Something To Chew On: Where's Norm Chow?

Some meds for USC's Signing Day hangover are in order, and here's some comfort food to chew on. Maybe.

USC landed eight defensive players and twelve offensive players—including the No. 1 and No. 2 wide receivers in the country and the No. 6 ranked quarterback—all without an offensive coordinator.

The UCLA Bruins, on the other hand, landed sixteen defensive players and only seven offensive players while having one of the greatest offensive genius minds of college football at their disposal.

Let that sink in.

Why would the best receivers in the country commit to a team that doesn't have an offensive coordinator? Better yet, ignore the cross-town rival that has one of the best, if not the best?

Let your mind flow free here for a minute.

The apparent defection of Norm Chow to USC was addressed in the second week of January and despite rumors of his wardbobe taking on a cardinal and gold hue, Chow remained at UCLA.

But it's time to re-address this again.

There can be no doubt that if Chow had left UCLA before Signing Day, the snowball effect would have rolled out of Westwood and right into Heritage Hall. The pressure to keep Chow at UCLA, up to this point, was understandable.

But Signing Day is over. And where is Chow?

Chow, by the way, did not land local quarterback Jesse Scroggins. The Pete Carroll-less Trojans did.

Although we're not sure Scroggins was even on Chow's radar, four other schools in the Pac-10 did offer Scroggins. Sure UCLA has quarterbacks, but not those kind of quarterbacks. Scroggins committed to USC knowing full well Golden Boy Matt Barkley could be playing for a minimum two more years. He committed to a team without an offensive coordinator. Strange.

Not one UCLA commit that we know of mentioned the excitement over working with Chow. It's like he dropped off the face of the earth. For sure, Chow is known to be something of a recruiting recluse, but since his name alone brings in the recruits—specifically, elite offensive players—shouldn't somebody have orated a grandiose accolade-ridden nod to Chow while standing in front of the microphones?

On the other side of town, a few USC recruits have mentioned specific position coaches that they were excited to work with. Even Matt Darr, a four star punter, mentioned how important now-former Special Teams Coordinator Bruce Schneider was after he decommitted from USC. But no one appears to be worried about USC not having an offensive coordinator.

Or do they?

Could it be that USC has already locked in a coordinator, and they are bound to keep him under wraps until after Signing Day?

We aren't saying there is, but, well, shouldn't there be somebody under wraps?

Any big-name coordinator is probably currently employed, so we'll presume whomever USC has their radar locked on (assuming they are still looking for a coordinator) has made some sort of an agreement to stay put until after Signing Day.

While having Norm Chow would be the perfect trifecta (Monte Kiffin, Ed Orgeron and Norm Chow) for Trojans fans, there is no indication that Chow will be leaving Westwood.

But the signs, innocuous as they are, are still floating around in Trojans' fans' minds.

A team with no offensive coordinator hauls in huge offensive talent, the one with the genius offensive coordinator does not.

Norm Chow was somewhat AWOL on Signing Day. If he did make an appearance, no one saw it.

USC can pay Chow almost three times what he will make at UCLA next year, and if Kiffin hands over the playcalling duties to Chow up in the booth, they don't even have to pretend to like each other.

Next year Chow takes a huge pay cut—from around 1 million to 640k—because the Tennessee Titans will have fulfilled their contract payment to him. Let's be honest, 1.5 mil is worth putting up with Lane Kiffin over 640k at UCLA.

An ESPN article stated that Chow's agent, Don Yee, had been contacted by USC around January 13th and that "the conversation was brief but both sides agreed to talk again soon." And apparently they did.

Neuheisel also reiterated the timing of USC's interest in Chow. "Coach Chow knows enough about college football and the signing period to know this is a critical time," Neuheisel said.

Indeed.

For the most part, the signing period is over.

So a question begs to be answered.

Is it time to "talk again soon"?

A little mental masterbation is good for the soul and it beats chicken noodle soup.