‘Tonight is about us’: Mike Norvell goes out on the highest note at Memphis (2024)

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — He’d already been given two Gatorade showers by the time the postgame interview started on the Liberty Bowl field. The security guards had a tough time keeping fans away from him.

This was Mike Norvell’s moment. In the city of Elvis and B.B.King, Norvell was the King of Memphis for one night. Screaming fans wanted a glimpse not of a musician, but of a football coach.

As soon as the on-field interview with ESPN ended, Chicago Bears wide receiver Anthony Miller burst past the guards to get in Norvell’s face and give his former coach a hug, both with smiles from ear to ear. Someone gave Norvell a championship hat, but he didn’t put it on. The 38-year-old’s trademark silver hair stayed shining wet, standing out against his black shirt and dark gray pants.

Amid the chaos, he was looking for someone. Finally, a staffer brought over his wife Maria and daughter Mila for a big hug. It was brief. Norvell was still making his way to the gated section for the trophy celebration. He told Mila he’d see her again in a minute.

As Norvell stood next to the championship trophy, he stared into the crowd.

“The city of Memphis, this is for you, baby!” he yelled.

He handed the trophy to players, then walked over to the gates. He took a selfie with a fan, then his family got back in, and the three of them took a photo themselves, with blue and silver confetti raining down.

Two years ago in this moment, UCF celebrated in black and gold confetti after beating Memphis in double overtime, and Norvell walked off solemnly. One year ago in this moment, UCF celebrated again after Memphis blew a 17-point halftime lead, and Norvell made that same walk.

Not this time. With a late touchdown and a fourth-down stop in the final seconds, No. 17 Memphis beat No. 20 Cincinnati 29-24 to secure its first outright American Athletic Conference championship and first AAC championship game win. It all but assured the Tigers a spot in the Cotton Bowl as the highest-ranked Group of 5 champion.

“It means everything,” Norvell said. “You learn from experiences in life. To come up short the last couple of years, we came into the offseason with a different mindset. I had to get better as a coach, we had to get better as a football team, everybody took ownership of some of the outcomes we had. … They never blinked, never wavered. To host a conference championship in front of our city and our fan base, to lift that trophy at the end, I’ll never forget it.”

There would be no official announcement or comments about Florida State, where Norvell will be named head coach on Sunday, The Athletic confirmed Saturday night. Norvell and Memphis had gone through too much heartbreak in the past two years not to celebrate this one to the fullest. He was going to stay on the field as long as he could on this night. He was going to enjoy this walk.

“Tonight is about us,” he said.

The memories of the past two championship games were everywhere on Saturday night, but things finally flipped.

Two years ago, kicker Riley Patterson missed two field goals in the double-overtime championship loss to UCF. Last year, he missed a 36-yard field goal in the fourth quarter while trailing UCF 42-41.

But there was Patterson on Saturday night, making a 52-yard field goal and a 50-yard field goal to turn a 21-17 Cincinnati lead into a 23-21 Memphis lead. There was Norvell, holding back tears as Patterson talked about his growth after the game.

“Early in my career, I would hear him say, ‘Respond, respond, respond,’ and it kind of went right over my head,” Patterson said of his coach. “Throughout my life, I’m going to keep hearing that ‘respond,’ through all the good and the bad, even outside of football. Respond. I’m going to keep hearing that.”

One year ago, quarterback Brady White and the Memphis offense scored just three second-half points as UCF made its furious comeback. At halftime on Saturday, Memphis trailed Cincinnati 14-10, and White was an ugly 8-for-23 passing for 86 yards and an interception. The worst possible time for his worst performance of the season.

But White completed 10 of 17 passes in the second half for 167 yards. Trailing 24-23 with less than five minutes to go, White completed a 14-yard pass to Antonio Gibson. Then he completed a 26-yard pass to Kenneth Gainwell. Facing third-and-goal from the 6-yard line, Norvell didn’t run to drain clock and kick a field goal. He put it in White’s hands, and White completed a quick screen to Gibson for the winning touchdown with 1:14 to play.

