Norv Turner

Norval Eugene Turner (born May 17, 1952) is the head coach for the National Football League's San Diego Chargers. He also has served as head coach of the Washington Redskins and the Oakland Raiders, and as offensive coordinator for the Dallas Cowboys, San Diego Chargers, Miami Dolphins, and San Francisco 49ers. His explosive offense, built around a strong ground attack and the ability to strike fast via the deep pass, is referred to as "Norv-West Air", a play on the name of an airline with a similar name. He is the brother of former University of Illinois head football coach and former Chicago Bears offensive coordinator Ron Turner.

Turner has coached the most games in NFL history among head coaches with an overall losing record.

Early career
Turner was a student at Alhambra High School in Martinez, California. In football, he played quarterback and safety. He graduated from Alhambra in 1970 and then attended the University of Oregon, where he was a back-up quarterback to future San Diego Charger and Hall of Famer Dan Fouts.

Coaching career
After serving as a graduate assistant coach at Oregon, Turner was an assistant coach for the USC Trojans from 1976 to 1984. From 1985 to 1990, he was an assistant with the Los Angeles Rams.

Dallas Cowboys
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. Turner got much of the credit for not only their success, but for helping shape quarterback Troy Aikman into a Hall of Fame player. After Barry Switzer's firing following the unsuccessful 1997 campaign, QB Troy Aikman made many urgent demands that Turner be named head coach. When Chan Gailey was named coach, Aikman was famously unhappy, stating "They're screwing this team up."

Washington Redskins
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, leaving Turner with the distinction of being the only NFL head coach in the post-merger era to be fired midway through a season with a winning record. Turner was replaced for the final 3 regular season games by Interim Head Coach Terry Robiskie. The Redskins finished 8–8 that made them ineligible for 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.

Oakland Raiders
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 against his division, the AFC West. In addition, Turner was unable to jump start an offense that, in 2005, included All-Pro wide receiver Randy Moss.

San Francisco 49ers
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.

San Diego Chargers
On February 19, 2007, Turner was hired to coach the San Diego Chargers. Though he had been a finalist to assume the same position with the Dallas Cowboys, a team for which he had been the Offensive Coordinator during the first two of three Championship seasons in the 1990s, he eventually lost out to Wade Phillips, defensive coordinator of the Chargers at the end of the 2006–2007 season. He took the reins of an NFL-best 14–2 record squad in the 2006 regular season with San Diego. Despite promising a strong start to the season and downplaying the effects of a major coaching turnover, Turner began the 2007 NFL season by losing 3 of his first 4 games. Subsequently, he was thought to be redeeming himself by helping the team to a 41–3 victory over the Denver Broncos on the road, a win against arch-rival Oakland, and a third consecutive win coming out of the bye week against the Houston Texans. The euphoria in San Diego was short-lived, however, after a road loss to the then 2–5 Minnesota Vikings. By midseason, San Diego, a franchise thought to be a serious Super Bowl contender, had not won a single game against a team with a winning record. The first such win came in Week 10, when the team upset the Indianapolis Colts. This win was followed by another road loss against the Jacksonville Jaguars. After losing to yet another winning team, running back LaDainian Tomlinson called a players only meeting to discuss the season and the coaching changes. Following this, the Chargers won 6 straight regular season games, including a come-from-behind, overtime victory versus the Tennessee Titans. The next week, the Chargers managed to clinch their second straight AFC West Division title by beating the Detroit Lions in a lopsided game at home. The win against the Broncos on Monday Night Football gave Norv Turner 10 wins on the season – matching his best regular season record as a head coach.

Turner led the Chargers to their first playoff victory since 1994 with a victory over the Tennessee Titans, followed by a second playoff win over the Indianapolis Colts. The Chargers lost the AFC Championship game to the New England Patriots, 21–12.

In the 2008 season, he led the team to an improbable comeback in the AFC West starting the season at 4–8 but winning the final 4 games to finish ahead of the Denver Broncos. His Chargers beat the Indianapolis Colts for the second year in a row in the playoffs, but fell short to the eventual Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers in the Divisional Round game where his star running back LaDainian Tomlinson was out with a groin injury.

Turner's third season in 2009 saw the Chargers continue their trend of a weak start to the season followed by a strong finish. After needing a last-minute rally to beat the Oakland Raiders in the opening week, the Chargers lost 3 of their next four games. The last loss in this stretch was at home to Denver, leaving San Diego at 2–3 and chasing the 6–0 Broncos. After easily defeating divisional opponents Kansas City and Oakland, the Chargers faced a daunting stretch that included games against the Giants, Eagles, Cowboys, & Bengals, plus traveling to Denver. Turner's team swept through them all, winning nine straight games while the Broncos entered into a midseason slump. After the ninth consecutive win, a 27–24 victory against Cincinnati on December 20, San Diego captured their third straight divisional title under Turner. After a blowout win at Tennessee and a last minute victory vs. Washington, they extended their regular season win streak to 11 games, tying a franchise record from 1961. With a 13–3 record, San Diego claimed the 2nd seed in the AFC playoffs and a first round bye. The Chargers were eliminated from the playoffs in their first playoff game of 2010 with a 17–14 home upset against the New York Jets.

On January 19, 2010, Norv Turner signed a three-year contract extension through 2013. This is quite ironic considering that he had just come off a 13-3 record and then were eliminated in a second round playoff game. His predecessor, on the other hand, was given the boot after a 14-2 season that ended in a second round playoff game.

On October 4, 2009, Turner recorded his 100th career loss as an NFL head coach.

The Chargers started the 2010 season with a 2–3 record for the fourth consecutive year, before dropping to 2–5. On November 28, 2010, Turner recorded his 100th win as an NFL head coach.

On September 11, 2011, Turner recorded his 100th regular season win as an NFL head coach with a 24-17 opening game victory at home, over the Vikings. He proceeded to coach the team to a 4-1 record before the team began a 6 game losing streak, their longest such streak since 2001.

Coaching tree
NFL head coaches under whom Norv Turner served: Following first head-coaching job
 * John Robinson, Los Angeles Rams (1985–1990)
 * Jimmy Johnson, Dallas Cowboys (1991–1993)
 * Mike Riley, San Diego Chargers (2001)
 * Dave Wannstedt, Miami Dolphins (2002–2003)
 * Mike Nolan, San Francisco 49ers (2006)

Assistant coaches under Norv Turner who have become NFL head coaches:
 * Cam Cameron, Miami Dolphins (2007)
 * Mike Martz, St. Louis Rams (2000–2005)
 * Mike Nolan, San Francisco 49ers (2005–2008)
 * Terry Robiskie, Washington Redskins (2000) Interim head coach
 * Ron Rivera, Carolina Panthers (2011–Present)