same spot at Arizona State, according to Thayer Evans of Sports Illustrated.

Lindsey will fill the spot vacated by Mike Norvell, who was hired as the Memphis head coach a week ago.

Lindsey spent two seasons as the offensive coordinator at USM and head coach Todd Monken handed him play-calling duties in his second year on the job.

That decision proved wise.

The Golden Eagles had one of the most productive offenses in the nation this season. USM averaged 519.8 yards a game to rank ninth in FBS and the average of 40.6 points ranked 12th overall.

Lindsey arrived at USM prior to the 2014 season after working for a year as an offensive analyst at Auburn. His only other experience as a college coach was serving as the quarterbacks coach at Troy in 2010.

Lindsey was the head coach at Spain Park High School in Hoover, Ala., from 2011-12. One of his players there was current USM quarterback Nick Mullens, who had a breakout season in 2015.

Mullens completed 63.4 percent of his passes for 4,145 yards, 36 touchdowns and 12 interceptions for the Golden Eagles (9-4).

USM became just the second team to have a 4,000-yard passer and two 1,000-yard rushers, sophomore Ito Smith and junior Jalen Richard.

Lindsey was previously connected to the head coaching jobs at Eastern Kentucky and Louisiana-Monroe, but he reportedly decided he wasn't interested in either position.

This story was originally published December 10, 2015 at 5:31 PM with the headline "Reports: Arizona State to hire Southern Miss' Lindsey ."