Just got back from a lunch with Norm Chow

[SoCalCoug]

He spoke (as he said, rambled) for about 15-20 minutes and then took questions for 40-45 minutes. This was at a J. Reuben Clark Society monthly luncheon (we did not get MCLE credit for this one).

He was great. I really became a Norm Chow fan after this. He was extremely candid and took hard questions head on.

I didn't take notes, but here's some of what he said:

If the Pac-10 expands, he believes it will be Utah and Colorado.

He thinks Lane Kiffin will do a good job at USC.

USC's offer to the 13-year-old kid coached by Steve Clarkson is entirely a publicity stunt for Clarkson, who's developing a reality show about a young QB. Clarkson is a friend and he's a good guy, but this was nothing more than a publicity stunt.

In the Titans draft war room when they had the first pick of the draft, he climbed up and stood on the table and said they have to draft Leinart, and if they don't draft Leinart, they have to draft Cutler. He did not want them to draft Vince Young. That was the owner's decision, after his wife was quoted in the paper saying she hoped they drafted Vince Young, and if they didn't she was going to jump off a bridge. I think he misspoke somewhere in the story, though, because he said the owner called them and told them he wants them to make her jump.

The move of the Oilers to Nashville came because Bud Adams had a falling out with a business partner who became the mayor of Houston. Adams went to the mayor and said they needed certain things for the team to stay in Houston. Because of the falling out, the mayor said no, and the team went to Tennessee.

LaVell's genius was in hiring good assistants and letting them do their jobs. In contrasting LaVell with Carroll and Neuheisel, he said LaVell "just stood there." He told a story of LaVell coaching a high school all star game. LaVell made Norm come and stand behind him, feeding him the plays.

I asked him what it was like to coach under a former QB (Neuheisel) after spending years under HC's with defensive backgrounds - he got a big smile at that one as he said "That's a good question" and said Neuheisel can get annoying to the offensive assistants with all his input. He said Carroll would have some input, but he made it clear that it's a little bit of a challenge with Neuheisel, although I didn't get the impression it's too much interference. I get the definite impression Norm's not a guy who suffers much interference from anyone in running his offense.

Someone asked if he had any opinion on Jake Heaps' future at BYU - his response was, "Jake who? Oh, that new quarterback." He said they didn't really recruit him, and he committed early, so he didn't know that much about him.

He said Pete Carroll went to one of Ben Olson's high school practices and came back and said he was the best HS QB he'd ever seen. Norm said unfortunately they didn't get him at USC, because he committed early to BYU, but then after his mission he came to UCLA. Norm said Ben Olson's really a sad case with how his injuries messed up his career. He couldn't say how good he would have been, just that it's been really difficult for Olson. He said Ben never really told him exactly what went on at BYU, but that it was clear he was dissillusioned by something - Norm's heard the story about Crowton promising him a start and the redshirting him, and although he doesn't know and wouldn't say, he seems to think that's likely at least part of the reason.

There's a lot more he said, but I can't remember right now and I have to get some work done.

[byu71]

He spoke (as he said, rambled) for about 15-20 minutes and then took questions for 40-45 minutes. This was at a J. Reuben Clark Society monthly luncheon (we did not get MCLE credit for this one).

He was great. I really became a Norm Chow fan after this. He was extremely candid and took hard questions head on.

I didn't take notes, but here's some of what he said:

If the Pac-10 expands, he believes it will be Utah and Colorado.

He thinks Lane Kiffin will do a good job at USC.

USC's offer to the 13-year-old kid coached by Steve Clarkson is entirely a publicity stunt for Clarkson, who's developing a reality show about a young QB. Clarkson is a friend and he's a good guy, but this was nothing more than a publicity stunt.

In the Titans draft war room when they had the first pick of the draft, he climbed up and stood on the table and said they have to draft Leinart, and if they don't draft Leinart, they have to draft Cutler. He did not want them to draft Vince Young. That was the owner's decision, after his wife was quoted in the paper saying she hoped they drafted Vince Young, and if they didn't she was going to jump off a bridge. I think he misspoke somewhere in the story, though, because he said the owner called them and told them he wants them to make her jump.

The move of the Oilers to Nashville came because Bud Adams had a falling out with a business partner who became the mayor of Houston. Adams went to the mayor and said they needed certain things for the team to stay in Houston. Because of the falling out, the mayor said no, and the team went to Tennessee.

LaVell's genius was in hiring good assistants and letting them do their jobs. In contrasting LaVell with Carroll and Neuheisel, he said LaVell "just stood there." He told a story of LaVell coaching a high school all star game. LaVell made Norm come and stand behind him, feeding him the plays.

