You can make a compelling case that Mike Norvell owes at least part of his coaching career to Gus Malzahn.

When Malzahn took the position as assistant head coach/offensive coordinator at Tulsa in 2007, he was in need of a graduate assistant. Through connections, Malzahn got connected with Norvell, who had just finished his first season as a graduate assistant at his alma mater, Central Arkansas.

While he didn't know him directly, Malzahn offered the GA spot to Norvell. He quickly realized what Norvell's potential in the coaching world could be.

"You could tell he had something special about him," Malzahn said of Norvell. "He wasn't your normal GA and he ended up being our wide receiver coach as a graduate assistant, which at that point I'd never heard of. He earned that."

Herb Hand, FSU's new offensive line coach, was the co-offensive coordinator on that 2007 Tulsa staff. Although graduate assistants normally have a fairly minimal impact on the day-to-day, big-picture dealings of the program, Norvell quickly distinguished himself as not the typical GA.

"He's a bulldog. He attacks everything face-on, which is awesome," Hand said. "When he was a GA for us, his energy, his enthusiasm, his passion for his role that we had him in was clear. He brought a lot of juice, brought a lot of energy to everything and that's why he moved up the ranks, even within our organization at Tulsa, so quickly. I go back to when Mike was a GA and he was one of our best recruiters, but he couldn't go on the road. He wasn't allowed to go on the road, but he signed some of our top players."

One of those players, Hand says, was four-star wide receiver recruit Damaris Johnson in the 2008 recruiting class. While a bit undersized at 5-foot-8, Norvell took the lead on his recruitment, serving as his primary recruiter and landing him at Tulsa. Over three years with the Hurricanes, Johnson had 2,746 receiving yards, nearly 4,000 kick/punt return yards and 21 total touchdowns (17 receiving, two kick return, two punt returns) before a four-year NFL career.

Norvell was Johnson's wide receivers coach for his final two seasons in 2009 and 2010 after he was promoted for his work as a graduate assistant.

Malzahn went onto become offensive coordinator (2009 through 2011) and then head coach at Auburn (2013 through 2020) with additional HC stints at Arkansas State (2012) and UCF (2021 through 2024). Hand worked with Malzahn at Auburn and UCF along with stops as an offensive line coach at Penn State, Vanderbilt and Texas.

The two both kept tabs on Norvell's meteoric rise through the coaching ranks from afar after helping him get his first FBS coaching job at Tulsa.

"You kind of knew early on that he was going to be a force in the industry," Hand said of Norvell. "Our relationship has always stayed steady throughout the years, but to be able to watch his progression has been awesome. I'm very, very proud of him and all the things he's been able to accomplish and now I'm excited to work with him again and help us go to even greater heights."

Now, Malzahn and Hand are paying that chance they took on Norvell some 17 years later back. Malzahn, regarded as an offensive mastermind, is now Norvell's offensive coordinator and will take over playcalling from the FSU head coach. Hand, regarded as an ace offensive line coach, has the tough task of fixing a unit that was expected to be a strength in 2024 but instead was among the worst offensive lines in the country.

When the trio was last together 17 years ago, they created some real magic. Tulsa led the country in yards per game both of Malzahn's seasons at Tulsa and also led the nation in points per game in 2008.

Norvell is putting some faith in the guys who took the chance on him back in 2007 to rediscover what was lost this fall at FSU.

"We had great success, us three together," Malzahn said of his time with Norvell and Hand at Tulsa. "I'm just really excited to be back with him. We were really good together. I think we were the No. 1 offense in college football two years in a row. We broke all kinds of records and all that. We're really close and I'm excited to be here to help."

Follow The Osceola on Facebook

Follow The Osceola on Twitter

Subscribe to the Osceola's YouTube channel

Subscribe to the Osceola's podcasts on Apple