Kim Norvell worked her way through a swarm of bodies near Arizona Stadium’s 20-yard line late Saturday afternoon and breathlessly asked aloud “Where is he? Where is he?”
Norvell is maybe 5 feet tall on a good day and has lived with cystic fibrosis since she was an infant, but when she broke through the crowd and saw her husband complete an interview with CBS Sports reporter John Schriffen, she broad-jumped into Jay Norvell’s arms and hugged him so tightly and for so long you thought the Nevada Wolf Pack had just won the Super Bowl.
“I love you,” she said.
“I love you, honey,” he said.
They kissed as if they had just been pronounced husband and wife.
The Norvells wiped away their tears and began an extended hug-a-thon that hasn’t been seen at Arizona Stadium since … well, since last year’s Arizona Bowl, when New Mexico State set an unofficial NCAA record for tears shed upon an overtime victory over Utah State.
A few minutes later Norvell said “this is by far my favorite victory; it’s not even close.”
What is it about the Nova Home Loans Arizona Bowl that brings out the joy in people?
It’s an obscure, mid-level bowl, lost in a flood of bigger games, played in a half-empty stadium 500 miles from the Rose Bowl.
Favorite victory? That’s what those New Mexico people said a year ago on the same patch of turf.
The tears shed by Norvell and the gleeful celebration of Wolf Pack players and fans do more to stamp Tucson’s 4-year-old bowl game a success than the TV ratings and ticket sales combined.
“I’ll remember this for the rest of my life,” Nevada quarterback Ty Gangi said after a rousing 16-13 overtime victory over Arkansas State.
One unknown variable conspired to almost wreck Arizona Bowl IV on Saturday: it was cold. In a Tucson perspective, it was freezing. If you stood in the shade, it felt like the Antarctic. And for 56 minutes, Arkansas State and Nevada played as if numb.
It looked to be an almost comatose performance, a 7-3 victory by the Red Wolves, a game to be forgotten by players and the hardy fans that stuck it out.
And then, in an instant, it all changed. The warmth of a fading winter sun prevailed and a few thousand fans retreated to the UA’s Mall to celebrate in a rare postgame tailgate party.
Arkansas State quarterback Justice Hansen (15) dives forward for a few extra yards against Nevada in the second quarter of the Arizona Bowl, Saturday, December 29, 2018, Tucson, Ariz.
Norvell is one of the most compelling sports stories to show up at Arizona Stadium in years. He has been a full-time college and NFL coach since 1988 — that’s about 400 games — and yet he said Saturday’s game is No. 1.
“I’m the luckiest man in the world,” he said.
That was no throw-away line. Norvell is 55 and has about as much perspective on college football as anyone in the business.
He was a career assistant for 29 years, bouncing from some really bad teams — Iowa State went 6-27 in his three 1990s seasons — to back-to-back stints at Nebraska and Iowa in which the head coach was fired.
He coached at mighty Oklahoma for seven years, but the Sooners always came up a game short of their fans’ expectations, never winning the Big One, and later was fired with the rest of the staff of the Texas Longhorns.
Norvell last appeared in Arizona Stadium two years ago, part of a doomed Todd Graham Arizona State staff that went 0-6 to finish the season and lost 56-35 to a so-so Arizona team.
But somehow, a year ago, after three decades of Vagabond 101, Norvell appealed to the resources-challenged Nevada athletic department.
They offered Novell $500,000 to be the Wolf Pack head coach; that’s the lowest of lowball offers, even in the Mountain West Conference. He jumped at it.
“I interviewed for the Bowling Green job (in 2001) and lost it to an unknown guy named Urban Meyer,” Norvell said Saturday with a chuckle. “I’ve always wondered what would’ve happened if I had got that job a long time ago. I’ve wondered what type of career I would’ve had. But things happen for a reason, and I feel so blessed to be where I am.”
Along the way, Norvell met his wife, Kim, who has lived with cystic fibrosis since infancy. Just as frightening, she was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2006. The Reno-Gazette Journal reported that Kim had to quit her volunteer shift at St. Vincent’s Food Pantry because her body couldn’t handle standing for 3½ hours.
“It’s not a perfect life, but she’s glad she has it,” Norvell told the newspaper. “Your future is always murky if you have cystic fibrosis.”
So the Norvells live for the here and now, and the here and now is the happiness of finishing 8-5, champions of the Arizona Bowl.
On Saturday, one of America’s most inexhaustible football coaches broke through and won a game he’ll never forget. He sealed it with an Arizona Bowl kiss.