I asked him what it was like to coach under a former QB (Neuheisel) after spending years under HC's with defensive backgrounds - he got a big smile at that one as he said "That's a good question" and said Neuheisel can get annoying to the offensive assistants with all his input. He said Carroll would have some input, but he made it clear that it's a little bit of a challenge with Neuheisel, although I didn't get the impression it's too much interference. I get the definite impression Norm's not a guy who suffers much interference from anyone in running his offense.

Someone asked if he had any opinion on Jake Heaps' future at BYU - his response was, "Jake who? Oh, that new quarterback." He said they didn't really recruit him, and he committed early, so he didn't know that much about him.

He said Pete Carroll went to one of Ben Olson's high school practices and came back and said he was the best HS QB he'd ever seen. Norm said unfortunately they didn't get him at USC, because he committed early to BYU, but then after his mission he came to UCLA. Norm said Ben Olson's really a sad case with how his injuries messed up his career. He couldn't say how good he would have been, just that it's been really difficult for Olson. He said Ben never really told him exactly what went on at BYU, but that it was clear he was dissillusioned by something - Norm's heard the story about Crowton promising him a start and the redshirting him, and although he doesn't know and wouldn't say, he seems to think that's likely at least part of the reason.

There's a lot more he said, but I can't remember right now and I have to get some work done.

I knew Norm quite well while he was at BYU. I really, really liked the guy and didn't understand why some people didn't. He was in my parents ward and my Dad's eyes light up whenever his name is mentioned. Part of that is because my parents thought Norm's wife was one of the nicest persons they had ever met.

[SoCalCoug]

I knew Norm quite well while he was at BYU. I really, really liked the guy and didn't understand why some people didn't. He was in my parents ward and my Dad's eyes light up whenever his name is mentioned. Part of that is because my parents thought Norm's wife was one of the nicest persons they had ever met.

Here's my theory (not actually knowing him): He strikes me as someone who speaks his mind and doesn't care what people think. There are a lot of people who don't like someone with that type of personality; hence those people don't like him.

[New Mexican Disaster]

I knew Norm quite well while he was at BYU. I really, really liked the guy and didn't understand why some people didn't. He was in my parents ward and my Dad's eyes light up whenever his name is mentioned. Part of that is because my parents thought Norm's wife was one of the nicest persons they had ever met.

Norm's wife is one of the nicest people I have ever met. And his daughter was one of the hottest girls I have ever seen.

[CJF]

The Ben Olson stuff is kind of funny to me. I'm not surprised he doesn't know the whole story about BYU. Rick Olson really disliked Chow and that's a big reason they never gave USC much of a look out of high school. USC is not a school that stops recruiting kids when the commit early. Especially to non-BCS and especially when the kid is the "best HS QB" Carroll has ever seen. Olsons made it pretty clear to USC they had no interest to play for Chow.

[SoCalCoug]

A little more of what I remembered:

He talked a little bit about the difference between college and pro offenses. He told a story about how when he was with the Titans, he used a play from his college days against the Colts. They ran it and got about 20 yards. So they ran it again the next play and got another 20 yards. And then they ran it again and Vince Young ran 40 yards for a touchdown. He said after that, he could see Tony Dungy on the Colts’ sidelines drawing up how they were going to defend it. He said he knew the defense would work, because he was looking at Dungy’s board through his glasses [binoculars] from the booth. So they didn’t run it again. This was in the context of trick plays – someone had asked about the Oklahoma/Boise St. bowl game where Boise ran the trick plays, and he was showing how trick plays won’t work in the long run in the NFL, because the coaches are really good at what they do there (because they’re paid a lot and work really hard). He said that when someone like Boise is playing Oklahoma in that bowl game, you run the trick plays, and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t, and Boise didn’t really have much to lose. He said that’s what made BYU’s win over Oklahoma last year so impressive – they didn’t use the Boise tactics, but did it from the “bottom up” – which I interpreted to mean beating them in the trenches, physically.

Someone asked him about being offered a job at USC by Lane Kiffin recently. Norm said he was offered a lot of money – he stressed, it was a lot of money, and so he really considered leaving UCLA to go to USC. But, much of his salary would have been from booster money, and he said if the boosters “want you to go right, and you go left” the money will disappear, so he stayed put. He also mentioned that when he went to the NFL, he didn’t sell his Southern California home, because he knows that the “NFL” means “Not For Long.”

He talked about the difficult academic requirements UCLA has. He said (grinning) someone’s 40 time and their SAT scores don’t directly correlate. He said at USC, it’s a private university so they can take care of their players academically. He mentioned one player by name (I forget who it is) but he’s now a nose tackle in the NFL who was a special ed. student. He said what that’s the case, they get special permission to have the SAT read to them. When that happens, the person can then read the question and ask, “Is the answer A, is it B, or is it C?” They’ll have tutors with them the whole time through college. The impression was that USC can get away with that sort of stuff more than UCLA.

