Norv Turner
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Head Coach
24th NFL Season, 3rd with Chargers
February 19, 2007 marked a new beginning in Chargers football when President Dean Spanos introduced Norv Turner as the new head coach of the San Diego Chargers.
In 2007, Turner became only the sixth head coach in NFL history to lead his team to a Championship Game in his first season at the helm. During the regular season, Turner won 11 games for the first time in his coaching career, leading the Chargers to an 11-5 mark. He joined Bobby Ross (1992) as the only coaches in team history to win the AFC West in their first seasons. Turner also became the first Chargers coach since Ross (1994) to win a postseason game. He was 2-1 in the ’07 postseason to improve his career playoff record to 3-2. Following the Chargers’ Divisional Playoff win over the Colts, Turner was named Coach of the Week by Sports Illustrated.com’s Peter King.
Turner delivered one of the best coaching performances of his career in October when he led the Bolts to a 35-10 win over the Houston Texans at the conclusion of the week that wildfires devastated San Diego and forced the team to flee to Arizona for a three-day midweek sabbatical to practice. Following that game, Turner was named Motorola NFL Coach of the Week by voters on NFL.com. Earlier in the season, he was tabbed as the Genius of the Week by USA Today.com following the Chargers’ 41-3 dismantling of Denver Oct. 7 at Invesco Field that halted a three-game losing streak.
LaDainian Tomlinson put it best when asked to describe Turner’s demeanor during the Chargers’ up-and-down season. “He never changed…He never blinked at times when he was getting criticized for different things that were going on. He never made us feel like he wasn’t confident in what he could do and what this team could do.”
En route to winning the AFC West in 2007, the Chargers defeated all three of their division opponents away from home. It was the first time that happened since 1994 when the Chargers beat the Raiders, Broncos, Chiefs and Seattle Seahawks away from home.
Among the Chargers’ achievements in 2007 under Turner:
- Tomlinson won the NFL’s rushing title and scored a league-leading 15 rushing touchdowns.
- The Chargers rushed for 2,039 yards and ranked seventh in the NFL in rushing offense.
- The Chargers went 5-0 in December.
- The Chargers scored 412 points in the regular season, their fourth-straight year (2004-07) of scoring at least 400 points. It’s the longest stretch of 400-point seasons in team history.
- The Chargers were the NFL’s second-highest scoring team in the first quarter (119) and its third-highest scoring in the first half (235).
- In the first quarter of home games during the regular season, the Chargers outscored their opponents 81-0, becoming only the second team in the NFL since 1982 (Tampa Bay, 2001) to hold its opponents scoreless at home in the first quarter. The 81-point scoring disparity in the first quarter at home was the largest in NFL history.
- During the regular season, the Chargers led the entire NFL in touchdowns (nine) and total scoring drives (11) on their first offensive possession of the third quarter. That trend continued in the playoffs as the Chargers scored on their first possession of the third quarter in all three of the team’s playoff contests.
When Tomlinson won the NFL’s rushing title in 2007, he became the third different running back to win an NFL crown in Turner’s 17 seasons as a head coach and/or offensive coordinator. Tomlinson joined Dallas’ Emmitt Smith (1991-93) and Miami’s Ricky Williams (2002) among Turner’s rushing champions.
Known as an offensive mastermind, Turner was the Chargers’ offensive coordinator in 2001 and installed the same offense that the team currently runs.
A two-time Super Bowl Champion as the offensive coordinator for the Dallas Cowboys, Turner spent the 2006 season as the offensive coordinator in San Francisco, where he was credited with the development of 49ers’ quarterback Alex Smith. Under Turner’s guidance, Smith posted a passer rating of 74.8 and he passed for 2,890 yards and 16 touchdowns while completing 58 percent of his attempts. As a rookie in 2005 prior to Turner’s arrival, Smith passed for just 875 yards, throwing only one touchdown pass and 11 interceptions for a rating of only 40.8. Smith’s 34-point increase in his passer rating from his rookie season to the next is the greatest in NFL history, bettering the previous mark of 33.6 points by Bert Jones of the Baltimore Colts from his rookie season of 1973 to ‘74.
