Arizona State hires Lindsey’s former coach Rob Likens to lead wide receivers

Rob Likens was Arizona State Offensive Coordinator Chip Lindsey’s position coach at North Alabama in 1993. Now Likens will be under the direction of Lindsey, as ASU announced Tuesday they have hired the 25-year college football veteran to be their new wide receivers coach and passing game coordinator.

Likens joins head coach Todd Graham’s staff after a year at Kansas, where he served as the offensive coordinator. The Jayhawks finished dead-last in the Big 12 Conference at 1-8, going 2-10 on the year overall.

Kansas scored 20.3 points per game in 2016.

Before moving to the Big 12, Likens spent two seasons in the Pac-12 Conference. He was the assistant coach at California in 2013 and 2014.

“When I was at Cal, ASU was a school that I viewed as a place I would like to work someday,” said Likens. “It’s an elite program with great people, brand new facilities and its all part of a world-class university. I will have the opportunity to work with Chip, whom I believe is one of the brightest young offensive coaches in the nation. And when I met with Coach Graham and heard his vision for the program and especially for the development of young men I was completely on board. I can’t wait to get there to begin recruiting and work with the players.”

Likens has had several stops on his coaching tour, with most of them entailing jobs working with wide receivers. Besides the previous schools mentioned, he has been a coach at Louisiana Tech, Central Connecticut State, Southeast Missouri State and Temple.

“Rob brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to our staff,” said Graham. “He will work with Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks Coach Chip Lindsey with the coordination of our passing game. Rob has developed a long list of wide receivers in his career, seven of which are currently in the NFL and I look forward to him working with our special group. I’m excited about his Pac-12 Conference experience at Cal and his familiarity with the league.”

The wide receivers now in the NFL who learned under Likens are Bryce Treggs (Philadelphia), Kenny Lawler (Seattle), Chris Harper (San Francisco), Maurice Harris (Washington), Trevor Davis (Green Bay), Quinton Patton (San Francisco) and Myles White (Tampa Bay).

Likens replaces Jay Norvell, who left ASU to become the head coach at Nevada.

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