SALT LAKE CITY >> A colleague had nicknamed them the “noon jogging association” and for 20 years this steadfast group of four would faithfully gather five days a week by the curb outside the Brigham Young University athletic department to begin their ritual 5-mile run through Provo, Utah.

In sun or late-winter slush, three BYU athletic administrators — Pete Witbeck, Jim Kimmel and Mike King — along with assistant football coach Norm Chow, would discuss the events of the day and their lives.

“We used to joke that if the president of the United States had come with us, we could have helped him solve all the world’s problems,” said King, a retired BYU athletic business manager.

On clear days down by the Provo River they’d agree that the city, where they were surrounded by long-time friends, was a great place to live and raise a family, which is why they had all come to think of themselves as “lifers” at BYU — at least until 2000. That is when Chow up and left, where he had been a coach for 27 years, to become offensive coordinator at far-flung North Carolina State.

From NC State, Chow moved on to USC, the Tennessee Titans, UCLA, Utah and, finally at age 66, the University of Hawaii, as head coach of the Warriors who will play a nationally televised game at BYU on Friday.

For the first time, Chow will stand on the sidelines at LaVell Edwards Stadium as an opposing head coach, ironically a facility named for the legendary coach many had long assumed he would succeed at BYU.

“I thought he would, too,” said Edwards, who hired Chow as a graduate student in 1973 and eventually promoted him to offensive coordinator. Together they were 244-91-3 and helped take the Cougars to 23 bowls, 19 conference championships and a national title.

Chow had been the popular and visible architect of the high-scoring offense known as “BYU — Big Yardage Unlimited” and was recognizeable on their jogs because he was the biggest. Due to his Hawaiian, Chinese and Portuguese heritage he was the darkest and he always wore a blue sweat top.

“I think he had the same one for all 20 years,” Kimmel said.

Passers by in Provo, then a city of fewer than 100,000, would often wave or honk as the quartet made its rounds.

When the Cougars lost, King said he and the others joked they “had one rule — always jog five steps behind or in front of Norm, just in case anybody tried to throw something at him and missed.”

Nobody threw, of course, because even when there was disappointment with a game performance or criticism on postgame call-in shows, there was wider recognition that Chow was a special talent.

Lance Reynolds and Robbie Bosco, who played for Chow and later coached with him at BYU, said he was known as “the governor” for operating at a higher level. And word was that Chow was Edwards’ heir apparent.

But administrations and visions changed and Edwards said, “I don’t know what went into their decision. I talked to them about Norm. I felt badly for Norm when I found out he wasn’t going to get it.”
When the word came down, Edwards took Chow aside.

“When I heard Norm had a chance to go to North Carolina State, I told him I thought he should take it, that it would be a good move for him,” Edwards said.

Chow did and less than a year later, following the 2000 season, Edwards retired and Gary Crowton was brought in. Crowton, who went 26-23, was let go after four seasons.

Chow says that things “have a way of working out for the best. I got to do a lot of things, like coach in the NFL and work a lot of places that helped me improve.”

Privately, he has told friends, it took awhile to get over the sting and it was best to be far away.

His wife, Diane, whose family is from Provo, stayed another year until their youngest child, Chandler, graduated from high school.

Looking back, Chow says, “I had a very good experience in Provo. I enjoyed my time. There are a lot of nice memories. My kids were all able to go to the same school and we had wonderful friends and neighbors.”

Reynolds said that because BYU went to so many bowls in their tenure that his family and Chow’s got to be very close.

“It seemed like we spent every Christmas together,” Reynolds said. “We still talk. And Norm’s son (Carter), represents my son (Matt of the Carolina Panthers) as an agent.”

When the UH team bus winds through Provo taking the Warriors to their downtown hotel today and to the game Friday, Chow concedes the memories will come flashing back.

“I still have my buddies (two remain) and we’re still probably planning on going on a little jog Friday before the game — only now it is a walk ,” Chow said. “That will bring back a lot of memories as we solve every problem there is in the world.”

After 12 years, they will have plenty to talk about.

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Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.