Norm Chow Norman Chow ( , born May 3 , 1946 ) is an American football coach and former player . He is currently the head football coach at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa , a position he assumed in December 2011 . Chow previously held the offensive coordinator position for the Utah Utes , UCLA Bruins , the NFL ' s Tennessee Titans , USC Trojans , NC State Wolfpack , and BYU Cougars . Chow won the 2002 Broyles Award as the nation ' s top collegiate assistant coach . He also was named the 2002 NCAA Division I - A Offensive Coordinator of the Year by American Football Monthly and was named the National Assistant Coach of the Year in 1999 by the American Football Foundation . He is well known for developing quarterbacks such as Jim McMahon , Steve Young , Ty Detmer , Philip Rivers , Carson Palmer , and Matt Leinart . Education and playing career . Chow , a native of Honolulu , and an alumnus of Punahou School , played college football for the University of Utah . Chow was a 2 - year starter and a three - year letterman offensive guard for the Utes . In his senior season , Chow was named to the All - WAC first team and gained All - America honorable mention honors . He then played briefly in the Canadian Football League , for the Saskatchewan Roughriders , before an injury ended his professional athletic career . He was selected to Utah ' s All - Century Team . He received his master ' s degree in special education from Utah and a doctorate in educational psychology , Ed . D . , from Brigham Young University in 1978 . Coaching career . Chow began his coaching career in Hawaii , where he was born , at Waialua High and Intermediate School . He was the head coach there from 1970 to 1972 . In 1973 he left for BYU to be a Graduate Assistant , a position he held for two seasons . He was promoted to receivers coach in 1976 , a post he would hold until 1982 ( apart from a one - year stint as running backs coach ) . In 1982 , head coach LaVell Edwards named Chow as principal offensive play - caller . He continued to call all the offensive plays until he left the program after the 1999 season . In 1984 BYU won the consensus national championship . He became quarterbacks coach in 1986 , and was officially given the title of offensive coordinator in 1996 . During his 27 years with BYU , they had a record of 244 – 91 – 3 . Chow spent one season as the offensive coordinator at NC State , where he coached an offense quarterbacked by Philip Rivers , before accepting the position of offensive coordinator at USC . Chow helped lead the Trojans to the 2003 Associated Press National Championship , ( their first national title since 1978 ) , and the 2004 BCS National Championship . He left USC in spring 2005 , after unsuccessfully interviewing for the Stanford head coaching vacancy , for a job offer to be the offensive coordinator of the Tennessee Titans - - his first job on the professional level . Their head coach , Jeff Fisher , graduated from USC . Chow was the Titans ' offensive coordinator from 2005 to 2007 . During this time , the Titans had non - losing seasons in 2006 ( 8 - 8 ) and 2007 ( 10 - 6 ) , and appeared in the 2007 AFC Playoffs . In 2007 , the Titans were 21st overall in total offense , with a total of nine touchdown passes . On January 15 , 2008 , after being fired by the Titans following the 2007 season , Chow was hired by new UCLA Bruins head coach Rick Neuheisel as offensive coordinator . When Lane Kiffin took over as head coach of the USC Trojans in early 2010 , he attempted to hire Chow away from UCLA , but Chow elected to stay after being assured he would receive a contract extension . However , the Bruin ' s 2010 season proved to be an offensive disappointment : UCLA finishing ranked 116th out of 120 teams nationally in passing yardage and 118th in passing efficiency , as they tried to install a pistol offense ; in his three seasons , the team had a 15 - 22 record . On January 22 , 2011 , Chow departed UCLA after negotiating a buyout to the contract extension that would have paid him $ 1 million over the next two seasons rather than remain at UCLA and be demoted to a lesser coaching position . While Chow made his reputation by developing quarterbacks , Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles . com said he never really had one to develop at UCLA due to injuries to their quarterbacks . Chow never publicly made excuses . Chow was immediately hired as the offensive coordinator of the Utah Utes , a team that was getting ready to enter its first season in the Pac - 12 . " Rick [ Neuheisel ] did a nice job with [ facilitating his exit at UCLA ] . And [ Utah ] is a good football situation , " said Chow . " I went to school there , you know ? I have two degrees from there . I met my wife there , my kids were born in Salt Lake . Not many people can say they get to go full circle like that . " During his time as an assistant football coach , Chow has helped coach 8 of the top 14 career passing - efficiency leaders and 13 quarterbacks who rank among the top 30 in NCAA history for single - season passing yardage . The list of players he coached includes Jim McMahon , Steve Young , and Philip Rivers , as well as Heisman Trophy winners Ty Detmer , Carson Palmer , and Matt Leinart . Head coaching interest . In addition to Stanford , Chow has officially interviewed for the head coaching jobs of the NFL ' s Arizona Cardinals ; and , the NCAA ' s North Carolina State University , the University of Kentucky , and the University of Hawaii . In 2002 , Chow turned down an offer to be the head coach of the University of Kentucky , and opted to stay at USC . Chow was a candidate to replace Karl Dorrell at UCLA , but withdrew his candidacy soon after interviewing . Chow was also considered to replace June Jones at the University of Hawaii in 2008 . On December 21 , 2011 Chow was named head coach of the University of Hawaii . Personal . Chow is of Chinese and native Hawaiian descent . He and his wife , Diane , have been married for forty years and they have four children : Carter , Maile , Cameron and Chandler . Carter serves as his father ' s agent . Cameron graduated from the University of Southern California and now serves as a high school English teacher , and another is still a student there .