Does Anyone Really Know Norm Chow?

Searching for the identity of college football\'s most intriguing and mysterious offensive coordinator
by: Aaron S. Lee
© More from this issue

          
How can a coach that has produced six of the NCAA’s top 12 career passing efficiency leaders in the history of college football go virtually unnoticed for the majority of his 34-year coaching career? How can a coach who has taught two Heisman Trophy winners and a slew of NFL quarterbacks fly under the radar for nearly four decades? How can a coach involved with squads that hold 11 of the top 30 single season passing yardage totals in NCAA history not have been given a head coaching job at some point? After all, few college football fans, if any, have heard of Southern Cal offensive coordinator Norm Chow. And while any football coach worth his whistle may know the name, very few could identify Norm Chow in a lineup.

So, after years of record-shattering offenses and blue-chip quarterbacks one question still remains - just who is Norm Chow?

Well, finally the secret is out, and with the success of a revitalized Trojans’ program, Norm Chow, who captured both the Broyles Award for the nation’s top assistant coach and American Football Monthly’s Division I-A Offensive Coordinator of the Year award in 2002, can hide from the spotlight no longer.

“I think he has been one of the most visible assistant coaches in America,” said USC head coach Pete Carroll. “He had a wonderful run as an assistant coach at Brigham Young University, and at North Carolina State he proved that he could do it with another program and without Lavell Edwards.”

Chow impressed Carroll so much, Carroll offered the offensive guru a three-year, $1 million contract to lure him from Chuck Amato’s North Carolina State program.

“When I was looking to get a guy to fill the offensive coordinator position, it was a no-brainer – I wanted to get Norm Chow. We made some marvelous changes from year one to year two with Norm handling the offense, and Carson Palmer and our entire program was a recipient of Norm Chow’s coaching abilities.”

When the Cincinnati Bengals drafted Palmer, the 2002 Heisman Trophy-winning Trojan signal-caller, he was already groomed by a coach that had a hand in molding the careers of eight top quarterbacks, including Steve Young, Jim McMahon, Marc Wilson, Gifford Nielsen, Ty Detmer, Steve Sarkisian, Robbie Bosco and Philip Rivers.

“With all the great quarterbacks he has coached, it makes sense why a kid from Louisiana, John David Booty, would want to come out to California and work with him,” said Palmer from Bengals training camp on the decision of the highly recruited blue-chip quarterback to skip his senior season of eligibility at Evangel Christian Academy in Shreveport, La., to sign with the Trojans and compete for a starting role in 2003.

Palmer, himself a highly sought after prospect, arrived at Southern Cal as part of Paul Hackett’s first recruiting class in 1998. Palmer ended that season as just the second Trojan true freshman to earn the starting role at quarterback, an honor shared only with fellow NFL alum, Rob Johnson. Although Palmer’s arrival at Southern Cal was heralded and applauded during a rookie season that saw him complete 73.6 percent of his passes, the next season would be plagued with injury. In his first three seasons without Chow (Palmer was granted a medical redshirt as a sophomore in 1999 after breaking his right collarbone during USC’s third game of the season), Palmer averaged 180 yards per game; however, under Chow’s offensive command, Palmer averaged 265 yards per game during his final two seasons, including an average of 303 yards per game during his final season. Coincidence?

“He helped me out tremendously both on and off the field,” said Palmer. “One game my junior year before the kickoff he came up to me and told me that if I stayed at Southern Cal my senior year that we would be going to New York for the Heisman.”

No. 4 Southern Cal raced to a 11-2 record, captured the PAC-10 title and defeated Kirk Ferentz’ upstart Iowa squad 38-17 in the Orange Bowl to finish with its highest ranking in 22 years when they finished No. 2 in 1979 a year after winning the national championship.

“I really admire the job he does and how he conducts himself with his players. He doesn’t like a lot of attention or the media and he wants all the focus to be on the kids and that is just how he is. I would go in and sit in his office for one or two hours at a time and not talk one word about football.”

