Norm Chow Agrees To Contract Extension: Sends A Message About Neuheisel/UCLA Football
by Nestor on Jul 29, 2010 5:26 PM PDT
in Football
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BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM (HT Achilles):
UCLA offensive coordinator Norm Chow has agreed in principal to a two-year contract extension that is believed to make him the highest paid assistant coach in Bruins' history, an athletic department source said.
Chow, long considered one of college football's top offensive coordinators, is expected to make between $400,000 and $500,000 per season. The contract does not include a buyout.
Only 18 NCAA Division I assistants made a base-salary of $400,000 or more last season, with five making more than $600,000, according to USA Today.
Tennessee's Monte Kiffin, now at USC, made $1.2 million. Texas' Will Muschamp made $900,000. Tennessee's Ed Orgeron, who also jumped to USC, made $650,000. Florida State's Jimbo Fischer made $629,000. Washington's Nick Holt made $600,000.
The final details of Chow's contract are being worked out, but it is expected to be in place well before the season opener at Kansas State on Sept. 4.
So has anybody seen SChilly Smith? ROFL.
What a fantastic way to blow up Pac-10 Media Day. I have a feeling Coach Rick Neuheisel and Norm Chow planned this all along. This is going to energize the already ginned up Bruin Nation and get us even more fired up for opening of Fall Camp (starting on August 9th). There are number of big time implications (positives ones for those four letters) from this blockbuster news. Let's get to them after the jump.
There are number of quick takeaways from this blockbuster news:
- This should send a clear and concise message to every recruits around the country about how Chow is totally committed to UCLA (and in turn they should be tuning out any kind of negative recruiting that might be happening from opposing conference coaches who might be concern trolling about UCLA - we are looking at you Brett Hundley).
- This should end all the nonsense gossip (mostly coming from silly Trogans and paranoid worrywarts on message boards) we have heard now about the so called friction between Chow and Neuheisel. We have always maintained here on BN there wasn't anything to that and this should end that BS.
- This should send a clear and concise message to everyone in college football about the kind of confidence Coach Norm Chow has in the leadership of Coach Rick Neuheisel.
- Lastly, this should also put a stop to the notion that UCLA will not fork up resources to get great coaching.
This is absolutely huge. One of the biggest reasons Terry Donahue's UCLA run faltered in the late 80s and early 90s was letting Homer Smith go. Bob Toledo made the same mistake when he let Al Borges go.
Well things are still gelling in Westwood under Neuheisel and Westwood, but today's news is a BFD that shows how everyone in this program is totally committed and completely bought into the vision that Neuheisel has established for UCLA.
GO BRUINS.
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This is great news!!!!!!!!!!
I think you are right….this is all planned for us to shine. Anyway, I never saw all the money $c was having to shell out to have coaches. I wonder what they’re offering pola? I’m wondering how much fun Chow is having watching lame having to be in the negative spot light all the time. My guess, is that it makes being a Bruin even more fun for him.
Also, thanks for the excerpts. Every time I go to the times, it bogs my computer down.
Go Bruins!
Freakin' awesome
Credit here goes to CRN, DG, whoever else in the athletic department and administration was involved was this. As this continued to drag out, I feared that this would get dragged into the UCLA beaurocracy that we’ve seen things get caught up in before and CNC would end up leaving because we couldn’t get our act together.
With this, everyone involved proves that UCLA is willing to not just say they want a winner in football, but will make a real commitment to doing it. Everyone involved deserves a pat on the back for making this happen and not accepted mediocrity, as we’ve done before. This is another piece of evidence that this isn’t happy with average UCLA football anymore and that extends all the way up.
For everything UCLA baseball, visit my UCLA baseball twitter.
by Ryan Rosenblatt on Jul 29, 2010 5:43 PM PDT reply actions
yup
bureaucracy and administrative incompetence on our part are long-standing Pac-10 traditions I would be sorry to see go…
by britishbruin on Jul 29, 2010 6:49 PM PDT up reply actions
I assume
you mean not be sorry to see go.
Hats off to CRN, as well as to DG, et al. Lesser coaches would be threatened by well-paid assistants and coordinators, particularly those with Coach Chow’s kind of expertise and experience.
Not Coach Neuheisel. I get the feeling that he would rather succeed as part of a coaching team of peers than he would succeed as THE top dog.
SWEET!!!
In the immortal words of the pin I got while an undergrad: Roses are red, violets are blue...f*** $C.
Ucla is turning the page, finally.
We finally have every one on board with football. UCLA, has always been known as a basketball school, Now with CRN, AND NC we will be known as a football school also. Great!
Wow!
Great news! This is so great for our program! GO BRUINS!!!
"The entire world that bleeds blue and gold ... they have been dying for this." - Coach Rick Neuheisel
Definitely awesome news
- as much for the current kids on campus as on the trail. BTW, not to nitpick, but our last offensive mastermind was Al Borges.
My bad re Borges
Hopefully one of the other guys will edit it if I don’t get to it by am.
by Nestor on Jul 29, 2010 8:27 PM PDT via mobile up reply actions
Stability
If you’re being lead by leaders you respect and trust, you’re going to do everything to make the entire unit function to its fullest potential. CRN and CNC are exactly the type of leaders our young kids can look up to, and the assurance that this staff will be intact throughout their UCLA (academic) career is quite positive.
