The Zeitgeist List · coaching

Norm Chow

Followed Greg McMackin. Norm Chow held Hawai'i at Regional Program I for 4 seasons.

10–36
2012–2015 · 1 stint
Hawai'i
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Career arc

His real stature score, season by season, across every program he’s coached — so a stretch that stays in one tier the whole way can still climb or sink on the line, not just flatten out. Node color marks the tier reached. Which program a stretch belongs to is carried by the shaded lane behind it.

Stature score reached, by season of his head-coaching careerHAWAI'IRegional Programthe building-block levelHawai'i, 2012: 3-9, Regional Program I2012Hawai'i, 2013: 1-11, Regional Program II2013Hawai'i, 2014: 4-9, Regional Program III2014Hawai'i, 2015: 2-7, Regional Program IV2015-8.1One point per coached season, in career order; dashed segments are program changes — spacing is not proportional to calendar time

Reached Regional Program in his 1st career season — faster than 20% of the 925 FBS coaches who have ever reached Regional Program (rank #1 of 925 by seasons-to-arrival).

Hawai'i, 4 seasons
−8.1
Regional Program I → Regional Program IV.

Style position and drift

Where each stint’s offense sat between run-first and pass-first, and how far it moved from one season to the next. The band is that stint’s real season-to-season range, not a fixed-width box.

50%Hawai'i2012–2015▲ 2.6pt
Pass rate — share of offensive plays that were pass attemptsfirst covered seasonmost recent covered seasonfull season-to-season range (3+ covered seasons)

The big-game ledger

How he does in the games that matter most — rivalry record, performance broken out by real opponent tier, one-score games, and his toughest historical matchup.

2–1 against his rivals. Winless in 3 tries against Jim McElwain.

Rivalry record
2–1
66.7% · 1 rival
One-score games
2–9
18.2% · margin ≤8
vs. Blue Blood or better
0–1
0.0%
Rivalry ledger
UNLV2–167%
The toughest matchup
vs. Jim McElwain0–3
3 meetings, 2012–2014
’12 L’13 L’14 L
0% win rate across a real, 3-meeting series — short of the bar this site uses before badging a series “Nemesis.” Shown here as the toughest matchup on record, not an algorithmic crown.
Performance by opponent class
Blue Blood
0–1 0.0%
Power Program
0–2 0.0%
National Program
0–9 0.0%
Regional Program
6–16 27.3%

His own effect, isolated

A statistical estimate of this coach’s contribution to team performance, separated from that season’s roster talent, returning production, and his coordinators — pooled across his whole head-coaching career.

Offense marginal impact
-0.18
#228 of 319 · a typical amount
Defense marginal impact
-0.05
#201 of 325 · a typical amount

Model fit as of 2026-09-04.

Coaching career

2012–2015
Hawai'icaretaker
Regional Program I → Regional Program I
Norm Chow held Hawai'i at Regional Program I for 4 seasons.

7th-best Hawai'i tenure of 12 by the numbers.

Recruiter or developer?

Underperforms his recruiting talent, on both sides of the ball.

Offense vs. talent
-26.6 pts
#194 of 208 · less than most
Defense vs. talent
-20.2 pts
#177 of 208 · less than most
Recruiting talent is team-wide (no offense/defense split exists in the source data) -- both sides are scored against the same talent input, only the outcome is side-specific.

Followed Greg McMackin (2008–2011) · succeeded by Nick Rolovich (2016–2019).

Season2012201320142015Trend
Record & result
Record3–91–114–91–3
Postseason————
Recruiting rank——#99#121
Style — pass rate
Pass rate——47.249.8
Coordinators
OC———Don Bailey
DC——Kevin CluneTom Mason
Outcome — opponent-adjusted efficiency percentile
Offense——2916
Defense——2523
Tendencies — play-by-play, neutral script (2021+ only)
1st-down pass%——41.941.4
Red-zone pass%——33.035.5
4th-down go%opp. territory——26.226.9
Where the roster comes from, by position
Grows Edge from high school
100%
#191 of 208 stints
Grows Running back from high school
100%
#196 of 208 stints

2 NFL Draft picks: Aaron Brown (2012), Joey Iosefa (2015)

10–36