By nearly every metric, head coach Sean Lewis’ short tenure at SDSU has been a great success.

Among Lewis’ most important tasks was reinvigorating the fanbase, many of whom had grown disconnected from the program due in part to its old-school offensive style. Despite great running backs like Donnel Pumphrey, Rashad Penny, and Greg Bell leading the Aztecs to wins over Stanford, Utah, and Houston while elevating the school into the Top 25, many supporters still pined for the days of Air Coryell or the Marshall Faulk era on The Mesa.

Lewis and his AztecFast moniker have recaptured the imagination of those who bleed Red and Black.

Even Lewis’ biggest miss – failing to convince a plurality of the team’s 2023 starters to stay in San Diego – has been mitigated by the wave of quality transfers he brought in to address the roster deficiencies. Except for cornerback, a convincing argument could be made that the replacements SDSU added are at or exceed the level of the stalwarts who left.

As exciting as the past eight months have been, like all new hires, Lewis is still mostly trading on hope. The results of 2024 and beyond will cast the events since December in a different light.

Among the most substantive developments of Lewis’ time at SDSU is Ryan Lindley’s belief in the new regime. If anyone understands the Aztecs’ success under Brady Hoke and Rocky Long, it is SDSU’s all-time leading passer and former offensive coordinator.

“The number one thing is finding a way to be transformational in our relationships with the kids,” Lindley told EVT during Spring Camp when asked about the similarities between the approaches of Hoke, Long, and Lewis. “Far too often today, everything is transactional. … With what we do and how we’re going to set ourselves apart is the people and the relationships that we have with our players (and) the relationships we have in this community.”

“I think that’s the one common ground you see. There’s some things philosophically that are changing but at the same time, the bedrock of all of it, what makes you a winning program or what allows you to transform young men is all the same thing: caring about that individual and letting them realize their goals.”

Lindley’s job title at SDSU is senior offensive analyst. In June, the NCAA changed the way analysts are allowed to interact with players during practice. They are now permitted to instruct athletes just as any other coach would.

Before June, analysts were not supposed to train players in dress rehearsals, but they did across the country. The NCAA’s move last month was reactionary. They changed the rule book to match common practice and eliminate an unenforceable mandate.

Under the new paradigm, Lindley is a defacto tight end coach working closely and underneath associate head coach/special teams coordinator/tight ends coach Zac Barton. With Lindley focused on the tight ends, Barton has shaded his attention to the third phase of the game.

“Coach Barton wants to definitely get special teams off the ground,” Lindley explained. “Keep that his main focus. So where I can with preparation for those guys, pick up some slack for him and keep an eye on those guys while he’s taking a look at special teams, that’s kind of where the fit has been so far, which is fun for me because I think if you look at the position besides quarterback that’s most involved in everything in the game, it’s tight end and they got to do everything in the run game and the pass game.”

When Lewis and his staff announced the Class of 2024 at an event at Snapdragon Stadium, Barton made sure Lindley introduced the incoming tight ends. It was the first public sign of Lindley’s place in the new regime.

Lindley’s legacy

As much as anyone, Lindley is responsible for the turnaround at SDSU that began in 2009 with Hoke’s hire. A local product from El Capitan High School, Lindley led SDSU’s offense as a redshirt freshman in Chuck Long’s final year before helping Hoke and Rocky Long lay the foundation for the program’s rise from a Mountain West afterthought.

With a legacy cemented among the most influential sports figures in the history of his hometown, Lindley could have coasted in 2024 and fulfilled his contract with SDSU in other ways or pivoted to opportunities around the country. Instead, the Aztec great handled a demotion from offensive coordinator to offensive analyst with grace. Lewis and the program Lindley loves is better for it.

“There was a point where (Lewis, Barton, and I) sat down, and I said, ‘Hey, I don’t want to be here just as an alum. I don’t want to be the guy (just) to hang on. If that’s the case, there’s really no hard feelings. I’m going to pull for the Aztecs if you want to cut me loose.’ I’m happy to be here. I just want to make sure with everything I’ve ever done in life, I am not going to be dead weight, so I’m excited to be on board full steam ahead, getting this AztecFast thing rolling and have something fun to watch in 2024.”

Before Lewis’ coaching staff was fully assembled, Lindley went on the road as an ambassador for the program. Numerous recruits mentioned him as someone instrumental in their decisions to become Aztecs. The quality of SDSU’s Class of 2024 and the speed at which it was assembled would have been impossible without Lindley and Lewis’ early partnership.

Anyone who has followed Lindley’s career would not be surprised by the loyalty he’s showing the Aztecs. But, how he’s embraced Lewis is an important indicator that the program did not throw the baby out with the bathwater even if the product on the field will look much different.

If Lewis’ actions behind the scenes failed to match his public declarations, it is doubtful Lindley would be as onboard as he is. That Lewis could bring someone into the fold outside of his coaching tree also paints the Aztecs’ head coach in a positive light.

At this early point in Lewis’ tenure, Lindley lends him credibility.

Paul Garrison

My earliest sport’s memory involve tailgating at the Murph, running down the circular exit ramps, and seeing the Padres, Chargers and Aztecs play. As a second generation Aztec, I am passionate about all things SDSU. Other interests include raising my four children, being a great husband and teaching high school.