UCLA offensive coordinator Norm Chow sits in his office, pages of notes scattered across his desk and flat-screen television showing game film from last season.
It is a picture-perfect summer’s day in August, with not a cloud in the sky and a pleasant breeze rustling through the air. It is a day that begs one to go outside and to relax.
Not for Chow.
Rather than enjoy the Southern California weather, Chow is tirelessly at work, taking notes on games from last season, constructing new plays and formations, all in an effort to make sure what happened in 2008 does not repeat itself.
In his first year at UCLA, the offensive guru experienced a season he would like to forget. It was a struggle the entire year for the Bruins on offense. The dismal numbers speak for themselves:
– The Bruins finished 116th of 119 teams in rushing, amassing just 993 total yards in 12 games while averaging just 2.6 yards per carry.
– The Bruins finished 111th of 119 teams in total offense, averaging 283.3 yards per game.
– The Bruins finished 109th of 119 teams in scoring, totaling just 212 points in 12 games, good enough for an average of 17.7 points per game.
For a coordinator with Chow’s accolades ““ three national championships, three Heisman Trophy winning quarterbacks, and a three-time assistant coach of the year ““ the inability of the Bruins to move the ball effectively was difficult. But according to Chow, it was not the most trying season he has endured in his more than 30 years of coaching.
“Coaching is tough now,” Chow said. “It’s always tough, it’s always trying. The thing that was clear about it was our players never gave up. They kept fighting and trying and it wasn’t about us, it was about our football team and our program.”
An unexpected start
Chow always enjoyed playing football, but never thought of pursuing a career in coaching until the situation presented itself.
At Utah Chow was a talented offensive guard, a two-year starter and a member of Utah’s All-Century Team.
After his three years at Utah, Chow played in the Canadian Football League for one year in before his career as a player ended with an injury to his knee.
That’s when his coaching career began to take shape.
“I came into coaching quite as an accident,” Chow said. “I went off to graduate school and needed to pay some bills (and) took on a job as a graduate assistant and I’ve been here ever since.”
His first coaching job was at Waialua High School in 1970, but as Chow describes, it was not his ability to coach football that got him the job.
“(I got the job) not because I could coach, but because I had a major that the school needed,” Chow said. “I taught special education and that fit as opposed to being a high school coach.”
Following his time at Waialua High School, Chow spent 27 years at BYU in a multitude of positions, from graduate assistant, to quarterback coach, to offensive coordinator. It was during his time at BYU that Chow mentored the first of three Heisman Trophy quarterbacks: Ty Detmer. The other two came during his time as offensive coordinator at USC: Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart. Looking back on the time he spent with all those players, Chow points out what they all had in common.
“They all were terrific,” Chow said. “I would never single out any of them. The bottom line with all those guys is that they’re terrific people. They’re great young guys, with their priorities straight, their family lives. You need to have all that if you’re going to be the kind of guy you want to be.”
A Journey to the NFL
The four years Chow spent across town at USC overflowed with team and individual success.
Under Chow’s tenure, the Trojans won two national titles (2003, 2004), had an offense which ranked in the Top 20 three of the four years, and were a remarkable 42-9 during that span.
Yet in 2005, Chow left USC amid controversy for a job as offensive coordinator with the Tennessee Titans.
For Chow, the transition from college to the NFL was eye-opening.
“It’s a whole different game,” Chow said. “Entirely different game. The football is still football; it’s how you handle the relationships. You’re talking about young men who are making a tremendous amount of money as opposed to a college guy who is just trying to learn and go on and all that kind of stuff. The dynamics are completely different but the game, the schematic part, is the same.”
While with the Titans Chow had the opportunity to mentor and coach Vince Young, the electrifying quarterback who led the Texas Longhorns to a national championship in 2005. In Young’s first season with Chow and the Titans in 2006, he was named Rookie of the Year and was selected to the Pro Bowl. It seemed that Young was on the rise to becoming a superstar.
But that came to a screeching halt last season. In the first game of the 2008 season, Young sprained the MCL in his left knee and was replaced by Kerry Collins. Collins would remain the Titans’ quarterback on the way to a 13-3 record and a playoff appearance, while Young was the backup and dealt with off-the-field issues, such as depression.
Watching from afar, Chow had a unique insight to what Young went through.
“It’s unfortunate,” Chow said. “He was a young man thrust into a situation that was huge for him and I thought he handled it well. He was Rookie of the Year, he went to the Pro Bowl, that kind of thing. And then when he started having a little of people started to figure him out, then there was some struggles. But he was going to fight through all that, and then he got hurt.”
Yet Chow still believes in the potential Young has.
“I still think he’s going to be a heck of a quarterback,” Chow said. “I think he’s going to be a tremendous player. Now he has to get a break and that’s the problem with NFL football. You see a lot of guys that never get that chance, you see guys get a chance that some guys don’t, so we have to see.”
Back to College
In January of 2007, after three seasons with the team, Chow was let go by the Tennessee Titans.
He had just signed a multi-year contract with the team, yet was suddenly without a job, looking for work.
During his three years with the Titans, Chow had never left his home in California, electing to live in a hotel room while he was in Nashville. Wanting to get back into coaching while staying near home, UCLA seemed like a perfect destination.
After Rick Neuheisel was hired as the Bruins’ coach, Chow met with him and became excited about the vision Neuheisel had for the UCLA football program.
“He’s terrific,” Chow said. “He’s a very, very typical head coach. He’s got a handle on all of the things that are going on. He does a great job of recruiting. He does a great job with relationships with the coaches, relationships with the players.
