Meet Cynthia and Meritt Norvell

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In 1986, Norvell accepted a position as a graduate assistant at his old university, Iowa, where his coaching career got its start. Norvell was an assistant coach at Northern Iowa, Wisconsin, and Iowa State from 1988 to 2001.

Before going back to college football at the University of Nebraska to accept his first-ever offensive coordinator position in 2004, Norvell briefly worked as an assistant coach in the NFL with the Indianapolis Colts and Oakland Raiders from 2002 to 2006 over a brief period of time.

He assisted Nebraska quarterback Zac Taylor in becoming the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year and shattering several school throwing marks.

After serving as Oklahoma’s assistant offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach from 2008 to 2010, Norvell spent one season as UCLA’s offensive coordinator in 2007. In 2011, he was elevated to co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach.

Norvell stayed at Oklahoma until 2015 when he was appointed to be the University of Texas’ wide receivers coach, where he also oversaw play-calling.

Before accepting his first head coaching position with Nevada in 2017, Norvell worked as Arizona State’s wide receivers coach and passing game coordinator for the 2016 season.

Norvell was appointed the football program’s head coach for Nevada in 2017. Going 3-9 in 2017, the squad underperformed in Norvell’s debut season.

Norvell, however, helped the team bounce back the next year, with Nevada finishing 8-5 in 2018 and defeating Arkansas State 16-13 in overtime in the Arizona Bowl.

Additionally, Nevada had winning records in 2019, 2020, and 2021. Norvell ended his time at Nevada with winning records in four of his five seasons.

Carson Strong, the quarterback for Nevada, won the Mountain West Conference Offensive Player of the Year honors in 2020 and 2021 under Norvell’s direction. Norvell relocated from Nevada to Colorado State.

Colorado State appointed Norvell as their 24th head coach on December 6, 2021. The run-heavy smashmouth approach of the former head coach Steve Addazio was in sharp contrast to Norvell’s pass-heavy offense.