Kirk Ferentz and the Hawkeyes are reportedly adding a veteran FBS head coach to the staff in Iowa City.
ESPN's Pete Thamel shares this afternoon that Iowa is adding Jay Norvell to the staff as an offensive analyst.
Norvell is the former head coach at Nevada and Colorado State, who played his college ball at Iowa where he was a first-team All-Big Ten selection in 1985 after starring for the Hawkeyes at defensive back and linebacker.
From 2017-21 at Nevada, Norvell went 33-26 overall leading the Wolf Pack, including a pair of 8-win seasons in 2018 and 2021. In his five years in Reno, Norvell led the team to a bowl game in four of those seasons, only missing the postseason in his first year - a 3-9 campaign.
Prior to the start of the 2022 season, Norvell shocked many when he made the decision to leave Nevada for fellow Mountain West member Colorado State, citing - in part - the availability of better resources. He would lead the Rams to finishes of 3-9 and then 5-7 in his first two seasons, followed up by an 8-5 campaign in 2024. After that breakout third season, Norvell was able to keep some key players on the roster despite Power Four interest and NIL money they couldn't compete with. However, the 2025 season did not bring the results they had expected.
After a 2-5 start to the 2025 season, Colorado State made the decision to part ways with Norvell. After a season opening loss at Washington, Colorado State beat FCS opponent Northern Colorado, and then lost three straight to UTSA, Washington State, and San Diego State before beating Fresno State in front of a home crowd. Then, after a double-digit home loss to Hawaii, Colorado State announced the decision to take the program in a new direction.
He departed Fort Collins with an 18-26 mark overall, and a 13-13 mark in Mountain West play.
Before becoming a head coach, Norvell served as an offensive coordinator at Nebraska, UCLA, and as co-offensive coordinator at Oklahoma, and also has stops working with receivers in the NFL with the Colts and with tight ends during a two-year stop with the Raiders.
Known for a very specific brand of smashmouth, run-first football under Ferentz, the veteran head coach has done a nice job over the last few seasons bringing in analysts known for varying degrees of different offensive approaches as Tim Lester continues to put his own stamp on the offensive side of the ball heading into his third season as the offensive play caller. Prior to last season, Ferentz, Lester and the Hawkeyes brought former Wake Forest offensive play caller and slow-mesh innovator Warren Ruggerio in as an analyst.
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