Ex-Karl Dorrell assistant who Colorado football HC Deion Sanders made famous in 2023 a UCLA coaching candidate

Jay Norvell, perhaps best known to the country as the disrespectful Colorado State head coach who Deion Sanders and his Colorado football program put on the map in 2023 during a star-studded Rocky Mountain Showdown win for the Buffs, is a potential Chip Kelly replacement for UCLA; this after Kelly took the Ohio State offensive coordinator job Bill O'Brien took but never started after becoming Boston College's head man.

"Norvell is a former Bruin assistant coach here, so he knows the landscape," Mike Farrell Sports Mike Huesmann wrote. "He was QB/OC coach under Karl Dorrell. Norvell has had multiple stops as an assistant coach at Blue Blood programs and in the NFL. He spent five years in Reno as head coach of Nevada and just finished year two at Colorado State. The Rams finished 5-7. He is highly thought of in the college ranks, and that reputation could lead to him being a candidate here."

Norvell first burst onto the national scene when he implied that Coach Prime's mother, Connie Knight, didn't raise Sanders right due to his classic hat and sunglasses look.

"I sat down with ESPN today -- and I don't care if they hear it in Boulder -- I told them, 'I took my hat off, and I took my glasses off,'" Norvell said on his radio show the week leading into CSU-CU in Week 3 (h/t Bleacher Report). "And I said, 'When I talk to grownups, I take my hat and my glasses off.' That's what my mother taught me. They're not going to like us no matter what we say or do. It doesn't matter. So, let's go up there and play."

Jay Norvell raised stock during CSU's near-upset of Coach Prime's Colorado football team

Norvell undoubtedly raised his stock during Colorado State's near-upset win over Colorado on September 16. With the world watching, several rappers like Lil Wayne and Offset in attendance, and even Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson in attendance to back Coach Prime, Norvell's several-score underdog Rams had a lead heading into the fourth quarter.

It's not a shock to see Norvell's name connected to job openings even with the lack of a winning season in Fort Collins thus far in two tries. His career was in a better place with more resources at Nevada, so perhaps having UCLA's recruiting budget could have him in a better place than where he is at CSU.