Norv Turner

Norval Eugene Turner (born May 17, 1952) is an American football coach in the National Football League (NFL). An offensive assistant for the majority of his coaching career, Turner was the Dallas Cowboys' offensive coordinator during their consecutive Super Bowl victories in Super Bowl XXVII and Super Bowl XXVIII.

In addition to his tenure as an assistant coach, Turner was head coach of the Washington Redskins from 1994 to 2000 Washington Redskins season, the Oakland Raiders from 2004 to 2005, and the San Diego Chargers from 2007 to 2012. Turner compiled 118 wins during his head coaching tenure, which are the most for an NFL head coach with a losing record. He is also the only NFL head coach with at least 100 wins to have an overall losing record.

Turner was born on May 17, 1952, at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, North Carolina. Turner played high school football at Alhambra High School in Martinez, California. A quarterback and safety, he graduated from Alhambra in 1970 and then attended the University of Oregon in Eugene, where he was a back-up quarterback to future hall of famer Dan Fouts, then was a starter in 1973 and 1974.

After serving as a graduate assistant coach at Oregon in 1975, Turner was an assistant coach for the USC Trojans in 1976, hired by head coach John Robinson, also an Oregon alumnus from California. He stayed with the Trojans for nine seasons, then rejoined Robinson in the NFL with the Los Angeles Rams in 1985. Turner was an assistant with the Rams for six seasons, through 1990.

Turner was the offensive coordinator with the Dallas Cowboys on Jimmy Johnson's staff when Dallas won back-to-back Super Bowls in 1992 and 1993, beating the Buffalo Bills twice. Turner got much of the credit for not only their success, but for helping shape quarterback Troy Aikman into a Hall of Fame player. Upon arriving in Dallas, Turner took over an offense that was dead last in the NFL in total yards averaging 255.1 yds/gm and scoring 15.2 pts/gm, his impact was immediate. In 1991 the offense jumped to 9th in total yds with 318.8/gm and scoring 21.4/gm, and 4th in 1992 (350.4 yds/gm, 25.6 pts/gm) and 4th in 1993 (350.9 yds/gm, 23.5 pts/gm). Emmitt Smith led the NFL in rushing all 3 years under Norv Turner, and was the MVP of Super Bowl XXVIII. No team in the Super Bowl era had won with the leading rusher before Emmitt Smith under Turner in 1992 and 1993. The Dallas Cowboys had a record of 21–1 in the regular season and 5–0 in the postseason when Emmitt Smith ran for 100+ yards in a game under Turner's guidance of the offense from 1991 to 1993, usually gaining the lead early with big plays from Aikman to Michael Irvin and Jay Novacek then finishing off drives with Smith and their overpowering front line. Troy Aikman had a record of 7–18 as a starter before Turner's arrival, then 31–11 in the regular season and 6–0 as a starter in the post season winning Super Bowl XXVII MVP. Michael Irvin never finished lower than 2nd in the NFL in receiving yards under Turner. The Cowboys' record was 42–13 with 3 playoff appearances, winning 2 NFC East Division Titles (1992, 1993), 2 NFC Championships (1992, 1993), 3 Rushing Titles (1991–1993 Emmitt Smith), 1 League MVP (1993 Emmitt Smith), and 2 Super Bowls (XXVII, XXVIII), in Turner's years in Dallas.

In 1994, following his success with the Cowboys, Turner was hired as the head coach of the Washington Redskins. In seven seasons with the Redskins, he went 49–59–1. In 1996 Turner led the Redskins to a 7–1 start but finished the season 9–7. They made the playoffs only once, in 1999, where they lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the second round. He was released during the 2000 season of the Washington Redskins on December 4, 2000, following a 9–7 loss to the New York Giants where this dropped them to 7–6 on the year despite starting off with a 6–2 record. This left Turner with the distinction of being the rare NFL head coach in the post-merger era to be fired midway through a season with a winning record (Ron Meyer of New England in 1984 was another). Turner was replaced for the final 3 regular season games by interim head coach Terry Robiskie, the team finished 8–8 and missed the postseason. Following his tenure with the Redskins, Turner went on to serve as offensive coordinator for the San Diego Chargers in 2001 and for the Miami Dolphins in 2002 and 2003.

When the Oakland Raiders fired head coach Bill Callahan following the 2003 season, owner Al Davis hired Turner to replace him. Turner went 5–11 in 2004, followed by a 4–12 record in 2005, and was fired on January 3, 2006. During Turner's two years with the Raiders, he managed only one win in intra-division games (25–24 over the host Denver Broncos on November 28, 2004).

On January 17, 2006, Turner was named offensive coordinator for the San Francisco 49ers, a reversal of roles of sorts: former 49ers head coach Mike Nolan served as Turner's defensive coordinator from 1997 to 1999 with the Washington Redskins.