The conversation turned to Sean Payton as we turned left on Speer Avenue, sunrise at our backs.
Jay Norvell is the Kevin Bacon of American football. If he didn’t play with somebody, he played against him. Or coached against him. Or coached with him.
“They’d smuggled us all in there,” the CSU football coach recalled from the front of the minivan, “when it was still dark.”
The smuggling in question took place in Philadelphia, first week of October 1987, in the middle of the night, which is when the NFL does the stuff it doesn’t want fans to see, like moving the Colts from Baltimore.
Payton, the new Broncos coach, and the Rams’ second-year boss, were teammates once. Briefly. The roster for the “Spare Bears,” the kindest term for the free agents who played for Chicago during the mid-season strike, included Norvell at linebacker and Payton, a plucky 5-foot-11 quarterback out of Eastern Illinois.
The Spares played a road game vs. the Eagles’ scabs on Oct. 4 — Norvell recorded two sacks, while Payton got sacked four times in a 35-3 Chicago win. Fearing violence or reprisal from the protesters, the Bears had snuck their players and coaches to the old Vet before the crack of dawn. Most of them slept in the visiting locker room until breakfast. Good times.
“Then I really got to know Sean when he was hired as the QB coach of the Eagles (before the 1997 season), as I was real close with (former Raiders and Nebraska coach) Bill Callahan, and Jon Gruden was there, then,” said Norvell, who let Denver media members tag along with him this past Wednesday as the second-year coach spent National Signing Day on a goodwill tour.
“And then over the years, we visited (Payton) several times at New Orleans. I just have always really appreciated Sean — I mean, (he’s got a) great offensive mind, with all the things they do with the West Coast system.
“But I have even more respect for him, probably, as a leader and as a guy that understands the draft, understands personnel. As a leader of men, I think he’s tough when he needs to be, I think he’s smart when he needs to be.”
•••
The Rams’ 2023 class officially has 38 signees — the biggest class, in terms of volume and height, Norvell’s ever put together as a coach — when the minivan pulls into the first of five television stations the CSU entourage is visiting before lunch.
Always pushing, the Rams are trying to get one more guy, a California kid, over the line late. One hitch: The paperwork hasn’t come through yet.
“He’s got it, they’re working on it,” a staffer said.
Norvell nods, then puts on his game face as the group is bustled into the first darkened studio of the day.
“Coming through, coming through, cold guy coming throuuuugh!”
With that, the Rams’ party is greeted by one of the morning hosts, who hits a hole during the commercial break and zips right past us.
“Don’t get coach sick, don’t get coach sick!” the talent continued, voice trailing into the next room. “He’ll never forgive ya!”
Fortunately, when it comes to local news, this ain’t Norvell’s first rodeo.
“In Reno, they said, ‘Do you want to do the sports (anchoring)?” the former Nevada coach recounted. “And I go, ‘Yeah, sure.’ And then when I got there, they were like, ‘You’re going to read the (teleprompter).’”
Only Norvell turned up without his glasses or contacts — and said prompter was at least 20 yards away.
“I was supposed to read, ‘You know, the Little League team was in Indianapolis today, and the score was …’ and I literally could NOT see it. But I was on live TV, so I basically just fudged the whole thing and threw my details in there the way I wanted to. It was so bad. Easily one of the most embarrassing moments of my life.”
Yet a little later, same market, another TV type asked him to come in and read the weather report.
“(Doing) the weather was awesome,” Norvell laughed. “You know, when you live on the West Coast, there’s always a high pressure system over the Pacific, and that’s what causes a weather pattern. So I really couldn’t wait to throw the words, ‘high pressure system’ in there.
“The weather (report) was easy. Those guys got it easy. But yeah, I’m not gonna sign up to do the sports anytime soon.”
•••
At every stop, Norvell nails it. But nothing matches the energy — or the love — from the first sojourn of the day.
