Patience is nothing new for Colorado State coach Jay Norvell. He has been patient his whole life. The longtime receivers coach and offensive coordinator spent 31 years as an assistant -- where he succeeded over and over and over again -- before he finally got a head coaching opportunity.
"I interviewed for a ton of head coaching jobs: Iowa State, Arizona, Washington, Boston College," Norvell told CBS Sports. "I really have a lot of respect for coaches that have gone through this and are in the profession for the right reasons -- to help young people and be examples. We have an opportunity to change people's lives."
So when Norvell was presented the opportunity to take over at Colorado State in 2022, he approached the position with his trademark patience. Remember, this was only a few months after name, image and likeness (NIL) legislation combined with the transfer portal to transform the sport. One year later, the Rams' rivals at Colorado added 52 transfers to quick-flip their roster.
Colorado State did nothing of the sort. There were no shortcuts to flip a ground-and-pound roster into an Air Raid squad. Twelve players committed to the staff as transfers, but eight of those followed Norvell from Nevada. Wide receiver Tory Horton and offensive lineman Jacob Gardner remain on the team today. Over the past three recruiting classes, Colorado State has signed 62 high school players.
The Rams have been one of the youngest programs in the Mountain West over the past two years, going 8-16 overall with consecutive losing conference campaigns. Now, they're hoping patience pays off at one of the most impatient moments in college football history.
"We wanted to build with what we thought our identity would be," Colorado State offensive coordinator Matt Mumme said. "And we took some lumps."
Norvell's résumé is dripping with college football history. He played for Iowa in 1983, a team that boasted perhaps the greatest staff in history featuring the winningest coaches at Oklahoma (Bob Stoops), Kansas State (Bill Snyder), Wisconsin (Barry Alvarez), Iowa (Kirk Ferentz) and Iowa State (Dan McCarney). His father and hero, Merritt Norvell, was one of the first Black major college athletic directors when he was hired at Michigan State in 1995. From Merritt, Jay inherited a heart for helping people, especially other Black coaches.
Norvell's coaching career started in 1986 as a graduate assistant with the Hawkeyes under Hall of Famer Hayden Fry, but he later followed Stoops and Alvarez across middle America. He spent time coaching Marvin Harrison as wide receiver coach with the Indianapolis Colts and Zac Taylor at Nebraska. He coached at Oklahoma in a BCS Championship Game.
"Everybody's made an impression on him and has probably molded him into the head coach that he now is," Mumme said. "He just talks about his background constantly to staff and players. I mean it's so cool to hear all his stories."
Norvell describes Mumme as the Doc Holliday to his Wyatt Earp. Mumme is the son of Air Raid innovator Hal Mumme, and Norvell has embraced Air Raid passing concepts in his balanced offense. They added some Pistol concepts after coaching at Chris Ault's Nevada. Ultimately, it's an offense meant to create answers.
Norvell's offense doesn't look much like the physical run attack of Alvarez's Wisconsin or Bill Callahan's Nebraska, but the ethos of those places followed him. Development is top of mind. During a three-win season in 2022, 18 freshmen were listed on the Colorado State two-deep by the end of the year. Not all played well, but two years later, those benefits are starting to pay off.
In 2024, Eighteen of Colorado State's 22 starters are homegrown recruits. Two of the other four are All-Mountain West performers Horton and Gardner, who were Norvell's high school recruits at Nevada before transferring.
"Jay, and really our whole coaching staff, everybody does a really good job with the relationships with their kids," Mumme said. "I think that's really important. And even just to explain to them, 'Look, you could jump to the other side of the tracks if you wanted to, just understand what you may be getting yourself into.'"
The transfer portal era has made building a developmental program harder than ever. Even for bluebloods with tons of resources, depth comes at a premium. Colorado State's collective has done solid work, but Norvell opined at Mountain West Media Day that power-conference programs working under the table to poach players.
"I wasn't trying to implicate programs, I was just trying to explain what we've been through," Norvell said. "We've been through a lot fighting to keep our players here at Colorado State."
Last offseason, five Rams transferred to power-conference schools, but the most important players remained. Horton is coming off back-to-back 1,000-yard receiving seasons and could have played at any number of programs. Gardner has started 47 consecutive career games on the offensive line and had multiple teams reach out under the table. Still, both decided to return to Fort Collins.
Gardner was part of Norvell's success at Nevada. He knows it can be done. Leaders choosing to stay in the program shows the young players that the future is bright.
"Guys feel that when coaches put effort into you, you want to reciprocate that," Gardner said. "And not only that, but shoot, we want to win, too. It becomes easier when you've got a staff that's there to listen to you and coach you the right way. It's easier to make guys stick around."
A rivalry of contrasts
On Saturday, Colorado State hosts one of the biggest games in program history against Deion Sanders and Colorado. The last time these teams played, the 43-35 contest went to double-overtime and Colorado State came within inches of pulling off a monumental upset. Despite taking place in the late window, more than 10 million people tuned in, making it one of the most-watched games of the season.
"There's a lot of emotions that go into that game," Gardner said. "We don't need a lot of help getting ready for this one."
In every way, Colorado-Colorado State is a game of contrasts. There's the historic power conference squad against the plucky upstart. There's the nearly 30-year assistant coach against one of the biggest stars in the history of football. There's a roster built on transfers against a program built through high school recruiting.
It will be a showcase moment not just for the football program, but for the university as the game moves to Fort Collins for the first time since 1996. But most of all, it will be a stress test, letting Colorado State know if its patience is ready to pay off.
"To win something like this, you put a notch on your belt," Mumme said. "It's a career game that you'll never forget, you know? Those guys do a good, good job down there. Deion will have those guys cranked up and we'll have to fight our butts off."
Next up: Colorado State one of four Mountain West programs set to join the Pac-12 in 2026.
