Jay Norvell, an innovative offensive mind and aggressive play-caller, enters his fifth season as the head coach of the Nevada Wolf Pack football team in 2021.
Norvell was also honored by the National Coalition of Minority Football Coaches in May 2021, being named to organization's 2020-21 College Coach of the Year.
Over just four seasons at the Wolf Pack helm, Norvell has guided Nevada back into the Mountain West title picture and built one of the conference’s best rosters ahead of the 2021 campaign. After taking over a program in 2017 which had just five players earn All-Mountain West recognition the season prior, Norvell’s impact was realized following the 2020 regular season, when a school-record 15 Wolf Pack players earned 16 all-conference honors, highlighted by quarterback Carson Strong becoming the first player in Nevada history to be named the Mountain West Offensive Player of the Year.
In regards to all-conference honors, Nevada’s top-two tallies have come under Norvell, as 2020’s showing topped the 10 in 2018.
The turnaround, especially for an offense which had eight players named All-Mountain West in 2020, including three on the First Team, should come as no surprise considering Norvell’s experience. In a coaching career which has spanned over three decades, Norvell is one of the few offensive coaches in the nation to have spent time on the staffs of teams in the Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12, and in the NFL. That resumé features Norvell coaching in every BCS bowl game during the BCS Era, including the 2009 BCS National Championship Game with Oklahoma, and Super Bowl XXXVII with the Oakland Raiders.
Postseason football is a staple of Norvell’s career, as he has been to a combined 22 bowl games as a player and coach, including a 2-1 record in such contests during his tenure at Nevada.
By implementing his own brand of the Air Raid offense, one in which NFL-style under-center schemes are blended, and puts a priority on a physical, downhill-style running attack, Norvell has put together a system which utilizes five skill positions as playmakers in a system that utilizes and attacks the whole field.
That vision came together in 2020, as Norvell’s Wolf Pack offense averaged 30.8 points per game, eclipsing the 30-point mark in five of nine games. Nevada would finish 7-2 on the year, and cap the season with a 38-27 victory over Tulane at the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl.
Norvell, the Wolf Pack offense’s playcaller, oversaw an attack which featured three of the Mountain West’s most dangerous skill players in Strong, wide receiver Romeo Doubs, and tight end Cole Turner.
Strong would turn in one of the best seasons of any quarterback in the FBS, pacing the Mountain West in passing yards (2,858), passing touchdowns (27), completion percentage (70.1), and ranking in the national top 10 in completions per game (27.7, second), passing yards per game (317.6, seventh), completion percentage (seventh), and touchdown passes (ninth), while coming in 11th in passing yards. Strong also finished the year with an interception rate of just 1.13, (just four picks over 355 attempts), a figure which bested each of the four quarterbacks who were selected in the first round of the 2021 NFL Draft (Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence, BYU’s Zach Wilson, Alabama’s Mac Jones, and Ohio State’s Justin Fields).
Doubs and Turner, each first-team All-Mountain West selections with Strong, established themselves as two of the conference’s most dangerous targets, sharing the league lead with nine touchdown catches apiece. Doubs, the conference’s only 1,000-yard receiver, led the Mountain West in that category (1,002), receptions (58), and receiving yards per game (111.3), while Turner was third in the league with 49 receptions, going for 605 yards.
In 2019, Norvell led Nevada past preseason expectations, winning seven regular-season games for the second year in a row, guiding Nevada to its second straight bowl game appearance. Along the way, he picked up his second win over a Power 5 opponent in as many years as Nevada came back to top Purdue at home in the season opener. He also recorded the program’s first road win against a Top-25 opponent when Nevada took down No. 24 San Diego State in November.
Norvell guided the Wolf Pack to an 8-5 overall mark in 2018 and produced what had only been done five other times in school history--winning a bowl game. Nevada put a cap on a memorable season with a 16-13 come-from-behind overtime victory over Arkansas State in the NOVA Home Loans Arizona Bowl. The dramatic win gave Nevada a plus-five improvement on the win total from 2017 to 2018, and showed that the foundation laid in Norvell’s first year had the program poised for greater heights.
In 2018, Norvell also saw 10 Nevada players honored by the league’s postseason awards, the second-most in school history. That group was highlighted by the Pack’s first “Of The Year” winner as running back Toa Taua was named’s the conference’s Freshman of the Year after a breakout campaign. Defensive end Korey Rush and linebacker Malik Reed were named First Team All-Mountain West and seven other players were honored by the league.
In year one, Norvell established a foundation for his vision of the program, installing new systems on offense, defense and special teams. The foundation was cemented in the final game of the season as Norvell led the Wolf Pack to a 23-16 victory over UNLV in the Battle of the Fremont Cannon.
Overall, the record was 3-9 with three of the Pack’s losses coming by an average of just four points. Norvell’s first career victory as a head coach came at Mackay Stadium on Oct. 7, 2017 when the Pack topped Hawai`i, 35-21. That victory launched a seven-game stretch over which Nevada closed the 2017 season scoring more than 34 points per game and capturing three victories.
The laying of the foundation for Norvell’s program included overhauls in all three phases of the game. An entirely new coaching staff installed a version of the Air Raid system on offense that includes a power run facet and the attacking 3-3-5 stack defensive scheme.
