Gus Malzahn reveals how he discovered Mike Norvell, Eli Drinkwitz
When Gus Malzahn left Arkansas to become the assistant head coach at Tulsa, he wanted to take Rhett Lashlee with him. The two worked together at Springdale (Ark.) High School, and Malzahn was hoping to hire Lashlee as a graduate assistant at Tulsa.
However, plans changed, and Malzahn had to go in another direction. He turned to Don Struebing, another former assistant at Springdale, to find a name. Struebing led Malzahn to a graduate assistant at Central Arkansas who ended up accepting the position as he kicked off his coaching career.
It was Mike Norvell.
“When I went to Tulsa, I was going to try to take Rhett with me to be the GA,” Malzahn told Andy Staples on Andy Staples On3. “Well, Rhett was going to get married, so he stayed northwest Arkansas. So I said, ‘Hey, Don, who do you got?’ He said, ‘Man, Mike Norvell would be a great GA.’ So that’s how that whole thing.”
Norvell met Struebing at a camp, and he stayed after just to make sure he shook his and made the connection. From there, the chain of events led him to Malzahn, and Norvell wound up getting his first head coaching job about 10 years after joining Tulsa when Memphis hired him. After that, he headed to Florida State, where he turned the Seminoles around over the last few years and won the ACC Championship last season.
If Norvell didn’t meet Struebing, though, Malzahn doesn’t think he’d have gotten the Tulsa graduate assistant position.
“Mike, smart guy,” Malzahn said. “That’s just the way Mike is. He always thinks about the little things. … Don said, ‘Man, I just know this guy is going to be a great coach for you. He’ll be just like Rhett and all this.’ It worked out.
“That’s exactly right. I said, man, Rhett, you gotta meet with him, you got to show him exactly how we do it. So they got together and Mike hit the ground running.”
Springdale HS also helped connect Gus Malzahn and Eli Drinkwitz
Gus Malzahn’s staff at Springdale also included another future Power Conference coach. Eli Drinkwitz served as a volunteer assistant in 2004 and ended up returning to the program after Malzahn left for Arkansas. A former Alma (Ark.) High School star, the two connected when the head coach – Frankie Vines – introduced the two at an all-star game.
As Drinkwitz got into coaching, Malzahn remembered him, and brought him aboard at Springdale.
“I was the offensive coordinator of the all-star team, which that was as good as it gets back in the day,” Malzahn said. “And his head coach was a legend, and the head coach got to bring the manager. There was a sophomore linebacker named Eli Drinkwitz. So he was my GA or whatever back then, we got to know each other. When he graduated, [he said] ‘Hey, Coach, can I come volunteer for you at Springdale High School?’ Sure, man.
“He made a good impression for me. So that’s how it went down.
In 2010, three years after leaving Springdale, Auburn hired Malzahn as offensive coordinator. He quickly built out his staff, and he found himself again in need of a graduate assistant. That’s when he called Drinkwitz – although he knew he’d have to sweeten the deal this time.
He went to his house to ask him in-person.
“I went to college, [Drinkwitz] moved up and he was the offensive coordinator and I think in 2009, we needed a GA,” Malzahn said. “So I made an in-home visit with him and his wife and talked him into coming to Auburn for $12,000 to be a GA, and he got a chance to help with Cam Newton.
“The rest is history.”