Turner also breathed life into the 49ers’ running game as second-year back Frank Gore had a breakout season. Gore was selected to play in the Pro Bowl after leading the NFC and ranking third in the NFL with 1,695 yards. He scored eight touchdowns and averaged 5.4 yards per carry, highest among the league’s top 20 rushers.
During Turner’s first and only season with the Chargers in 2001, he was credited with improving San Diego’s offensive ranking 17 spots as the Bolts climbed from 28th to 11th in total offense. The 2001 season was Tomlinson’s first in the NFL and he finished the year as the runner-up for the Associated Press Offensive Rookie of the Year Award. LT led all NFL rookies with 1,236 yards rushing, 10 touchdowns and 59 catches. With Turner calling the offensive plays, the Chargers finished the 2001 season with a 3,000-yard passer (Doug Flutie); 1,000-yard rusher (Tomlinson), and 1,000-yard receiver (Curtis Conway) for only the second time in team history.
Turner’s 23 years of coaching experience include 10 as a head coach — seven for the Washington Redskins (1994-2000) and two with the Oakland Raiders (2004-05). He spent 13 seasons as an NFL assistant coach, including seven as an offensive coordinator with the Dallas Cowboys (1991-93), Chargers (2001), Miami Dolphins (2002-03) and 49ers (2006).
Turner began his NFL coaching career as an assistant with the Los Angeles Rams in 1985. He coached wide receivers from 1985-86 before adding the responsibility of the team’s tight ends from 1987-1990. In Los Angeles, Turner tutored under Offensive Coordinator Ernie Zampese, a disciple of the “Air Coryell” offense. Zampese taught Turner the ins and outs of the offensive system made famous by former San Diego Chargers Head Coach Don Coryell.
Turner blossomed into one of the NFL’s top offensive coaches during his three seasons in Dallas. Serving under head coach Jimmy Johnson, the Cowboys won back-to-back Super Bowls (XXVII and XXVIII) following the 1992 and ‘93 seasons. Turner worked with three Hall of Famers in Dallas: Smith, quarterback Troy Aikman and wide receiver Michael Irvin.
Turner almost single-handedly resurrected Aikman’s career in Dallas. In the two seasons before his arrival, Aikman threw 20 touchdown passes while being intercepted a whopping 36 times. In his first season in Turner’s offense, Aikman posted the first positive touchdown-to-interception ratio of his career and led the Cowboys to the NFC Divisional Playoff round.
Then in 1992, his second year under Turner, Aikman passed for a career-high 3,445 yards with 23 touchdowns and 14 interceptions in leading Dallas to a 13-3 record and its first NFC East title since 1985. Aikman directed the Cowboys to three-straight postseason wins and was named the Most Valuable Player in Dallas’ 52-17 Super Bowl XXVII win over the Buffalo Bills. The following year, Aikman completed a franchise-record 69.1 percent of his passes, while passing for 3,100 yards with 15 TDs and only six INTs en route to leading the Cowboys to a second-consecutive Super Bowl win over the Bills. When Aikman was enshrined in the Hall of Fame in 2006, he asked Turner to be his presenter.
In addition to Aikman’s success, Smith led the NFL in rushing all three years under Turner, and twice, tight end Jay Novacek led all NFL tight ends in receiving.
Catapulting off his success in Dallas, Turner was named the head coach of the Washington Redskins in 1994. It was his first-ever head coaching assignment. He ended up spending seven years in Washington, leading the Redskins to four winning seasons, including a 10-6 NFC East championship season in 1999, their first division title since 1991. Turner’s ‘99 squad beat Detroit in an NFC Wild Card Playoff game before falling to Tampa Bay in the divisional playoff round. Turner finished his career with a record 49-59-1 in Washington. He was released by the Redskins in 2000 with three games remaining and the team owning a 7-6 mark.
