Former Hawkeye Jay Norvell reported to join football staff

IOWA CITY — After making an appearance as Iowa football’s honorary captain against Michigan State, a former Hawkeye is reportedly joining the staff full-time for the upcoming season.

Iowa football is expected to announce the return of Jay Norvell to the program, joining as an offensive analyst, according to a report from ESPN. The news first broke Wednesday afternoon.

Norvell was Colorado State’s head coach for four seasons, before being let go by the program in October.

Norvell was an All-Big Ten defensive back for the Hawkeyes, playing under Hayden Fry from 1982-1985. He helped lead Iowa to a Big Ten title and a Rose Bowl appearance, recording a league-leading seven interceptions and 76 tackles. Iowa made bowl game appearances in all four years he dawned the black and gold jersey, winning 35 games.

Norvell also served as a graduate assistant under Fry during the 1986-87 season, before taking assistant gigs at UNI (1988), Wisconsin (1989-94) and Iowa State (1995-97). He then went on to coach in the NFL for six seasons, making an appearance as tight ends coach for the Oakland Raiders (2002-03) during the 2003 Super Bowl.

After the NFL, Norvell had additional stops at Nebraska, (2004-06) UCLA (2007), Oklahoma, Texas (2008-14) and Arizona State (2016), before he became the head coach at Nevada before his hiring at Colorado State in December 2021.

Norvell joins the Hawkeyes’ staff ahead of offensive coordinator Tim Lester’s third season.

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