There was Norvell, proud of the quarterback he recruited to Arizona State, who’d suffered multiple knee injuries and transferred to Memphis to play for Norvell again.

“I’ve known him since freaking 2012, so he means a whole lot to me,” White said. “Being a high school kid recruited by a man that believes in you, going through adversity early in my career, having multiple coaches, to have someone that still always had faith in you, gave me the opportunity to come here, no matter what happens, we’ve had each other’s backs. To be champions now, it’s a blessing. He’s always going to be someone I hold dear and close to my heart.”

Ten years ago, Tommy West stood in front of gathered media and said what he couldn’t say when he was employed. Fired as Memphis coach, he implored the school to either put more financial support into the program or not even bother.

“We’ve gotta do the things necessary to make this what we want, or do away with it,” West said on Nov. 9, 2009. “I couldn’t say that as a coach. It’s too painful. It’s painful for coaches, for players, for fans. Put something in it or do away with it, one or the other.”

It took Justin Fuente to rebuild it, capturing a share of the AAC in 2014 and winning nine games in 2015 before leaving for Virginia Tech. It took Norvell to sustain it and take it further. Now Memphis football means championships, and an indoor practice field is on the way next season. Norvell’s salary is more than $2.6 million. That support has finally come.

Norvell arrived in December 2015 as an unknown. He was just 34 and had only five years of Power 5 coaching experience from stints at Pitt and Arizona State. He still had some black in his hair back then, too.

He also knew offensive football, and he knew how to spot talented players. Miller recorded more than 1,400 receiving yards in Norvell’s first and second seasons, eventually becoming a second-round pick. It’s what made that hug Saturday night possible.

Norvell shaped his versatile offense to fit what he had to take advantage of his skill players. The Tigers had two 1,000-yard rushers in 2018. Darrell Henderson went from three-star recruit to third-round pick. Tony Pollard went from three-star recruit to fourth-round pick. This year, redshirt freshman running back and former three-star recruit Kenneth Gainwell is near the top of the country in yards from scrimmage and looks like the next star.

These types of players are not supposed to come out of a school like Memphis, but the program’s potential was always there. Fuente cracked it, and Norvell broke it open.

Still, an outright conference championship was missing.

Memphis defeated Cincinnati last week to secure its division title and a rematch in this championship game. This time, UCF didn’t stand in front of the Tigers. This time, the game was in front of the home fans. Historic Beale Street was decked out in signs supporting the Tigers.

The Tigers finally broke through and finished the job. Now they’ll head to the Cotton Bowl. Norvell is from the Dallas area. Asked after the game if he’d coach the bowl, Norvell briefly stumbled over his words before saying, “That’s the plan.”

It was as far as he’d go on the topic of Florida State, even as reports began Friday night and became more and more solid Saturday. He’d always told his Memphis players to stay in the moment. He would on this night, as well.

The Liberty Bowl has only four tiny staircases to get on the field, but as many of the 33,000-plus fans as could fit on the field climbed down. Every fan who saw Norvell on the turf did a double-take.

“Good job, Coach!”

After the trophy ceremony, Norvell regrouped with his family and picked up Mila at midfield as he turned toward the tunnel. But after he walked 10 yards, too many fans were asking for photos. So he put Mila down, handed her to a staffer and began posing for selfies.

Everyone wanted to take a photo, to slap him on the back, to say thank you.

“We love you, Coach!”

Students at Memphis have known only known Norvell as coach over his four years. They’ve known only winning, now including the greatest season in Memphis football history.

“Don’t leave us, please!”

Everyone knew what would come the next day. But that wasn’t going to take away from this moment or this celebration.

Norvell eventually made it to the tunnel and past the security guards. Fans gave him a standing ovation and continued to yell thank you as he disappeared.

Off he went into the locker room for his final celebration in this stadium. Off he went into a new chapter.

(Top photo: Justin Ford / USA Today)