http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=1987454




from Ivan Maisel:

The Beginning Of The End?
The departure of offensive coordinator Norm Chow from USC to the NFL will not be the end of the Trojans' dominance. It may not be noticed at all this season, when the offense loses only two senior starters and returns a Heisman Trophy winner.

But it is the beginning of the end. To pretend that Oakland assistant Steve Sarkisian (should he return to USC) can churn out quarterbacks like a coach who has developed three Heisman Trophy winners (Ty Detmer, Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart), not to mention Philip Rivers, Steve Young, Robbie Bosco, Jim McMahon and Gifford Nielsen, is foolish.

Chow is a singular talent, and coach Pete Carroll decided, for reasons so far unknown, not to work to keep him. You can't help but think that a clash of egos caused Chow to leave. What's not to like about winning 33 of 34 games?

One of the more interesting hidden stories this season will be the progress of John David Booty, Rocky Hinds and Matt Sanchez, the three quarterbacks who will jockey to replace Leinart.

History tells us that dynasties can begin to crumble from within as well as without.

The Pac 10 just breathed a sigh of relief.

hell yeah he did hes a titan now and air mcnair will be back for another mvp like run.

This won't effect USC at all next year. With the returning starters they might as well just hand them the National Championship next year. I was at the Orange Bowl and couldn't believe what I was seeing. I did not think that they were that good after seeing what the rest of the Pac-10 had to offer. As a die hard Sooner fan I still believe that USC wasn't 36 points better than OU, but they were by far the best team in the country.

I really wanted Oregon State to beat them during the regular season.

Maybe the Beavs can pull one out next year!

It will be interesting to see if this affects Leinart at all.

What do you think of him?

Some have said that he didn't go to the NFL because he may not be mature enough to handle it, or is too laid back to be an effective NFL quarterback.

I would say wait and see until after next year to make that call.

What do you think?

Yeah I don't think he is mentally ready either. When he did the press conference to announce his decision to stay he kept talking about how he loved to stay with his friends at USC. He just seemed like he wasn't ready to handle all of the responsibilities of an NFL quarterback. They were saying on PTI yesterday that one of the reasons he stayed was because Chow was staying, and now that Chow is going to the NFL they said Leinart should consider entering the supplemental draft. Originally I thought he was dumb for not entering the NFL draft, but now I feel like he isn't mature enough for the NFL.

I kind of get that feeling as well.

There are not many SENIOR quarterbacks ready for the NFL, let alone juniors and the like.

But we'll see. He might be just fine as well.

HOLY SHIT!

I WAS HOPING THEY WOULD SIGN HIM!

This is very good news indeed. This could also affect the draft if Chow gets his way in the way of a high draft pick. Though the Titans need help at Corner and maybe receiver if Mason leaves.

Chow introduced to media



OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR NORM CHOW, Feb. 9, 2005

(on concerns with the Titans facing personnel issues)
Well, I did get a chance to spend some time with the staff looking at some tapes. I’m really not as familiar as I should be. I certainly know the names. I’m a big NFL fan. I watch it all the time. I’m sure that the right decisions will be made by the organization, and if we do get some young players in there, we’ll just have to get them ready to go, fire up and get them playing. I know some of the names. I’m not as familiar up front as maybe we should be, but that will be taken care of in the next week or two.

(on whether geography was a consideration in his decision)

No, none whatsoever. We did spend a year out in Raleigh and thoroughly enjoyed that. Our children are older now. We won’t have to move children with us wherever we go. So no, that’s not a concern at all. I’ve always been a big Nashville fan. My wife, in fact, said, ‘You’re finally getting your wish,’ and that’s to be close to Nashville.

(on the biggest challenge of going from college to professional football)

When Jeff and I spoke, there were some reservations as to the sophistication of the NFL game. But after watching tape with the coaches and going over their offense and our offense, it made sense to me that it’s football. It’s a ball game. We’ll have to make some adjustments with the hash marks and with the way the plays are transmitted to the quarterback. But I think those things will take care of themselves – the clock not stopping, the two-minute deal, the overtime deal. That’s the challenge. That’s the exciting part of getting an opportunity like this. It’s to try to learn, improve, grow and help the Titans continue their winning ways.

(on never being offered a head college coaching job)

Well, that’s been a little bit overrated. They haven’t exactly been knocking the doors down, now. There were a couple opportunities to interview and one opportunity to be a head coach is all. No, that’s always an exaggeration. It’s always flattering to have your name tossed around, but the realities are, when a head coaching position comes around, there are just some very specific situations that have to be worked out. For us, it hasn’t worked out.

(on the reasons for teams not “knocking the door down” to offer him a job)

You got me. You can probably answer that one better than I can.

(on the timing of his decision to go to the NFL)

Again, as coach said, I think the timing is right. It’s awfully exciting. I’ve been a Titans fan. I’ve had a young man live with us, growing up, and he was the biggest Titans fan and still is. So we’ve always followed them with real excitement. It’s just, the time is right. The excitement is there. The opportunity is there, the situation to try to come in and help coach and Mr. Adams be successful. It’s fun. It’s exciting.

(on being helped by having an assistant coaching staff already in place)

I think that’s critical. I’ve known George (Henshaw) forever. I’ve known him as a friend over a long period of time. I’ve coached against Craig Johnson. Obviously, Mike Munchak, his name speaks for itself. I’m excited to meet Ray (Sherman). He’s been a coordinator in the league. It’s a ‘we’ deal. We’re going to sit down, and we’re going to pound this thing out together.

