The Iowa football program is making an internal move that it hopes will bring stability to its running backs room.
Jay Norvell, who has been a Division I head coach the past nine seasons, is expected to become the Hawkeyes’ third running backs coach in three years, source with direct knowledge of the move told the Register. The hiring was in the process of being finalized.
Norvell, 62, was brought aboard earlier this year to join offensive coordinator Tim Lester’s staff as a senior analyst to offset the departure of Warren Ruggiero to Virginia Tech. So after Omar Young departed the Hawkeyes in mid-February after one year as running backs coach to join the NFL’s Las Vegas Raiders, 27th-year head coach Kirk Ferentz didn’t need to look far to find his replacement.
Norvell is best known by Hawkeye fans as one of the team MVPs on perhaps the most iconic Iowa team of the modern era, Hayden Fry’s 1985 squad that spent six weeks at No. 1 in the national rankings. Norvell was a first-team All-Big Ten Conference safety, collecting seven interceptions that year. Ferentz was an offensive line coach at Iowa on that 1985 staff so is familiar with Norvell as a player … and coach.
Norvell has an abundance of coaching experience, which started as a graduate assistant under Fry (and alongside Ferentz) in 1986 and 1987. He would later spend six years in the NFL before returning to college at several stops, including on the staff at Oklahoma when it reached the 2009 BCS title game. He was later the head coach at Nevada (2017-22) and Colorado State (2023-25). Norvell was fired by Colorado State on Oct. 19, 2025, after a 2-5 start to the season.
Upon being hired by his alma mater as an analyst in February, Norvell posted on social media: “Grateful to be back at Iowa with Kirk Ferentz and the Iowa Hawkeyes. I owe so much to the University of Iowa. Look forward to giving back! Go Hawks!”
The Norvell move would leave Iowa thinner in the analyst ranks for now, but Lester was able to retain Billy VandeMerkt, who was previously coaching with the New York Jets and had been working with Iowa’s tight ends, to assist his quarterbacks room.
Norvell will be tasked with overseeing a deep running backs room that had mixed results in 2025 after the departure of position coach (and former Hawkeye) Ladell Betts to the NFL. Leading rusher Kamari Moulton returns for his junior season after rushing 170 times for 878 yards in 2025 but with no 100-yard games. The Hawkeyes also bring back Xavier Williams (285 yards) and Nathan McNeil (169 yards) for their sophomore years, along with speedy redshirt sophomore Brevin Doll.
Iowa also brought in LJ Phillips Jr. from South Dakota via the transfer portal after the junior-to-be led FCS in rushing last season with more than 1,900 yards.
So there’s plenty of potential in the room. One of the things Lester really liked about Young was his knowledge of the Shanahan offense that he brought from the NFL to Iowa. Picking up and teaching that scheme will be part of the transition process for Norvell as he becomes one of the Hawkeyes’ 10 full-time on-field assistant coaches.
The Hawkeyes start spring practice soon, with the annual spring game scheduled for April 25 at Kinnick Stadium.
Hawkeyes columnist Chad Leistikow has served for 31 years with The Des Moines Register and USA TODAY Sports Network. Chad is the 2023 INA Iowa Sports Columnist of the Year and NSMA Co-Sportswriter of the Year in Iowa. Join Chad’s text-message group at HawkCentral.com/HawkeyesTexts. Follow @ChadLeistikow on X.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa football set to hire running backs coach with Hawkeye roots