The building season was then punctuated in three notable ways:
- Eight Wolf Pack players were named to the All-Mountain West teams including first-teamers Austin Corbett and Malik Reed.
- Norvell and his staff then brought in one of the top recruiting classes in the Mountain West, signing 16 in the new early signing period and adding nine more in February for a 25-player class that could be one of the best in school history.
- The Pack saw Corbett become the second-highest draft pick in school history when Cleveland selected the local product with the 33rd overall pick in the NFL Draft.
Norvell was hired as the 26
th head football coach in Nevada program history on Dec. 9, 2016, ushering in a new era of Wolf Pack football.
The appointment marked the first head coaching tenure for Norvell, but he arrived at Nevada well-versed in the game of football, bringing a resume at the time that included a 31-year coaching career that spans college football’s top levels and the National Football League.
Throughout his three decades of coaching, he has stops at Iowa, Northern Iowa, Wisconsin, Iowa State, the Indianapolis Colts, the Oakland Raiders, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas, UCLA, and most recently before taking over at Nevada, Arizona State.
An All-Big 10 defensive back during a stellar playing career at Iowa, Norvell has made his coaching mark on the other side of the ball, coordinating offensive schematics while at Oklahoma, Texas and Arizona State. He’s tutored a number of top players, including NFL wide receivers Kenny Stills, Sterling Shepard and Marvin Harrison as well Ryan Broyles, who left Oklahoma as the NCAA’s all-time receptions leader.
He spent the 2016 season with Arizona State, his only year with that program, before coming to Nevada. Prior to his time with the Sun Devils he served the 2015 season as the wide receivers coach at Texas and took over play-calling responsibilities for the Longhorns at the beginning of the season, helping to produce two wins over top 15 teams.
Before his one year at Texas, Norvell spent seven seasons at Oklahoma, which included three as the assistant offensive coordinator and receivers coach (2008-10), and four years as co-offensive coordinator and receivers coach (2011-14). While with the Sooners he coached three of the top four players on OU’s all-time receptions list, including Broyles, Stills and Juaquin Iglesias, oversaw five of the program’s top six single-season reception marks, and helped his receiving corps earn 10 all-conference and three academic all-conference first team honors. In 2014, Oklahoma ranked 20
th in the nation in scoring offense and was 23
rd in total offense.
Under Norvell, the Sooners also had a strong rushing attack as the team ranked 10
th in rushing offense in 2014 and was 18
th in 2013, which were the program’s highest averages since 1990. He worked with a number of talented running backs at OU, including All-Pro Demarco Murray and All-American Samaje Perine.
Prior to his appointment at Oklahoma, Norvell served as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at both UCLA (2007) and Nebraska (2004-06). The Cornhuskers were one of only two teams in the nation to rank in the top 25 in total offense, scoring offense, rushing offense and passing offense in 2006. That same year Nebraska totaled nine wins and finished the regular season as Big 12 North Division Champions.
Aside from the college game, Norvell coached for six seasons in the NFL, four of which were with the Colts and two with the Raiders. While with Oakland he coached tight ends for two seasons and worked alongside an offense that included Hall of Fame receivers Jerry Rice and Tim Brown. His trip to the Super Bowl in 2002 was led by an offense that led the NFL in total yards and passing yards per game. Norvell joined the Colts coaching staff in 1998 as the wide receivers coach and mentored Harrison to 385 receptions, 5,376 receiving yards and 48 touchdowns during his tenure. His time with the Colts was also the first four seasons of two-time Super Bowl champion Peyton Manning’s career.
Norvell was assistant head coach at Iowa State from 1995-97 where he worked with quarterbacks and receivers, including Sage Rosenfels, who went on to play with the Minnesota Vikings. From 1989-94, Norvell coached offensive line, receivers and special teams at Wisconsin, which followed his first full-time position as receivers coach at Northern Iowa in 1988.
A 1986 graduate of Iowa, Norvell was an All-Big Ten defensive back and recorded a league-high seven interceptions in 1985 as he helped the Hawkeyes put together a 10-2 record, a conference championship and a spot in the Rose Bowl. He was a member of the Chicago Bears in 1987 before he began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at his alma mater.
Norvell, who hails from Madison, Wis., has a wife, Kim, and son, Jaden. He is the author of a book, “Complete Wide Receiver,” which was published in 2012.
The File on Jay Norvell
Born: March 28, 1963
Hometown: Madison, Wis.
Family: Wife – Kim; Son - Jaden
Education: Bachelor's, University of Iowa, 1986
Coaching Experience
2017-present: Head Coach, Nevada
2016: Wide Receivers/Offensive Passing Game Coordinator, Arizona State
2015: Wide Receivers, Texas
2011-14: Co-Offensive Coordinator/Wide Receivers, Oklahoma
2008-10: Asst. Offensive Coordinator/Wide Receivers, Oklahoma
2007: Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks, UCLA
2004-06: Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks, Nebraska
2002-03: Tight Ends, Oakland Raiders
1998-2001: Wide Receivers, Indianapolis Colts
1995-97: Asst. Head Coach/Quarterbacks/Wide Receivers, Iowa State
1989-94: Offensive Line/Wide Receivers/Special Teams, Wisconsin
1988: Wide Receivers, Northern Iowa
1986-87: Graduate Assistant (Offense), Iowa
Playing Experience
Iowa: Defensive Back (1983-86)