(on any friction that may or may not have existed between Chow and USC coach Pete Carroll)

No, there’s nothing to all that. How can there be? We won, what, two national championships and three BCS games in the time together. There’s always going to be some time when you try to get together and try to figure out how you’re going to get better. But no, all of that is exaggerated. I owe a lot to Pete Carroll. He knows that. He knows how I feel; I know how he feels. We can’t control anything else.

(on “cleaning up the playbook”)

That’s going to be tedious, like coach said. But it’s exciting tedious. We’re going to sit in there, and I’m not going to come in and change that offense. That offense is proven, and it’s been successful over the years. Hopefully, like coach said, maybe we can tweak a thing to two here to fit maybe a little better or change a word here or there that will make it a little easier for the quarterback and for the rest of the young team. But, hey, it’s been in place. It’s been in place, and it’s been successful. Whey tinker with it?

(on his meeting with Steve McNair and his opinion of what McNair will do regarding retirement)

Oh gosh. I don’t know … The organization obviously takes care of those other things. But as far as meeting him and having a chance to visit with him, it was exciting. It was an honor just to meet him. I watch him on television all the time. But we’ll get down to business, and we’ll talk. I think there are some things that he can improve on, that we can improve on and I can improve on. He knows that. We all know that. That’s why we’re there – to try to get ourselves better.

(on the biggest selling point of the deal)

Coach Fisher and the organization. It was very obvious the professionalism that was involved and the willingness and the wanting to be better. Everyone can be better. That’s the exciting part. Just the way the whole situation was handled made it seem to us – and my wife and I as we conversed – made it a very, very special situation.

(on how similar the USC offense is to the Titans offense)

Offense is offense. We will always try to seek balance. We will always run the football. If you watch the good teams, as I watched the Super Bowl, it’s very obvious that you need to run the football to be successful. But balance … Some of the things they do there, a lot of the things they do there conceptually is the same thing that a lot of people do do and we’ve done at USC. Now the challenge is to tie it all down, tie it all together, make it player friendly and make it quarterback friendly, which I think is real critical. That eliminates a ton of mistakes. It’s similar. It’s similar, yet you’re always looking to get better, and so you’re always doing tweaks.

(on characterizing his coaching personality)

I think we’re all educators. That’s what we do as coaches. The nice thing about it is we have a classroom full of eager students. I was a high school teacher and coach, and half the students didn’t care. Well, in this situation, everybody cares. So it makes teaching all that much more fun.

(on whether there was reluctance to leave USC with quarterback Matt Leinart returning to the school)

That was tough. No question that was tough. We had talked quite a bit. Obviously he didn’t make the decision because of me, but we spoke some. He’s a tremendous young man – very talented, very humble, very disciplined. We talked. We spoke quite a bit. In fact, we spoke the other day, spending time out on the patio just visiting. It made it hard, but he understands. He knows. He’s going to be very, very successful, and he wished us well as well.

(on the difficulty of recruits at USC not being able to play under Chow)

It is, but keep in mind, they weren’t signing at USC because of me. They were signing at USC because of the University of Southern California and Pete Carroll and because of the program that was in place. Now hopefully we had a little hand in some of the choices, but we spoke to them as well. They understand. Everybody understands it’s an opportunity for me and for my family to get into the highest level of football, and they understand the excitement that we have.

(on his coaching influences)

Well, we can go way back now, and probably the most prominent is Doug Scobel. I don’t know if you remember that name. He spent some time in the NFL and has since passed away. My first college coaching job was as a receiver coach, and he was a quarterback coach. We were both new to the staff and took a liking to one another. I sat back in a room for hours listening to him talk to the team. I still have notes that he spoke about in books. I keep a little library that I still refer to once in a while. I think Doug, I think Ted Tollner. There was a coach by the name of Wally English that’s out of coaching now that lives in Louisville. You know Levelle Edwards. There were quite a few. I had a chance to work with Mike, with Mike Holmgren when he came in. Those types of people. Pete, obviously. Chuck Amato at NC State had a tremendous influence, just the way he handled things. I’ve been very fortunate. I’ve been very blessed to enjoy a good career involved with good people.

(on why his wife would be happy coming to Nashville)

She said I would be because she knows I’m a big country and western fan. Anytime we’d go to Nashville for a convention or clinic or something, I’d always rave about Nashville. She said, ‘Oh, you finally get your wish,’ and that’s to live in Nashville.

(on former USC receiver Mike Williams)

You know, I saw him when he came by the office a week or two ago. He looks terrific. He absolutely … He’s about 220 lbs. In his last year with us, he must have been about 245. He was 220. He was working out in Atlanta. I don’t think the year off will hurt him at all. I haven’t seen him work at all. I don’t even know if he’s (going to be) at the combine or not, but we had a nice visit after we met together. He’s excited, he’s fired up. I don’t think it will hurt him at all.

I'm extremely skeptical of college coaches moving up to the NFL.

i think its different for a coordinater though in that the responsibilities arent nearly as great as a head coach, im skeptical of going to a head coaching position a la spurrier or butch davis, but a coordinater who will be working on things with other proven coaches on the staff shouldnt be a p roblem.

I think Stanford was unbelievably stupid in not hiring Chow as head coach.

The offenses this guy has put toegther everywhere have been phenominal.

I think this will be a good move for the Titans and Chow.

agreed.