Jay Norvell
Jay Norvell went 51–52 as a head coach, 2017–2025, at Nevada and Colorado State. Share
- Record
- 51–52 career
- Seasons
- 9
- Schools
- 2
- Final AP top 10
- 0 seasons
- Born
- Mar 28, 1963
- Alma mater
- Iowa 1986
- Best season
- 2020 7–2
Season by season
| Season | School | Record | Conference finish | Bowl | AP final | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Nevada | 3–9 | 4th | |||
| 2018 | Nevada | 8–5 | T–2nd | Arizona Bowl W | ||
| 2019 | Nevada | 7–6 | 3rd | Famous Idaho Potato Bowl L | ||
| 2020 | Nevada | 7–2 | 2nd | Famous Idaho Potato Bowl W | ||
| 2021 | Nevada | 8–4 | 3rd | Quick Lane (not coached) | ||
| 2022 | Colorado State | 3–9 | 5th | |||
| 2023 | Colorado State | 5–7 | T–8th | |||
| 2024 | Colorado State | 8–5 | T–2nd | Arizona Bowl L | ||
| 2025 | Colorado State coached seven of 12 games | 2–5 |
Each season links to the team’s season page; bowls and playoff games link to the game. Conference finishes from the Wikipedia article’s record table.
How his teams did
| Kind of game | Games | Record | Won |
|---|---|---|---|
| Against ranked teams | 7 | 1–6 | 14% |
| Against top-10 teams | 2 | 0–2 | 0% |
| Against rivals | 26 | 12–14 | 46% |
| Conference games | 66 | 36–30 | 55% |
| Bowls and playoffs | 4 | 2–2 | 50% |
| Decided by 8 points or fewer | 42 | 24–18 | 57% |
| At home | 52 | 34–18 | 65% |
| On the road | 47 | 15–32 | 32% |
| At neutral sites | 4 | 2–2 | 50% |
| As our Elo’s favorite | 45 | 34–11 | 76% |
| As our Elo’s underdog | 58 | 17–41 | 29% |
His own 103 games on file, 2017–2025, as played (vacated wins counted, ties as half a win). Ranks are the AP poll going into the game; rivals are the ones either program’s Wikipedia article names; favorite and underdog by our own Elo rating, which reads only scores.
Against other head coaches
| Coach | Record | Their schools | Games | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brent Brennan 2017–2022 | 4–2 | San José State | 6 | |
| Troy Calhoun 2017–2024 | 2–4 | Air Force | 6 | |
| Craig Bohl 2019–2023 | 1–3 | Wyoming | 4 | |
| Nick Rolovich 2017–2019 | 2–1 | Hawai’i | 3 | |
| Rocky Long 2017–2019 | 2–1 | San Diego State | 3 | |
| Brady Hoke 2020–2023 | 2–1 | San Diego State | 3 | |
| Andy Avalos 2021–2023 | 2–1 | Boise State | 3 | |
| Jeff Tedford 2017–2019 | 1–2 | Fresno State | 3 | |
| Tony Sanchez 2017–2019 | 1–2 | UNLV | 3 | |
| Blake Anderson 2018–2023 | 1–2 | Arkansas State, Utah State | 3 |
Jay Norvell’s record against the head coaches he met three or more times, from the games on file, as played.
Most-faced opponents
| Opponent | Games | Record |
|---|---|---|
| Hawai’iseries | 8 | 4–4 |
| San José Stateseries | 7 | 5–2 |
| San Diego Stateseries | 7 | 4–3 |
| Fresno Stateseries | 7 | 3–4 |
| UNLVseries | 6 | 3–3 |
| Air Forceseries | 6 | 2–4 |
| Boise Stateseries | 5 | 2–3 |
| Utah Stateseries | 5 | 2–3 |
Other roles
- Team MVP, Iowa 1985
From each season’s Wikipedia article.
Career
| Years | Team | Job | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1986–87 | Iowa | Graduate assistant | |
| 1988 | Northern Iowa | Wide receivers coach | |
| 1989–94 | Wisconsin | Offensive line, wide receivers and tight ends coach | |
| 1995–97 | Iowa State | Quarterbacks and wide receivers coach | |
| 1998–2001 | Indianapolis Colts NFL | Wide receivers coach | |
| 2002–03 | Oakland Raiders NFL | Tight ends coach | |
| 2004–06 | Nebraska | Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| 2007 | UCLA | Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| 2008–10 | Oklahoma | Assistant offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach | |
| 2011–14 | Oklahoma | Co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach | |
| 2015 | Texas | Wide receivers coach | |
| 2016 | Arizona State | Passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach | |
| 2017–21 | Nevada | Head coach | |
| 2022–25 | Colorado State | Head coach | |
| 2026–present | Iowa | Running backs coach |
Every job as the infobox of his Wikipedia article lists it (CC BY-SA), assistant jobs included.
