Norm Chow

Chow began his coaching career in Hawaii, where he was born, at Waialua High and Intermediate School. He was the head coach there from 1970 to 1972 and posted a 5–25 record in three seasons.[10]

In 1973, Chow left for BYU to be a graduate assistant under LaVell Edwards, who was installing an innovative pass-oriented offense.[11] He was promoted to receivers coach in 1976, a post he would hold until 1982 (apart from a one-year stint as running backs coach).[12] In 1979, BYU led the country in passing offense, total offense, and scoring offense during the regular season, and quarterback Jim McMahon finished fifth in the Heisman vote.

In 1982, head coach LaVell Edwards named Chow as principal offensive play-caller.[12][13] Chow continued to call all the offensive plays for the rest of his 17 years at BYU.

In 1983, the offense, led by quarterback Steve Young, set NCAA single-season records for pass completion percentage (71.3%) and total yards per game (584.2). Young finished second in the Heisman vote.

In 1984, the unbeaten BYU team won the consensus national championship. Quarterback Robbie Bosco finished second in the nation in total passing and third in the Heisman vote.

Chow became quarterbacks and receivers coach in 1986.[12] In 1990, the Cougars upset defending national champion and top-ranked Miami, FL., 28-21, with nearly 500 yards of offense and Ty Detmer went on to win the Heisman. In 1996, Chow was officially given the title of assistant head coach / offensive coordinator / quarterback / receivers coach.[12] That season, the Cougars with Steve Sarkisian as quarterback, won the WAC and earned its first ever New Year's Day Bowl. BYU came from behind to beat Kansas State in the Cotton Bowl, and finished with No. 5 ranking and a 14–1 record, setting an NCAA record for most wins in a season by Division I football team.[14] Sarkisian finished the season with a quarterback rating of 162.0, the third highest in the country.

During his 27 years with BYU, the Cougars had a record of 244–91–3.[12] When LaVell Edwards retired, Chow was passed over as successor and left BYU for NC State.

In 2000, Chow became the offensive coordinator and quarterback coach at NC State under new head coach Chuck Amato.[15] Under Chow's tutelage, quarterback Philip Rivers broke seven school passing records and was named ACC Freshman of the Year.[16] NC State finished second in offense in the ACC to Florida State and won its first bowl game in five years.[16]

In 2001, Chow accepted Pete Carroll's offer to serve as the offensive coordinator at USC, and became one of the highest-paid assistant coaches in the country.[17] In 2002, quarterback Carson Palmer won the Heisman trophy, the first Trojan to do so since Marcus Allen in 1981. The following year, USC finished 12–1 and won the Associated Press National Championship, the school's first national title since 1978. In 2004, quarterback Matt Leinart won the school's sixth Heisman trophy and USC trounced Oklahoma 55-19 in the BCS National Championship.

He left USC in spring 2005, after unsuccessfully interviewing for the Stanford head coaching vacancy, for a job offer to be the offensive coordinator of the Tennessee Titans—his first job on the professional level. Their head coach, Jeff Fisher, was a graduate of USC.

Chow was the Titans' offensive coordinator from 2005 to 2007. During this time, the Titans had non-losing seasons in 2006 (8–8) and 2007 (10–6), and appeared in the 2007 AFC Playoffs. In 2007, the Titans were 21st overall in total offense, with a total of nine touchdown passes.[18]

On January 15, 2008, after being fired by the Titans following the 2007 season, Chow was hired by new UCLA Bruins head coach Rick Neuheisel as offensive coordinator.[3] When Lane Kiffin took over as head coach of the USC Trojans in early 2010, he attempted to hire Chow away from UCLA, but Chow elected to stay after being assured he would receive a contract extension. However, the Bruins' 2010 season proved to be an offensive disappointment: UCLA finished ranked 116th out of 120 teams nationally in passing yardage and 118th in passing efficiency, as they tried to install a pistol offense; in his three seasons, the team had a 15–22 record. On January 22, 2011, Chow departed UCLA after negotiating a buyout to the contract extension that would have paid him $1 million over the next two seasons rather than remain at UCLA and be demoted to a lesser coaching position.[19] While Chow made his reputation by developing quarterbacks, Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com said he never really had one to develop at UCLA due to injuries to their quarterbacks.[20]

Chow was immediately hired as the offensive coordinator of the Utah Utes, a team that was getting ready to enter its first season in the Pac-12.[19] "Rick [Neuheisel] did a nice job with [facilitating his exit at UCLA]. And [Utah] is a good football situation," said Chow. "I went to school there, you know? I have two degrees from there. I met my wife there, my kids were born in Salt Lake. Not many people can say they get to go full circle like that."[20]

On December 21, 2011 Chow was named head coach of the University of Hawaii.[21]

Chow began his first season as head coach of Hawaii in 2012 and posted a 3–9 record. In his second year, Hawaii finished 1–11, losing five games by a touchdown or less including two in overtime. In response to speculation about his job security, Hawaii's administration expressed confidence in Chow.[22][23]

Through two seasons, Chow is one of only two Hawaii coaches (along with Fred von Appen) to begin his tenure with losing seasons since the school attained Division 1 status.[24]

On November 1, 2015 Chow was fired as head coach of the University of Hawaii after suffering a 58–7 loss at home against Air Force. Taking his spot as interim head coach was offensive lineman coach Chris Naeole. Chow's overall coaching record at Hawaii was 10–36 in four years of coaching.[25]

Chow moved to Manhattan Beach, California after leaving Hawaii and joined the coaching staff of his former wide receiver at USC, Mike Williams, as an assistant coach at Van Nuys High School in the spring and summer of 2016.[26][27] Chow left Van Nuys to be an assistant coach at Mira Costa High School in Manhattan Beach for the 2016 regular season.[28]

On June 12, 2019, new XFL franchise Los Angeles Wildcats announced Chow had been hired as their offensive coordinator. [29]