Entering his third season with the Colorado State Rams, head coach Jay Norvell is in the midst of building a successful program. After several stints at Nevada, Oklahoma, Texas and Arizona State, Norvell was announced as Colorado State’s 24th head coach in early December 2021.
Before starting his coaching career, Norvell was an All-Big 10 defensive back for the Iowa Hawkeyes from 1982 to 1985, followed by a short season as a linebacker with the Chicago Bears. After his playing days ended, he started coaching as a graduate assistant under legendary Iowa head coach Hayden Fry before moving onto the rest of the college football world.
He also coached in the NFL for six seasons and most notably coached future two-time Super Bowl winner Peyton Manning in Indianapolis.
Norvell returned to the college game as an offensive coordinator for the University of Nebraska, where he guided quarterback Zac Taylor to break several school passing records before spending another season as offensive coordinator at UCLA. After UCLA, Norvell kept the same position at Oklahoma until he was fired in January 2015 and moved to the University of Texas, working with wide receivers and calling plays under Charlie Strong. After a season at Arizona State, he finally landed his first head coaching job with Nevada in 2017.
Norvell’s work with the Nevada Wolf Pack solidified his name in the coaching world. In five seasons, he led the team to four bowl games, pulling the program out of a long drought of wins. During his first season as head coach, the Wolf Pack went 3–9, putting the team nowhere close to bowl game contention. After 2017, Nevada made its way to bowl games until Norvell moved on to Colorado State in 2021.
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