After spending 27 seasons in Provo, Utah, under the watchful eye of college football coaching icon Lavell Edwards, Chow left Brigham Young in 2000 for a new challenge and a change of atmosphere.

Chow first met N.C. State head coach Chuck Amato in 1980. The two coached at a summer camp for two years in Golden, Colo. Over the years, the two became good friends and worthy adversaries.

“When I got the head coaching job here at North Carolina State I called him,” said Amato, now entering his third season with the Wolfpack. “After all, just look at his resume. I thought that if I could have him for just one year I would be happy and that he would do a tremendous job and he did. I thought he would eventually go back and take the BYU job but that didn’t happen.

“I can remember playing against him while I was at Florida State and his offense would give us fits.”

Chow spent just one year with the Wolfpack and catapulted freshman quarterback Philip Rivers into instant stardom. Rivers completed 54 percent for 3,054 yards and 25 touchdowns in 2000 with a 126.09 passing efficiency total.

“He did a great job with our young quarterback,” said Amato. “He is a very, very smart person and he teaches the short passing game as good as anyone.”

“I think the best move for his personal career was going to N.C. State and then to USC,” said former BYU quarterback Ty Detmer. “He proved that he could go somewhere and do it on his own and not rely on the footnote of Coach Edwards being there throughout his career.”

Provo, Utah

Few teams achieved more success than BYU over the course of 1973-1999. The Cougars enjoyed 25 winning seasons, 22 bowl games, 20 conference titles, one national championship (1984) and an overall record of 238-85-3. While Coach Edwards was clearly the patriarch of the BYU program, Chow was the heartbeat that drove the offense to break almost every NCAA passing record in existence.

“You have to give credit to Lavell Edwards for the passing concept because he recognized that if you don’t have the talented kids then throwing the ball is a great neutralizer,” said former BYU receiver, Glen Kozlowski, who spent six seasons with the Chicago Bears from 1986-93. “He also allowed Norm Chow and guys like him to develop and come up with their own ideas. Norm’s philosophy was that no matter what the defense did they were wrong because we had something to counter it.”

“I know that I still use a lot of what I learned from Coach Chow today,” added Kozlowski, who is in his second year as head coach at Wauconda High School in Illinois.

One of the many successful quarterbacks under Chow, Detmer, captured the Heisman Trophy in 1991 after chewing up records and finishing with 33 career 300-yard passing games. Detmer still ranks No.1 in college football history with 15,031 passing yards and with 121 touchdowns. He is also ranked No. 2 all-time in career passing efficiency with a rating of 167.7 and in career yards per game with 326.8.

“He definitely did some good things for me at BYU,” said Detmer, a former draft choice of the Green Bay Packers in 1992. “He is reserved and not the kind of guy that goes out and puts his name on everything. He is one of the top coaches at any level – just look at his record. He would always come in with a new wrinkle every year. He wasn’t afraid to do what the personnel dictated. One year they were forced to run the ball due to talent limitations. Instead of beating his head against the wall because of what he doesn’t have, he does a good job of catering to the cast that surrounds him.

“His grasp of the passing game is phenomenal,” added Detmer, currently a quarterback for the Detroit Lions. “Some of the things we did were very basic, and when I went to Green Bay as a rookie I had already seen the plays. They may have been called something different, but I was familiar with them. I’ve seen things he has done recently that we do here in Detroit.”

Before BYU shattered virtually every passing record with Norm Chow, the low-key coach from Punahou, Hawaii, enjoyed a successful career as a gridiron star himself. Chow was named to Utah’s All-Century team after lettering three years and starting two for the Utes from 1965-67. He was even awarded All-Western Athletic Conference first team and All-American honorable mention honors during his final season. A career-ending knee injury forced Chow to retire a year later following a one-year stint with the Canadian Football League’s Saskatchewan Roughriders.

“He was a pretty good football player,” said Lavell Edwards. “He was gritty and smart, and he earned recognition for his performance on the field.”