This signing signals that UCLA is committed to excellence and stability.
Yes!
I think Lame is a sitting duck in south central. he wont be able to keep himself out of trouble and should be a short timer, while CRN has built a solid foundation. I hope recruits are paying attention.
"Success is never final, Failure is never fatal. It's Courage that count's" - John Wooden.
Ron?
Don’t you mean the Gorgeous Al Borges?
And to think sports radio was reporting that the PAc-10 media picked us to finish EIGHTH.
Whatever, folks. Keep talking.
"In this program your passion bucket must be full to play SC." -- CRN, to Dan Patrick, 1/2008
To quote Napoleon Dynamite
Its pretty good….its awesome….its, its incredible!
Can’t say how stoked I am. This is absolutely great news. Consistency in coaching, playcalling, and scheme is going to help a lot. Its great to be a bruin!
Wow
this is AWESOME news! Being a Bruin season ticket holder is going to be GREAT the next couple of years.
Oh UCLA you sweet bitch, you've BRUINed me for anything else.
Love It!!
Another dart in the balloon of hot gas that SChilly Smith tries to fly.
Los Angeles Rams and the UCLA Bruins!!!!!
by Minnesota Bruinfan on Jul 30, 2010 4:27 AM PDT reply actions
This is huge.
For all the reasons stated previously. I’ve been concerned for awhile that NC was destined to retire soon. I’m glad he hasn’t lost the passion for the game. I for one selfishly hope he is with us for MANY years to come.
The best thing you can do for your children is to love their mother. John Wooden
Great news
This will maintain some much needed continuity, and help with developing the QBs. Having a revolving door of OCs would slow down any progress the offense is making. I expect an improved offense with some hiccups this year, and a big breakout season next year. With Chow firmly in place, Prince will have the luxury of working under the same coordinator and same system all the way through graduation. Compare this to what our QBs had to deal with over the past decade, constantly learning a new system with new terminology every year.
On Homer Smith, I think that the Aikman years would have been even more productive with Homer at the helm. Even though Aikman and the rest of the offense put up great numbers during his two-year reign, the offense was predictable. Those Bruin teams won a lot of games because they were loaded with NFL-caliber talent and experienced upperclassmen and could overcome predictable playcalling, except in those losses where a more imaginative play call here and there might have made a difference.
As I’ve mentioned before, Homer did a great job at adjusting the playcalling based on what his QBs were capable of. Coming into the 1989 NFL draft, the pundits questioned Aikman’s arm strength and range. With Homer calling the plays, I don’t think anyone would have doubted Aikman’s range, which proved quite capable in the NFL.
My recollection though is that Homer was not “let go” — he left on his own. Rumor (totally unsubstantiated, so this is not based on anything I know for certain) is that Homer wanted to eventually become a head coach again and at that time Terry Donahue was the hot coaching prospect for the NFL (national coach of the year in 1982, and three Rose Bowl victories in four years). So, the UCLA job looked like it might open up very soon and Smith would obviously be the first option.
In fact, the Atlanta Falcons offered their HC coaching position to Donahue after the 86 season. But, when Donahue decided to stay at UCLA, Smith left, perhaps because it looked like he wasn’t going to get a sniff at the UCLA HC position for a while.
Also recall that Donahue brought Homer Smith back after the disastrous 1989 season, and the offense improved immediately under QB Tommy Maddox. Smith stayed through the 1994 Rose Bowl, and went on to Arizona and a second tour of duty with Alabama.
Yes, I remember Steve Axman's OCing really well :(
Of course it was Dorrell who hired him back in his first season at UCLA.
In all fairness though
Axman developed a reputation for running wide open offenses when he became HC at Northern Arizona (with Dorrell as his OC), and he was also Neuheisel’s coordinator at UW during their 2001 Rose Bowl season. The stuff he was running at UW was light years ahead of what he was calling for Aikman’s Bruin squads. Even so, Aikman still holds Axman in high esteem.
The Dorrell debacle was trying to get Axman to implement an offense he didn’t understand or believe in. The two of them worked together previously, but went in very different directions afterwards, and were philosophically incompatible by the time they reunited in Westwood.
Thanks
for the history lesson on Homer Smith. Much appreciated.
by truebluebruin on Jul 30, 2010 5:35 PM PDT up reply actions
not to be a debbie downer...but...
Norm always said he would be here till Kevin was here. and as far as i can tell, this contract reflects this. with that said, i suppose you could always counter with the fact that assistant contracts are not normally more than a year and so since this is a two year extension, it shows you how committed ucla is to the football program…
Correct
But this counters the argument that Chow and Neuheisel doesn’t get along, which number of opposing fans have been amplifying in recent years. Chow leaving after next 2 years will not matter much now IF Chow leaves this program with a strong foundation.
I think there is a chance now that Chow will retire at UCLA unless he gets a job offer to be a HC or high profile/guaranteed offer with an NFL team (i.e. if some team moves to LA in next 2-3 years).
So any way you look at it this signals Chow’s confidence in Neuheisel, which in turn is a huge boon for our program. Our coaches going to use this as a strong argument on our behalf in the recruiting circuits. It shows one way or another Chow is fully committed in building a strong foundation for our program.
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