ASU Football: Former OC Mike Norvell introduced in Memphis, reflects on quick hire

What a wild 24 hours it was for Mike Norvell.

Wednesday night, Norvell visited Dillon-Sterling Cole as the Arizona State Sun Devils' offensive coordinator. Thursday evening, the Memphis Tigers hired Norvell as their head coach.

Norvell publicly spoke for the first time Friday with a Q&A with The Commercial Appeal before later being formally introduced by the University of Memphis in a press conference.

Norvell revealed to The Commercial Appeal Memphis reached out to him "a few days ago." The Memphis administration later met Norvell in New Orleans Wednesday while Norvell was in the area making in-house recruiting visits for Arizona State, and Norvell was named the Tigers' head coach the same day. Norvell also discussed to The Commercial Appeal about how he already filled his recruiting board for Memphis.

"We met actually, I was out recruiting," Norvell told The Commercial Appeal. "So we met up on the road. Actually, down in New Orleans."

In both the The Commercial Appeal and in his press conference, Norvell seemed very excited to be in Tennessee, as he had lived in the Midwest for most of his life. Norvell said he wouldn't have taken a job in any place in which he didn't believe.

"I'm excited about the young men that we are going to be able to bring into the program. This is home for me. I grew up in Dallas, Texas, I went to school in Arkansas, I've lived in Louisiana and I've been to Oklahoma. You couldn't ask for a better place."

As for his philosophy, it appears Norvell will be taking his "high octane" style that he ran with ASU for the last four seasons.

"We are going to play smart, fast, physical and we are going to be passionate about finishing in everything we do and we are going to do it together as a family," Norvell said. "We are going to do it through adversity and when things might not go well for us. It is all going to be about the finish and finishing together on top."

ASU finally publicly acknowledged on Norvell's departure when Todd Graham released a statement prior to the Sun Devils' first bowl practice on Friday. Graham was proud and thank Norvell for their long relationship.

"I am so proud of Mike and the career he has forged for himself," Graham said. "Mike and I have been together for nine years, since I hired him as a graduate assistant at the University of Tulsa, including the past four years here at ASU. Together, we won 34 games and will have appeared in four straight bowl games. Our University, our program and our student-athletes all have benefitted from Mike's expertise, mentorship and coaching ability. Mike stands for all of the things that we teach in our program, which are character, toughness, discipline and integrity. The work that Mike did with quarterbacks Taylor Kelly, Mike Bercovici, Manny Wilkins, Brady White and Bryce Perkins has been phenomenal. They will be forever indebted to him for that. Also, it is a true testament to our program to have one of our coordinators become a Division I Head Coach. That is exactly the kind of success that we want for our program. Penni and I are so proud of Mike and we wish he, his wife Maria and their daughter Mila the best of everything as they embark on their new journey."