Norm Chow could be emerging as the favorite for Hawaii job

by JazzyUte on Dec 18, 2011 1:01 PM MST in Football

Though Norm Chow continues to prepare Utah's offense for the Sun Bowl and Georgia Tech, he took time off to jet on down to Hawaii for an in-person interview with the Warriors. It's his second since he became a leading candidate earlier last week.

Chow, along with Oregon State defensive coordinator Mark Banker, Texas defensive backs coach Duane Akina and Baylor safeties coach Brian Norwood, will have all interviewed by weekends end.

He's the first candidate to actually have two interviews and the first, according to Hawaii sources, went very well.

We'll keep an eye on this, but it appears it's very possible Chow leaves Utah if he's offered the Warriors' job and that is increasingly becoming a possibility.

So, we're moving to CHOWCON 3.

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hey guys!

good to be back………after the week i have had……..

anyway,

i hope norm sticks around. seems strange to me to be a first time HC at norms age, but the guy has earned it. Norm, in my mind, would be a bigger loss than Sitake.

Love the Jazz, Utes, and BoSox.

bigbenstechnicalfoul.blogspot.com

by BigBenSportsGuy on Dec 18, 2011 2:13 PM MST reply actions

Nooooooo!

If we lose Chow this will set us back with recruiting and the players having to learn a new offense. Why can’t we ever keep our good OCs and DCs?

by Utes_real2008champs on Dec 18, 2011 2:47 PM MST reply actions

Umm when recently other than Norm have we had a good OC?

Under Whit the OC’s have definitely left something to be desired. Ludwig was a disaster, Schramm was overmatched, Roderick showed promise, but was definitely raw. Chow is a legend, and will hopefully teach Roderick so he’ll be better prepared to take over when Chow does leave, sometime in the next couple years. (I personally never expected him to be here for more than 4)

As far as the DC, we’ve only lost one DC since 1994. Well two if you consider losing Whit to be our head coach. Anderson has done great things in Logan, and Sitake is coming into his own with our defense, and is definitely feeling comfortable, but our defensive system has two things going for it.

It’s Whittingham’s defense. It doesn’t change based on the actual DC. Intricacies can change, and in game adjustments may change, but the defense is Whit’s, and it will always be solid.

Because of that, it’s also a career launcher. Assistants come into the position, get comfortable, succeed, and move on to a head coaching position. The only hope, is they learn enough while our DC, to not make Whit’s coaching tree look bad. So far, the one branch (Anderson) is thriving.

by UnHoly Ram on Dec 20, 2011 8:18 AM MST up reply actions

Chow

I think Coach Chow is a great coach, but I’m not a huge fan of the pro-style offense. Some of our problems this year have been running that offense with athletes recruited to play in the spread. If he does in fact leave, I wouldn’t mind going back to the spread. Just my two cents.

by Carter Crosland on Dec 18, 2011 2:51 PM MST reply actions

Utah hasn't been a true spread team since 2005...

When Brian Johnson was a sophomore.

I’m not quite sure who you think would run the spread-option on this offense if we went back to it? Jordan Wynn has proven he’s not very mobile and wasn’t really recruited as a spread-option quarterback out of high school. With his history of injury, I would hate to see him in that position. In fact, I’d wager he is best suited for the pro-style offense we were setting up under Chow. Travis Wilson is also a pro-style quarterback, who while mobile for his height, isn’t really someone who you’d expect to run that style of offense.

If Chow leaves, we’re not going back to the spread-option. Most likely, the program will continue running a similar offense, which would make sense, since we don’t have the horses, especially at quarterback, to run the Urban Meyer offense effectively.

by JazzyUte on Dec 18, 2011 3:11 PM MST up reply actions

maybe that is why our offensive line was so bad (besides the cullen issues)

With Chase hansen coming in as a dual threat and Travis Wilson more passing threat, it will be intersting to see how that affects who gets the starting position. The thing I don’t get is if one goes down then we will have to change the offense again to accomodate the other player’s skill set.

by Utes_real2008champs on Dec 18, 2011 3:18 PM MST up reply actions

That's why it's unlikely we go back to the spread option...

Hansen can run a pro-style offense.

Wilson & Wynn aren’t likely to be too successful as running quarterbacks.

Being a dual-threat quarterback doesn’t mean you have to adjust the offense to solely option-oriented.

Sure, most in the college game are, but considering we’ll likely have two quarterbacks on the roster who were not dual-threat in high school and make more sense playing out of the pro-style system, it’s unlikely the coaching staff again overhauls the offense.

by JazzyUte on Dec 18, 2011 3:23 PM MST up reply actions

Utah isn't going back to the Spread.

Whit’s been working towards a Pro Style offense for 3 years. Wynn was a pro style QB that he recruited. He’s recruiting bigger linemen. He’s trying to get power runners. Speedy WR’s are good no matter which offense you go with.

The Spread is dead in Utah.

by UnHoly Ram on Dec 20, 2011 8:20 AM MST up reply actions

Would Chow leaving...

mean losing Wilson? My understanding was that a huge reason for Wilson coming to Utah was playing under Chow. With Wilson getting more and more recruiting love from other schools (including offers from nearly half of the PAC12) over the past few weeks, I’m certainly going to be nervous if Chow walks.

by la tortuga on Dec 18, 2011 7:09 PM MST reply actions

He also played a big part in getting Hansen to come here as well.

Losing Chow could be very disastrous.

by khaostheory117 on Dec 18, 2011 7:11 PM MST up reply actions

at least I'm sure he played a big part in getting Hansen

by khaostheory117 on Dec 18, 2011 7:12 PM MST up reply actions

My suspicion is...

we’d have a better chance keeping Hansen with him already being a local kid who is more familiar with the program and has roots in the state. When he first committed he openly talked about possibly playing defense if the QB thing didn’t work out. I think this bodes well since it suggests he has considered a scenario where he was not playing under Chow.

All this being said, Chow leaving CERTAINLY doesn’t help…

by la tortuga on Dec 18, 2011 10:40 PM MST up reply actions