University of Hawai'i at Manoa Athletics

Entering his fourth season at the helm of the University of Hawai‘i football team, Norm Chow has brought name recognition to the Rainbow Warriors and, with it, an influx of nationally ranked prospects and transfers to the Manoa campus.

During his tenure, Chow has managed to lure a number of top-level talents to play for the Green and White, including ESPN 300 recruits and Power 5 conference transfers, among them former Southern California quarterback Max Wittek, who is slated to start the 2015 season under center; highly recruited defensive lineman Kennedy Tulimasealii out of Wai‘anae High School; and former Elite 11 quarterback Aaron Zwahlen, who returns from a two-year church mission.

Considered one of the top offensive minds in football, Chow has instilled discipline and a pro-style offensive scheme to the Rainbow Warrior program, who in 2015, will be seeking their first winning season and bowl appearance in five years. The Punahou School alum and Palolo Valley native has undoubtedly his most talented squad since being named the program’s 22nd head coach on Dec. 22, 2011, succeeding Greg McMackin, who retired after four seasons.

When Chow took over the Hawai‘i program, he was the first Asian-American head coach of a major college football school. His coaching resume includes some 40 years of experience collegiately and in the National Football League. As a collegiate coach, Chow spent 27 years at BYU, one year at North Carolina State, four years at USC, three years at UCLA and one year at his alma mater, Utah, before spending the past three seasons at Hawai‘i. Chow also coached three years with the NFL’s Tennessee Titans as offensive coordinator.

Prior to his arrival in Manoa, Chow was the offensive coordinator at Utah, where he led the Utes to a runner-up finish in the Pac-12 South Division in 2011 and a 30-27 victory over Georgia Tech in the Sun Bowl.

Known as an offensive mastermind, success has followed Chow where ever he’s been. A three-time national Assistant Coach of the Year, Chow has served as offensive coordinator for three national championship teams (Brigham Young-1984 and USC-2003 and ’04) and has tutored three Heisman Trophy winners (Ty Detmer-BYU, Carson Palmer-USC and Matt Leinart-USC) and six NFL first-round draft picks (Palmer, Leinart, Philip Rivers-N.C. State, Steve Young-BYU, Jim McMahon-BYU and Marc Wilson-BYU).

Chow began his coaching career as head coach at Waialua High School on the North Shore of O‘ahu from 1970-72. He then began a 27-year stint at BYU, where he served in a variety of positions, including assistant head coach, offensive coordinator, co-offensive coordinator, quarterbacks coach, receivers coach and recruiting coordinator. Working under legendary head coach LaVell Edwards, Chow called the offensive plays at BYU from 1982-99.

During his tenure at BYU, the Cougars posted a 244-91-3 record and appeared in 23 bowl games, and he coached 21 offensive players who earned All-America honors. Brigham Young ranked in the nation’s Top 10 in total offense in 12 of Chow’s 18 years as offensive coordinator.

Chow then spent one year as offensive coordinator at North Carolina State in 2000, where he coached NFL first-round draft pick Philip Rivers to Freshman All-American honors before moving to USC, where he was part of two national championship teams in four seasons and coached Heisman Trophy winners Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart. Palmer, the first overall pick of the 2003 NFL Draft, left the school as the Pac-10’s career leader in passing yards and total offense. Leinart was a two-time first team All-American who was also named the Walter Camp Player of the Year in 2004.

After a successful stint at USC, Chow then took his talents to the NFL as the offensive coordinator at Tennessee where he tutored quarterback Vince Young and helped the Titans earn a spot in the NFL playoffs and finish the regular season with a record of 10-6. In 2006, Young, a rookie quarterback from Texas, took over the offense during the fourth week of the season. He led the team to an 8-5 record, earned Rookie of the Year honors (only the second quarterback to win AP Offensive Rookie of the Year) and became the first rookie quarterback to play in the Pro Bowl.

In 2005, Chow adapted to the pro game with ease despite an offense that relied on a youthful cast of players and encountered numerous injuries. Tennessee ranked ninth in the NFL in passing and ranked 17th overall in offense. The group of rookie receivers (WR Brandon Jones, WR Roydell Williams, WR Courtney Roby and TE Bo Scaife) became the first quartet of rookie receivers since the 1968 Buffalo Bills to each record at least 20 receptions in a season. Scaife would also establish a new rookie tight end franchise mark for receptions with 37.

Chow moved back to the collegiate ranks as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at UCLA for three seasons before becoming offensive coordinator and tight ends coach at Utah at the start of the 2011 season.

At UCLA, Kevin Prince enjoyed one of the top seasons ever by a Bruin freshman quarterback, ranking second in pass completions, passing yards and total offense. In 2008, quarterback Kevin Craft completed 232 passes, the second-highest total in school history.

Chow, the recipient of the 2002 Broyles Award as the nation’s top assistant coach, has coached eight of the top 14 NCAA career passing efficiency leaders and 13 of the top 30 single-season passing yardage leaders. Chow has also received National Assistant Coach of the Year honors by the American Football Foundation in 1999 and Athlon in 1993, and was named NCAA Division I-A Offensive Coordinator of the Year by American Football Monthly in 1996 and 2002.

Chow and his wife Diane, have three sons, Carter, Cameron, and Chandler, one daughter, Maile, and five grandchildren.

Year-By-Year Record as Head Coach
 

Season	Overall	Conference	Finish	Notes
2012	3-9	1-7	T9th	Back-to-back wins to close out the season
2013	1-11	0-8	6th-West	Five losses by 7 points or less
2014	4-9	3-5	4th-West
Total	8-29	4-20

The Chow File