During his tenure in Washington, Turner was a mentor to two Pro Bowl quarterbacks. In 1996, Gus Frerotte became an all-star after passing for 3,453 yards and 12 touchdowns while leading the Skins to a 9-7 record. In 1999, Brad Johnson earned a Pro Bowl nod after passing for 4,005 yards, just the second 4,000-yard season in club history. Johnson led the NFC in passing yards and threw 24 touchdown passes while leading the ‘Skins to an NFC East title. Trent Green, who also played for Turner in Washington in 1998, passed for 3,441 yards that season, giving Norv three different 3,000-yard passers in a four-year stretch.
After spending the 2001 season with the Chargers, Turner spent two seasons (2002-03) as the assistant head coach and offensive coordinator in Miami. The Dolphins went 9-7 in 2002 and 10-6 in 2003 with Turner calling the plays. Ricky Williams rushed for a combined 3,225 yards and 25 touchdowns in those two seasons for the Dolphins. He posted the two highest single-season rushing totals in team history, winning the NFL’s rushing title with 1,853 yards in 2002 and then going for 1,372 yards in 2003.
Turner brought plenty of offensive firepower to the Bay Area during his two years (2004-05) as the head coach of the Chargers’ biggest rival, the Raiders. In 2004, Kerry Collins passed for 3,495 yards and 21 touchdowns, while leading receiver Jerry Porter just missed out on a 1,000-yard season as he caught 64 balls for 998 yards and nine scores. In 2005 though, Collins was part of a unique trio as he, Randy Moss and LaMont Jordan accounted for 3,000 yards passing, 1,000 yards receiving and 1,000 yards rushing. Collins passed for 3,759 yards and 20 TDs, while Moss led the team with 1,005 yards and eight touchdowns, and Jordan rushed for a team-high 1,025 yards and nine scores. Porter just missed out again on a 1,000-yard season, as he accumulated 942 yards and five scores while leading the team with 76 catches.
Turner was born in the Bay Area suburb of Martinez, California, the same city that produced baseball legend Joe DiMaggio. He grew up the middle of five children, all of whom were raised by his mother, Vicky, a single parent. Vicky battled multiple sclerosis, spending the latter years of her life in a wheelchair before her passing in 1989. Vicky steered her sons into sports. Norv’s younger brother, Ron, followed in his footsteps, excelling on the collegiate gridiron before entering the coaching profession. Ron is now the offensive coordinator for the Chicago Bears. Like his father and uncle, Norv’s eldest son, Scott, has also joined the coaching ranks. A former high school coach in Virginia, Scott accepted a position in 2008 as a graduate assistant for the offense on Dave Wannstedt’s staff at the University of Pittsburgh.
In his own playing days, Norv was a quarterback and safety as at Alhambra High School in Martinez. He landed a scholarship to the University of Oregon and earned three varsity letters (1972-74) as quarterback for the Ducks. He spent two of his three seasons in Eugene playing behind former Charger and NFL Hall of Fame QB Dan Fouts. Two of the assistant coaches on Oregon’s staff included future NFL coaches John Robinson and George Siefert. In a precursor to the rest of his career, Turner graduated from Oregon in 1975 and spent the following season as a graduate assistant with the Ducks.
In 1976, Turner moved on to the University of Southern California where he spent the next nine seasons as the Trojans’ wide receivers coach (1976-79), defensive backs coach (1980), quarterbacks coach (1981-83) and offensive coordinator (1984). In 1980, he tutored what is regarded by many as one of the finest defensive backfields in college football history. It included safeties Ronnie Lott and Dennis Smith, both of whom went on to become NFL first-round draft choices (1981). Also playing in that backfield was Tennessee Titans Head Coach Jeff Fisher, who was selected in the seventh round of the ‘81 draft. During Turner’s nine-year tenure at USC, the Trojans played in four Rose Bowls, winning all four. One of those was a win over Michigan after the 1978 season that capped a 12-1 season and gave Southern Cal the national championship.
Turner and his wife, Nancy, have three children — Scott, Stephanie and Drew. Stephanie is an actress living in Los Angeles and Drew will be a freshman at the University of San Diego.