“I think he’s going to be fine. He’s the perfect guy for this job.”
Yet the first season together was disappointing for both, to say the least. The Bruins finished eighth in the Pac-10 with a record of 4-8, missing a bowl game for the first time since 2001.
One reason for the struggles the Bruins had on offense was at the quarterback position. Coming into spring practice in 2008, the Bruins appeared to be set at quarterback with seniors Pat Cowan and Ben Olson competing for the starting job. Cowan eventually won the job, only to tear the ACL in his left knee, ending his season and career. On the very next play, Olson fractured the fifth metatarsal in his right foot, sidelining him for the rest of the season.
Thrust into the spotlight was the junior college transfer from Mount San Antonio College, Kevin Craft. Craft would go on to start all 12 games for the Bruins in 2008 season, yet faced immense struggles and criticism. While Craft completed 232 passes, the second most in school history, he threw a school-record 20 interceptions, six of which were returned for touchdowns.
Looking back on the season, Chow admits it was unfair for Craft to be put in such a situation.
Brought in to provide depth at the quarterback position and to be groomed to be the starter in a couple years, Craft was instead forced to become the face of the Bruins.
“I don’t think Kevin was ready for the role he had to assume,” Chow said. “That fast two senior quarterbacks go down, all of a sudden we’re sitting with a couple of freshmen. And so I think that Kevin did the best that he could.”
Currently, Craft sits third on the depth chart, behind starting quarterback, redshirt freshman Kevin Prince, and true freshman Richard Brehaut.
As for a prediction as to what Prince will be able to accomplish as quarterback, Chow offered a guarded assessment.
“He’s doing a good job,” Chow said. “We’ll find out in a month.”
While the quarterback position was a source of the Bruins’ struggles on offense, it was not the only one. An offensive line that had nine different starting lineups in 12 games due to either poor performance or injury was a key factor to a team that failed to have a 100-yard rusher in any game, and allowed 35 sacks.
“It was just a rough season,” said sophomore offensive guard Jeff Baca, who started eight games last season. “We learned a lot and we were a super young team. There’s really not much to say besides learning and building on that.”
The Bruins also failed to have a player with a 100-yard receiving game last year, something senior wide receiver Terrence Austin is well aware of.
“It was tough (last year),” Austin said. “We had been practicing all hard all week and we still came up with the same mistakes and stuff. As much as we wanted to overcome the struggles, we still was going downhill a little bit. We tried but now that’s all past us. We coming forward this year and piece everything together so we make sure that it don’t happen again.”
When asked about what the reasons for the lack of success on offense, Chow points not at any of the players, but instead at the coaches.
“I think we need to coach better,” Chow said. “I think the blame starts with us as coaches, from the head coach down to the offensive staff.
“But the bottom line is we just have to do better. We just have to coach better and we have to play better.”
2009 and Beyond
Heading into the final week before the Bruins open the 2009 season against San Diego State on Sept. 5 at the Rose Bowl, there has been a feeling of optimism surrounding the team this year.
One reason is the influx of talented freshmen at several key positions, part of a recruiting class that was tabbed by Scout.com as the No. 6 recruiting class in the country.
Recruits such as wide receivers Randall Carroll and Morrell Presley were originally committed to USC yet decided to come to Westwood.
Other notable recruits were offensive linemen Xavier Su’a-Filo and Stanley Hasiak, and running back Damien Thigpen.
The arrival of new and exciting players has lead to some predictions of the Bruins returning to a bowl game this upcoming season.
But Chow does not pay any attention to the perceptions or predictions others hold of the Bruins.
“I never worry about what other people expect,” Chow said. “No one expects more out of ourselves than ourselves. We see a nice attitude, we see a good work habit, we see a good work ethic over the off-season, we see an influx of new guys that gives us depth. There’s going to be competition for a job. No one’s going to get handed a job. All those things I think lend to some real optimism.”
According to Baca, despite the addition of new players, the Bruins are the same team from last year until they get on the field.
“That’s us: we’re the 4-8 UCLA Bruins still,” Baca said. “Until we play San Diego State this year, that’s going to be our record, that’s what’s going to be tied to us.”
Neuheisel believes one area in which the Bruins have improved this year is the depth they possess at key positions.
“I think we’ve got better depth, especially in the offensive line,” Neuheisel said. “But we’re still inexperienced. But to talk about it just sounds like you’re saying excuses. We’re going to be fine. We’re going to learn from our mistakes as we go, but we’re going to keep coaching them and we’re going to be fine.”
As for the end of the “football monopoly” in Los Angeles which Neuheisel promised last year, Chow thinks the Bruins still have quite a ways to go.
“You would hope (the gap is closing) but I think we will find that out in a couple years,” Chow said. “We can’t do it now. We did get those two (recruits, Carroll and Presley). We also battled them for a couple other guys that they got. It’s a wide gap that maybe we took baby steps toward.”
For now, Chow goes back to work, watching more game film, taking more notes, drawing up more plays, all in an effort to improve and bring the immense success he has had over the past 30 years to Westwood.
Yet to Chow, more so than the wins, the national titles, the Heisman Trophies, and the accolades, the most meaningful part of his job has been the friendships he has developed, and sustained, over the years.
“I think it’s the relationships you establish with young people (that’s the most important),” Chow said. “I still visit with a majority of the quarterbacks that I’ve dealt with, still with a lot of players that I dealt with. I think the relationships that you develop with the players over the years is way more important. The wins and losses kind of run into each other.”
The Bruins hope that in 2009, the wins stand out more than the losses.