Coaching tree
Worked under
- Hayden FryIowa
- Earle BruceNorthern Iowa
- Don MortonWisconsin
- Barry AlvarezWisconsin
- Dan McCarneyIowa State
- Jim MoraIndianapolis Colts
- Bill CallahanNebraska
- Karl DorrellUCLA
- DeWayne WalkerUCLA
- Bob StoopsOklahoma
- Charlie StrongTexas
- Todd GrahamArizona State
- and 1 more
Assistants who became head coaches
- Matt MummeLaGrange
- Timmy ChangHawai’i
- Vai TauaNevada
- Jody SearsWeber State, Sacramento State
- Brian WardBowling Green, McPherson
- Tyson SummersGeorgia Southern, Colorado State
Worked under (13)
| Head coach | Team | Years | His job | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hayden Fry | Iowa | 1986–87 | Graduate assistant | |
| Earle Bruce | Northern Iowa | 1988 | Wide receivers coach | |
| Don Morton | Wisconsin | 1989 | Offensive line, wide receivers and tight ends coach | |
| Barry Alvarez | Wisconsin | 1990–94 | Offensive line, wide receivers and tight ends coach | |
| Dan McCarney | Iowa State | 1995–97 | Quarterbacks and wide receivers coach | |
| Jim Mora | Indianapolis Colts NFL | 1998–2001 | Wide receivers coach | |
| Bill Callahan | Nebraska | 2004–06 | Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| Karl Dorrell | UCLA | 2007 | Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| DeWayne Walker | UCLA | 2007 | Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| Bob Stoops | Oklahoma | 2008–14 | 2008–10: assistant offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach; 2011–14: co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach | |
| Charlie Strong | Texas | 2015 | Wide receivers coach | |
| Todd Graham | Arizona State | 2016 | Passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach | |
| Kirk Ferentz | Iowa | 2026 | Running backs coach |
Coached under him, later head coaches (6)
| Coach | With him | Head coach at | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Matt Mumme | Nevada, 2017–21: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach; Colorado State, 2022–25: assistant head coach, quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator | LaGrange | |
| Timmy Chang | Nevada, 2017, 2021: wide receivers coach; 2018–20: tight ends coach | Hawai’i | |
| Vai Taua | Nevada, 2017–18: special teams analyst; 2019–21: running backs coach | Nevada | |
| Jody Sears | Nevada, 2019–20: interim defensive coordinator and linebackers coach | Weber State, Sacramento State | |
| Brian Ward | Nevada, 2020–21: defensive coordinator | Bowling Green, McPherson | |
| Tyson Summers | Colorado State, 2025: defensive coordinator | Georgia Southern, Colorado State |
Other assistants under him (4)
| Coach | With him | |
|---|---|---|
| Jeff Casteel | Nevada, 2017–19: defensive coordinator and linebackers coach | |
| Freddie Banks | Nevada, 2020: defensive backs coach; Colorado State, 2022–24: defensive coordinator | |
| Jeremy Moses | Colorado State, 2022–25: running backs coach | |
| John Jancek | Colorado State, 2025: outside linebackers coach |
From coaches’ Wikipedia infoboxes (CC BY-SA) and each season’s article for its coordinators: an assistant’s seasons at a school count under its head coach in our records; jobs in the NFL and elsewhere, under the head coach whose own article lists the job that year. Names without a page here link to their Wikipedia articles.
Pay
| Year | School | Job | Contract pay | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Nevada | head coachbonuses up to $210,000; buyout $1,000,000 | $450,000 USA Today | |
| 2015 | Texas | co-offensive coordinatorbonuses up to $180,000 | $370,000 USA Today | |
| 2014 | Oklahoma | co-offensive coordinatorbonuses up to $77,292 | $461,600 USA Today |
USA Today’s coaches salary database (2014–17, from public-records requests to the schools; Rachel Ehlers’ copy): the season’s contract pay, school pay plus outside money, before bonuses.
Pay of public employees in their public job only: head coaches, and assistants in the seasons our records name them a coordinator, at public universities.
How he coached
Norvell’s teams went for it on 24% of fourth downs and on 42% of those where the model said go for it, passed on 58% of plays and took 25.3 seconds a play, 2017–2024.
| Season | School | Went for it on fourth | When the model said go | Pass rate | Seconds a play | EPA a play | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 12 g | Nevada | 28 of 94 30% | 38% | 58% | 22.3 | +0.03 | |
| 2018 13 g | Nevada | 34 of 125 27% | 47% | 55% | 24.1 | −0.02 | |
| 2019 13 g | Nevada | 22 of 118 19% | 33% | 56% | 25.3 | −0.03 | |
| 2020 9 g | Nevada | 18 of 67 27% | 52% | 62% | 27.0 | +0.12 | |
| 2021 13 g | Nevada | 19 of 101 19% | 40% | 68% | 24.0 | +0.13 | |
| 2022 12 g | Colorado State | 32 of 113 28% | 46% | 55% | 28.9 | −0.13 | |
| 2023 12 g | Colorado State | 18 of 89 20% | 38% | 62% | 22.6 | +0.02 | |
| 2024 13 g | Colorado State | 28 of 107 26% | 44% | 47% | 28.3 | 0.00 | |
| All 97 g | 199 of 814 24% | 42% | 58% | 25.3 | +0.01 |
His seasons as a head coach from 2004 on, from ESPN’s play by play: fourth downs where he went for it out of every fourth-down decision; how often he went when SportsDataverse’s fourth-down model said going for it was the better call; the share of his offense’s plays that were passes; seconds of game clock per offensive play (lower is faster); and expected points added per offensive play (EPA, a measure of how much each play moved the offense toward points). The season in progress counts its games so far. SportsDataverse’s coach tendencies, from ESPN’s play by play; the EPA and the fourth-down model are SportsDataverse’s.