“How about … Flubber?” one of the hosts asks as he transitions out of their CSU Rams segment. “Yeah, I’m not kidding. See, I remember the black and white Flubber (movie) …”
“Fred MacMurray!” Norvell blurted out helpfully.
“That’s right! I knew you’d know, coach!”
“’The Absent-Minded Professor!’” Norvell replied, name-dropping the 1961 Disney movie that introduced the concept.
“But is there really Flubber being developed up in Boulder? We’re gonna talk about that …next!”
The red camera lights switch off in unison. Another commercial break.
“Oh my!” another co-host proclaimed. “He should fill in at co-anchor some time! That would be SOOOO fun!”
“Would you ever be interested in co-anchoring for the whole morning,” her partner added. “You would be wonderful!”
“You gotta talk to his agent,” chuckled Tim Cassidy, CSU’s senior associate A.D. and the football chief of staff.
“I’m out all next week!” one of the anchors shouted.
“You bring the energy, right up where it belongs, coach!”
“In order to keep up with you guys,” Norvell replied.
“I tell you what,” a host said. “You’re the best. I love that guy.”
“Oh, thank you,” Norvell said, reaching into one of his pockets. “Hey, we’ve got a little something for you guys …”
“Tickets on the 50?”
The Rams coach presents each of the co-anchors with two large ceremonial CSU coins — one side features a Rams helmet, the other’s got the program’s core values embossed in tiny type.
“We only give it,” Norvell said, “to people we like.”
“Oh, that’s awesome, thank you, man, I love it.”
One of the hosts circles back to Cassidy.
“He WOULD be great as a guest anchor, wouldn’t he?”
Outside, Norvell turns off the game face. Back to business. Back to the California kid. Any updates? We good?
“His mom is having issues with her phone,” someone said.
•••
Colton Bosnos, CSU’s director of football operations, is Coach Beard to Norvell’s Ted Lasso. His Amazon Alexa. His Siri.
Schedule question? Ask Colton. Recruiting query? Colton. Logistical clarification? Colton. Straight dope? Colton.
After the fourth of seven media visits, it occurs to us that Norvell’s been giving away at least two coins per outlet.
“What is our coin count, anyway?” someone asked as the traveling party traversed one of the parking lots.
Norvell does the math in his head for a second.
“We’ve got four,” he replied. “I think we’ve given four away so far.”
“Five,” Bosnos corrected us.
“How many stops left?” I asked.
“We’ve only got a couple left. We’ve got to save a couple for later in the day.”
“We’re getting a supply drop at noon,” Bosnos said.
“Good,” Norvell added. “There’s reinforcements coming.”
“It was like Oprah this morning,” Bosnos said.
Norvell chuckled and shook his head.
“’Like Oprah,’” the coach repeated. “You gotta underpromise and overdeliver.”
On the third leg of the trek, while Norvell was waiting in the wings, Bosnos scanned his phone and burst out laughing.
“I’d sent a picture of you at your last TV station to (my significant other),” he whispered to the Rams coach. “And she replied, ‘I hope he’s not doing the weather.’”
•••
For Norvell, the best delivery of the day came after lunch. That recruit from California? The paperwork made it through. Just in time.
The kid finally got over the line, pushing the class CSU would introduce during a dinner at the Denver Country Club to 39 players.
“I learned a long time ago, we’re a people business, and you interact with people, and those connections are really important in what we do,” Norvell explained. “And it’s the same way in recruiting. When I go to a school and recruit, I try to talk to everybody — you never know who’s close with the guy that you’re recruiting, and that’s why I like talking to the custodians to the lunch ladies … they know the lowdown on what’s going on at school.
“So it’s just it’s part of what we do. And that’s what I love about coaching is building a team. I mean, I love being on the field for practice. And I love the games. But putting the pieces together of a team is probably the most satisfying part of it … We had a year (a 3-9 record in 2022) where things weren’t what we wanted them to be.
“We know what the problems are. And now applying the pieces to change and affect those problems properly? That’s the fun of coaching.”