Chow, who graduated from Utah with a bachelor’s degree in physical education and a master’s in special education, earned his doctorate from BYU in educational psychology in 1970. He officially began his coaching career that same year as the head coach of Waialua High School in which he spent three seasons.

“Norm contacted me and wanted to come over to BYU and work on his advanced degree so we got together and he came over as a graduate assistant,” said Coach Edwards. “He was a good student. We had some good offensive coaches at the time, like Mike Holmgren. Norm spent a lot of time with each and learned from them. From there he has done an outstanding job.”

Norm Chow, head coach?

With all the success one question still remains – why isn’t Norm Chow a head coach? After all, does he want to be a head coach? And if so, does he truly have what it takes to assume command of a program?

“Oh yeah, he wants to be a head coach,” said Amato. “Perception is so wacky. Here is a guy that was at BYU for a lifetime, but probably because of the league (WAC) he was in and the time zone they played in they didn’t get the same media coverage as other teams here on the East Coast. He probably got more publicity here than he did all his years at BYU.”

Amato is not the only believer in Chow’s abilities to coach at a higher level.

“He can go to any school in the country and be successful as a head coach,” said Palmer. “I will definitely take what I have learned from Coach Chow into the NFL.”

“I think by him leaving BYU was him saying that ‘Hey I would like to be a head coach and if the right situation pops up I want to be in the situation to take it,’” added Detmer. “I think in the next year or two we will see him as a head coach.”

And although Coach Carroll is in no hurry to see Chow leave anytime soon, he is not without the realization of the inevitability of his departure.

“When I first talked to Norm about this job I told him that if he came out here, within a year or two years he would have a head job,” said Carroll. “He came to Los Angeles and we have had some success. He has had great chances already, but he hasn’t wanted to take the opportunities that have come his way. He is very secure and comfortable with what he is doing and where he is and it is going to take a really good job to get him, and when someone does lure him away they are going to get a great person and great coach.

“I can’t imagine going another year or two without that perfect job opening up for him ... he is actually what people are looking for.”

WHAT THEY ARE SAYING

“The first thing you notice about him is that he is such a great person, not just a great coach. Aside from being, honestly, one of the best people that I have ever met in my life, he is the best coach that I have ever played for.” – Carson Palmer, Cincinnati Bengals quarterback and 2002 Heisman Trophy winner from USC “When I first talked to Norm about this job I told him that if he came out here that within a year or two he would have a head job ... he has had great chances already, but he hasn’t wanted to take the opportunities that have come his way.” – Pete Carroll, Southern Cal head coach “I know that he has all the tools to become a head coach. I also know that he likes Pete Carroll and his situation at Southern Cal, so it would take a great situation to lure him away.” – Lavell Edwards, former BYU head coach “One of the things Coach Chow would say is: ‘We make the tough catches routine and the impossible catches take just a little more work’ ... that philosophy worked and he gave our receivers the confidence to go against those 4.2 defensive backs.” – Ty Detmer, Detroit Lions quarterback and 1990 Heisman Trophy winner from BYU

“The best way to describe Norm is brilliant. He allows his players to take the glory and the credit, but this is the guy that drives the machine and makes it happen. A lot of people might not know this, but he was the recruiting coordinator at BYU and his first recruiting class finished in 1984 with a national championship. I was a real punk when I got to BYU and Norm was the guy that helped me grow up to be a man.” - Glen Kozlowski, former BYU and Chicago Bears receiver “I told John David, ‘Hopefully he likes you enough to jump on you every day’... I told him to let him tear you up inside and out because if anyone knows the game of football and quarterbacks, it’s Norm Chow.” – John Booty, father of USC freshman quarterback John David Booty and Cleveland Browns quarterback Josh Booty “I thought if I had him for just one year I would be happy and that he would do a tremendous job and he did.” – Chuck Amato, North Carolina State head coach

NEW BOOK!

Digital Download - 304 Pages of Football Forms for the Winning Coach