FORT COLLINS — If Jay Norvell doesn’t holler back right away, hang tight.
“I have 478 texts,” the new CSU Rams football coach admitted with a wry chuckle.
One of them was from an old friend. Guy you might’ve heard of. Tony Alford.
“He played here and his family’s from here,” Norvell, Joe Parker’s choice, said of Alford, the people’s choice. “But he texted me (Tuesday) and congratulated me.
“He’s a class guy. He’s a class guy. And I know he has fond feelings for here, being a former (Rams) player. That’s important.”
And if you can’t get behind this cat after Tuesday’s show, best check your pulse.
“I’m not afraid to say, ‘I want to play on New Year’s Day,’” Norvell told media, CSU brass and assembled fans during his introductory news conference at the Iris and Michael Smith Alumni Center.
“We want to be in big bowl games. Why get up every morning? I don’t want to get up and be average. I’ll go do something else if I want to do that.”
The best part? He name-dropped the Cincinnati Bearcats twice Tuesday, and the first one was unprompted. The ‘Cats represent the apex of everything CSU faithful want for Christmas but Santa never seems to bring: A middleweight that can trade blows with blue bloods instead of just cashing their checks. Regional fear. National respect.
And, of course, Big 12 membership. A seat at the grown-ups’ table. The kind of thing that only comes with a football program that consistently lands punches above its weight.
“No. 1, it all starts with players,” Norvell said when asked about the Bearcats, the first non-Power 5 program to ever crash the College Football Playoff’s Final Four.
“Cincinnati is not winning by accident. They’re winning because they’ve got (good) players … players win games. Bill Belichick’s right. Coaches just screw it up.”
In other words, if you’re ready to run through a brick wall for Norvell, you need to be ready do it in a 4.6. Or faster.
“I’m an offensive coach,” he said. “I just believe you’ve got to have an attack mentality to get the defense to respect you. And the only thing they really respect is if you try to run by them.”
He admitted loving big receivers, “tall guys that can run,” and “strong-armed quarterbacks.” That last line elicited a slow clap that snowballed into a round of applause.
The last guy sucked the joy out of the passing game. The last guy sucked the joy out of … well, everything, really. When you’re trying to move season tickets, shame is a hard sell.
Rams fans want to win, sure. But as a starting floor, they’d settle for a ratio of a little more effort and entertainment and a little less general embarrassment. Oh. And a full-time special teams coach. Please.
So far, so good. Norvell is one of those guys who’s living proof that that 58 is the new 40. He gave CSU fans a taste of The Full Jay on Tuesday. He dropped the holy trinity of Respect, Accountability and Hustle. He thanked his coaching heroes from Hayden Fry to (apologetically) Al Davis.
He wept when mentioning his wife, Kim, a colon cancer survivor who’s battled cystic fibrosis.
“Kim’s my best friend. She’s my soulmate. She’s the most important person in my life. And (we’re) very proud to make your home our home,” Norvell said.
“I’m sorry. When I talk about things that are important in my life, I get like this. It’s been an emotional few days.”
He’s an emotional guy. Just don’t let that part fool you. The spine is straight steel.
So is the end game. In one weekend, Norvell went from the lowest-paid coach at a public school in the Mountain West ($619K) to the top of the pile ($1.6 million), thanks to a five-year deal worth $9 million in base compensation.
“It’s not a (lateral) move in that regard,” the new CSU coach boasted. “To me, it’s a major upgrade of support.”
Again: 478 texts.
Now comes the hard part, because the Rams need more of those tall guys that can run at every position group. They need their own version of Carson Strong behind center.
Before you can close the gap between your roster and Cincinnati’s, you’ve got to find the players who shorten the gulf between yourself and Boise State.
Fortunately, Norvell is piped in everywhere, a Rolodex on two legs. He signed Trevyn Heil, a 3-star offensive lineman out of Grandview, as part of the Pack’s Class of 2021.
At Nevada, Norvell made nine offers to Colorado preps in last winter’s class, according to the 247Sports.com database. He had three offers out for the Class of ’22. Context: the CU Buffs reportedly put out 12 in-state offers in 2021, and 10 for ’22.
“There’s good football players here, and we want to do a great job of evaluating those players,” Norvell explained. “We want to do a great job of making (contact) with the high school coaches. And we want this place to be a resource for them. I think that’s so important, that you have working relationships with the high school coaches and that they’re advocates for you and your program.
“I just think it’s so important that your program reflects the state, the great qualities of the state, the people of the state.”
The alumni of the state, too. Alford, the venerated Ohio State assistant coach and ex-Rams running back, The Perennial Candidate, is an old pal of Norvell’s. The pair worked together on Dan McCarney’s Iowa State staff in the late ‘90s.
“I don’t know — it just kind of is what it is,” Norvell said of any awkward conversations between the two. “It’s coincidence.
“Him and (wife) Trina, he went to school here, and Trina’s from here. And just have so many friends here and love the community and people, are so supportive of CSU.
“And that’s what (Alford) told me: What a great place it is, what great people are here, and how supportive they are of the program.”
Heck, there were almost as many fans crammed around the makeshift stage at the Alumni Center as there were for the second half of Nevada 52, Steve Addazio 10 two Saturdays earlier. If Norvell delivers on half of what he promised Tuesday, the Rams are in great shape. And even better hands.
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