He thinks missions are a definite advantage for BYU, because the players are more mature. He referred to a time at BYU when he had all five linemen drafted, and how they benefitted from being a couple years older. I wanted to, but didn’t ask whether there’s a difference between linemen and skill players in that respect.

He talked about what it’s like working as a college coach. He said it’s a lot of work. He said John Gruden talks about being in a 4 in the morning and working into the night. He said all of them do that – Gruden is just the one who brags about it. He also said not to believe it when people try to say the BYU coaches don’t work as long or as hard as other coaches. He said he guarantees that if you go to the football offices on a Sunday evening, you’ll see lights flickering in the windows.

[Mormon Red Death]

He talked about what it’s like working as a college coach. He said it’s a lot of work. He said John Gruden talks about being in a 4 in the morning and working into the night. He said all of them do that – Gruden is just the one who brags about it. He also said not to believe it when people try to say the BYU coaches don’t work as long or as hard as other coaches. He said he guarantees that if you go to the football offices on a Sunday evening, you’ll see lights flickering in the windows.

what I've always wondered about was what they could be working on. Just reviewing tapes?

[Hot Lunch]

what I've always wondered about was what they could be working on. Just reviewing tapes?

Yep. Coaches are always breaking down film. Trying to find weaknesses. How certain plays will work against the opposing teams. They are also trying to find tendencies of the other team in certain situations They only have a week to prepare for a team. Some of this type of work will be done during the off-season especially for the first couple of games. Once they get to game 4, they only want to see what they have done that year and don't really want to understand what they did a year ago. There is a ton of film that is being broken down. A ton. They also spend a lot of time game planning while watching the film. They will do it collectively as an offensive and defensive coaching staff and individually keying in on the match-ups that there positions will see on the other side of the ball.

Coaches work a ton.

[SteelBlue]

He said he guarantees that if you go to the football offices on a Sunday evening, you’ll see lights flickering in the windows.

That's Jesus adding a few touches to the playbook.

[Moliere]

what I've always wondered about was what they could be working on. Just reviewing tapes?

Putting the finishing touches on the Friday night fireside talk.

[SeattleUte]

Contrast this thread and the one in Cougarboard about Norm Chow's lecture and you have the contrast between this board and cougarboard:

http://www.cougarboard.com/noframes/...tml?id=5514551

They can't say a nice word about a guy like Chow who did so much for BYU. Cougarboard is so full of rage and hate it hurts my eyes. Every thread there is a cacaphony of snark, it seems.

(I feel the same way about Utefans treatment of Jeff Judkins. Infantile.)

[Surfah]

Contrast this thread and the one in Cougarboard about Norm Chow's lecture and you have the contrast between this board and cougarboard:

http://www.cougarboard.com/noframes/...tml?id=5514551

They can't say a nice word about a guy like Chow who did so much for BYU. Cougarboard is so full of rage and hate it hurts my eyes. Every thread there is a cacaphony of snark, it seems.

(I feel the same way about Utefans treatment of Jeff Judkins. Infantile.)

I agree.

[New Mexican Disaster]

Contrast this thread and the one in Cougarboard about Norm Chow's lecture and you have the contrast between this board and cougarboard:

http://www.cougarboard.com/noframes/...tml?id=5514551

They can't say a nice word about a guy like Chow who did so much for BYU. Cougarboard is so full of rage and hate it hurts my eyes. Every thread there is a cacaphony of snark, it seems.

(I feel the same way about Utefans treatment of Jeff Judkins. Infantile.)

It is truly disgusting and idiotic. For some reason he is the scapegoat.

[Shaka]

There are a lot of people who don't like Norm, including a lot of former players. He played politics and mind games with the best of them and if you weren't his guy it was a rare that you'd ever get a shot. I guess another way to sum it up is that a there are plenty of former BYU players who don't like Norm for similar reasons that a lot of former Ute players dislike Urban.

Also Norm isn't necessarily the same coach now that he was when he was at BYU. I thought Norm was a genius in a lot of ways but sometimes his play calling would get downright predictable. Norm made some mistakes while at BYU and to his credit he learned from them. I believe that is one reason he's as successful as he is currently.

[HuskyFreeNorthwest]

He said he guarantees that if you go to the football offices on a Sunday evening, you’ll see lights flickering in the windows.

How much do we need to donate so that the football coaches can have working lights? How annoying to always have the florescent bulb flickering while you are trying to work.