Every time the Brigham Young University football team played in Hawaii, Cougars head coach LaVell Edwards took note of the heartfelt impact it had on one of his assistants, Norm Chow.
"You could see playing there meant a lot to him; he had a special fondness for coming home," the former BYU coach said.
So word that the University of Hawaii has offered its head coaching job to Chow, a Honolulu native, "is something that has been a long time coming," Edwards said. "I’m so glad the opportunity came along. It is ideal for Norm. He’ll be a great fit. I just thought it might have been sooner."
After 38 seasons as an assistant coach — 35 of them in college — the 65-year old Chow will come home to his first head coaching job and, in the process, become the first Asian-American head coach of a major college program, as soon as negotiations are completed.
UH administrators on Monday night authorized athletic director Jim Donovan to begin negotiations with Chow’s agents. Members of the UH General Counsel’s Office and Chow’s Los Angeles-based agent, Yee & Dubin Sports, discussed possible terms for several hours Tuesday.
Chow, who is helping Utah prepare for the Dec. 31 Sun Bowl as its offensive coordinator, has declined comment until an agreement is announced.
Word that Chow has been offered the UH job spread excitement through his family for reasons beyond the long-awaited Hawaii homecoming. Some members of the family reportedly broke into tears at the news.
"He would be the first Asian-American to ever be a head football coach in the NCAA" at a major school, said Maile Chow, an English teacher at Mid-Pacific Institute. "That’s beyond our family, beyond my dad as a person. It is representative of a lot of other things and so I think that is why the rest of us also feel that way."
UH is reportedly set to pay Chow $600,000 to $800,000 a year for up to five years, the Star-Advertiser has learned.
McMackin was paid $1.15 million a season. Chow currently receives $275,000 as Utah’s offensive coordinator, according to the Salt Lake Tribune. But friends who grew up with him say this is about more than money.
"This is an opportunity for him to do what he’s always wanted to do: be a head coach, and do it here," said Ron Lee, a Kalani High assistant coach whose family grew up with Chow’s in east Honolulu.
"This is definitely the right time for him. I’m so happy for him. I’m so excited for (UH)," said Lee, a former offensive coordinator at UH.
Chow graduated from Punahou School, and got his first coaching job at Waialua High in 1970. Edwards gave Chow his first college shot, a graduate-assistant position at BYU, in 1973. Then he watched Chow develop and mentor quarterbacks Jim McMahon, Ty Detmer and a host of others in 26 years with the Cougars.
Chow eventually moved on to North Carolina State, USC, the Tennessee Titans, UCLA and Utah. Along the way he was part of three national championships and coached three Heisman Trophy winners. Chow turned down offers to join UH as an assistant in the 1980s and wasn’t hired for the school’s head coaching opening in 1995.
Now, 39 years after he left Hawaii to embark on a college coaching career, Chow appears to be headed back to write its final chapter.
"This is something he’s wanted for a while," Maile said.
