FootballScoop: More candidates emerge for ASU football’s open OC job
Dec 5, 2019, 9:07 AM | Updated: 11:25 am
Arizona State head coach Herm Edwards answers questions during the Pac-12 Conference NCAA college football Media Day Wednesday, July 24, 2019, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
(AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
Hue Jackson isn’t the only candidate for the Arizona State football offensive coordinator position.
As head coach Herm Edwards told Doug & Wolf on 98.7 FM Arizona’s Sports Station this Monday, the school is looking at other candidates to potentially replace outgoing OC Rob Likens. Among them, according to FootballScoop.com, are Boise State offensive coordinator Zak Hill and Oregon State OC Brian Lindgren.
Lindgren might have drawn Edwards’ attention with his Beavers splitting games against ASU over the past two years. He arrived in Corvallis, Ore., to coach on Jonathan Smith’s staff after a stint at Colorado from 2013-17.
In 2019, Oregon State quarterback Jake Luton threw for 28 touchdowns to just three interceptions, a ratio ASU wouldn’t mind getting out of quarterback Jayden Daniels as he improves upon his freshman season.
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Previously, Lindgren was at San Jose State in 2012 and Northern Arizona from 2006-11. At NAU, he coached across the offense, leading receivers to running backs to quarterbacks before becoming OC from 2009-2011.
Hill has been in charge of quarterbacks at Boise State since he arrived in 2016. He became the lone offensive coordinator in 2017, and the Broncos finished in the top-25 in yards per game and points per game that year.
Before his stop in Boise, Idaho, Hill spent a brief stint with Hawaii at the end of the 2015 season after a run at Eastern Washington as passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach from 2009-2015.
Jackson, who has extensive NFL experience as head coach of the Oakland Raiders (2011) and Cleveland Browns (2016-18), has not coached in the college ranks since 2000 when he was at USC. He has experience at ASU, as he was an assistant under then-coach Bruce Snyder from 1992-95.
Arizona State and Edwards made the decision to replace Likens as offensive coordinator after averaging 25.2 points per game this year.
The Beavers scored 31.2 points per game under Lindgren’s offensive leadership this year, while Boise State under Hill averaged 37.3 yards per game, which ranked 13th in the nation.
