Rex Norris (born December 10, 1939) is a former college linebacker who has coached

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

and

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...

teams during the past 40 years. Norris has a long history of coaching football teams. After playing the position of linebacker himself, Norris moved on to coaching college football. In 1972 already, he was coaching Texas A&M. One year later he moved on to take up the position of assistant coach for Barry Switzer at

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

. He served at Oklahoma for a total of 11 seasons (1973–1983), filling the positions of

defensive coordinator A defensive coordinator is a coach responsible for a gridiron football (American football) team's defense. Generally, the defensive coordinator, the offensive coordinator and the special teams coordinator represent the second level of a team's c ...

for the years, defensive line coach and assistant head coach during his final three years there. Coaching the

Sooners Sooners is the name given to settlers who entered the Unassigned Lands in what is now the state of Oklahoma before the official start of the Land Rush of 1889. The Unassigned Lands were a part of Indian Territory that, after a lobbying campaign, ...

, Rex Norris produced seven first-team All Americans and helped them reach eight Bowl games. After Oklahoma, Norris moved on to Arizona State for one season (1984). The next season Norris made the switch from college football to the NFL when took a job at the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

(1985–1987). After the Lions he returned to college football at Florida (1988–1989), Tennessee (1990–1991) and Texas (1992–1993). In 1994, Norris once again made the switch to the NFL, this time with the Denver Broncos, followed by the

Tennessee Oilers Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to the ...

(1995–1998) and finally the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...

. Norris enjoyed a successful period in Chicago in 2001 when his defensive line helped establish a run defense that ranked second in the NFL and first in the

NFC NFC may refer to: Psychology * Need for cognition, in psychology * Need for closure, social psychological term Sports * NFC Championship Game, the National Football Conference Championship Game * NCAA Football Championship (Philippines) * Nati ...

in rushing yards allowed per game. His defensive line give up just 82.1 yards per game. Furthermore, the 2001 Chicago Bears only surrendered three runs exceeding 20 yards all season and only six rushing touchdowns, their fewest during the last 4 season. In 2003, Norris stepped down as defensive line coach at the Bears to pursue other coaching opportunities closer to home. However, in 2004, Norris moved continents to coach in the

NFL Europa NFL Europe League (simply called NFL Europe and known in its final season as NFL Europa League) was a professional American football league that functioned as the developmental minor league of the National Football League (NFL). Originally f ...

league, replacing Darryl Sims as defensive line coach at the Amsterdam Admirals. In 2005, he was the

at Amsterdam together with Richard Kent. Altogether, Norris has over 40 years of coaching experience, with 12 of those years coaching in the NFL.

References

1939 births Living people American football linebackers Amsterdam Admirals coaches Arizona State Sun Devils football coaches Chicago Bears coaches Denver Broncos coaches Detroit Lions coaches Florida Gators football coaches Houston Oilers coaches Navarro Bulldogs football coaches Oklahoma Sooners football coaches Tennessee Titans coaches Tennessee Volunteers football coaches Texas Longhorns football coaches Texas A&M Aggies football coaches Texas A&M–Commerce Lions football players Toronto Argonauts coaches High school football coaches in Texas People from Tipton, Indiana {{Oklahoma-sport-stub