How Jay Norvell is changing Colorado State's culture one day at a time

FORT COLLINS — Appreciate what you have. 

A new era of Colorado State football kicked off on Tuesday as the Rams held the first of 15 spring practices on the turf field over on the west side of Canvas Stadium. 

Donning a light blue button-up shirt, the kind you’d see an auto mechanic wearing in a body shop, Jay Norvell spoke with the media following practice and explained the importance of changing the culture around the program. 

“The shirt is something that I’ve always worn. We want to be a blue collar outfit, we want to work every day,” Novell said.  “There’s no easy way to be good in this game, you have to do certain things every day. And so just like we’re working in the car shop, you know, we just come to work and put a full day’s work in and practice.”

When asked if the facilities, which were a big selling point for Norvell on taking the job, have been as great as he hoped they would be, the first-year Rams coach emphasized that they’re truly phenomenal. The thing is, Norvell wants to put a football team on the field that lives up to the gorgeous stadium and everything that came with it. 

Norvell has won with much less at his disposal in the past. No offense to the University of Nevada but there’s a reason that he was willing to jump ship and go to a school that he beat by 40 points in the season finale, and it’s not just that ‘FoCo’ has so many tremendous breweries and places to eat. It was about the commitment to athletic success that CSU displayed as an institution by building the best stadium in the conference. 

Conversely, Norvell has also seen a CSU team that annually spends as much or more than just about every other team in the Mountain West come up short time and time again. And generally speaking that’s frequently been because of culture issues inside the locker room more than it was due to a lack of talent on the roster. 

“We’re working on the team, and the people that function and operate in here,” Norvell said. “So we’ve learned an awful lot about being humble, and taking care of each other.”

Norvell continued, explaining that when he came back in December, he moved the team from the main locker room to the “JV” locker room because the players had not taken care of it properly and he wanted to teach them to appreciate what they have. 

“We learned how to appreciate it, and had a lot of meetings with our captains,” Norvell said. “When we got done with spring break, they went back in with a whole different attitude. So I’m really proud of them. They’ve come a long way. And we still have a long way to go.” 

With so many moving parts, it’s tough to project how successful this team will ultimately be in Year 1 under Norvell, especially after only one day of spring practice. While it may be early in the process, though, everything Norvell is preaching right now is exactly what Ram Nation has wanted to hear for a half decade. And what’s more, he’s backed it all up with his actions. 

Every coach in America preaches about establishing a winning culture, honoring traditions and doing things the right way. Hell, even Steve Addazio sounded pretty good at his introductory press conference when he started ranting about beating the team from the north. What matters much more, though, is how those coaches live up to their speeches. And so far, Norvell has been nothing but genuine. 

“Football is not a game to us, it’s a way of life. There’s certain things you have to respect to play well. I just don’t think you can be unaccountable off the field, and then be accountable on the field, Norvell said. 

Norvell expressed that it’s the little things in life that ultimately define your character. Going to class, keeping the locker room clean, etc., it all matters because it’s establishing habits for how you’ll approach everything in life. 

“There’s no shortcuts to being good,” Norvell said. “You have to do the right things every day. And then you have to get up and do them again the next day, and it never changes. So, you know, I kind of believe in the football gods. And when you do the right things, you get rewarded. That’s all we’re trying to do.”