Every morning during football season, Norm Chow awakens at 3:30.
There is no alarm clock, no early-rising rooster.
"It’s just a habit," Chow said.
Chow has time to shower, gather his thoughts, and prepare for the 6:30 a.m. quarterbacks meeting. There is always a QB meeting at dawn during the season, and this is his 45th consecutive year in the profession.
"It’s your own personal pride that tells you to get your work done," Chow said. "If someone has to tell you when to show up and when to go home, I don’t think you’re taking enough pride in your work."
Chow has a love of labor. He worked odd jobs growing up in Palolo. He worked in the Punahou School cafeteria as a tradeoff for lunch. His summers were spent in the clang-clang-clang din of the pineapple cannery.
For all the success during his two-decades-plus at Brigham Young University, Chow was supporting his wife and four children on an assistant coach’s series of one-year contracts.
"There were many times when you struggled toward the end of the month just to make sure they ate hot dogs and peanut-butter sandwiches," Chow said.
Chow’s point is this: "That’s not unusual, especially in Hawaii. A lot of people do that. Work hard? Everybody works hard. Everybody in this community works hard. It’s important to understand that we understand, as well."
It is why Chow suffers, in silent anguish, following each loss as he tries to build the program.
"I hurt for the players," Chow said. "I walk in (the locker room) after a (loss) and I look into their eyes. You struggle for something to say, to help these young guys, because they’ve worked awfully hard."
He also has empathy for his assistant coaches. On this morning, Chow arrived at 5. On his desk, there was a detailed red-zone plan.
"That’s from Jordan (Wynn)," Chow said of his quarterbacks coach. "You know he worked all night. He works hard. They all work hard."
Then the conversation turned to the fathers and mothers who each work two jobs, raise their families and, with whatever extra money, seek a release through UH football.
"I think any football program drives the bus because of the money," Chow said. "It has the most exposure. I feel responsible to put a product on the field that people can be proud of, to be something positive in this community. This is a tough economy. People work awfully hard to provide for their families. It would be nice for us to be something they can look forward to rooting for, if you will. Their everyday lives are not easy. We want to help."
Chow is Santa in a curmudgeon’s body. He is a one-man potluck, arranging for food to be delivered to assistant coaches on Sundays.
When he was USC’s offensive coordinator, Chow argued for tailback Malaefou MacKenzie to be granted a leave of absence because of family issues. MacKenzie returned a semester later, finished his career at USC, then got married and raised a family. Every June, MacKenzie, now a firefighter, sends Chow a Father’s Day card.
Guided by his faith, Chow forgave the man who swindled hundreds of thousands of dollars.
"The part people don’t understand about this business is there’s a very human part to it all," Chow said. "These are young people — players, coaches — who give you everything they have."
Chow knew there would be growing pains. Still, he said, the 4-20 record in the first two years is "disappointing, no question about it. It’s very, very disappointing. Not in my wildest dreams did I think anything like that would happen. All I’ve ever asked of the players is effort, and I think we’ve gotten that. We’ve fought hard to the end, which is what we preach all the time. We might have had five more wins (last year) if we finished (the games) right. We just have to live with it. We’re going to keep working hard."
It all begins early in the morning.
