CHOW PLAYS DOWN PAYBACK FACING FORMER SCHOOL BYU JUST ANOTHER GAME FOR TROJANS ASSISTANT.

Byline: Scott Wolf Staff Writer

USC offensive coordinator Norm Chow prefers nobody make a big deal out of Saturday's game with Brigham Young.

Maybe someone forgot to tell USC. The headline on this week's news release announces, ``USC football opens 2003 home slate with first meeting against BYU, Norm Chow's old team.''

That's not the angle Chow wants emphasized, even though he spent 27 years at BYU before leaving in 1999.

``It's old stuff,'' Chow said. ``It's just another game that needs to be won. I don't know anyone there. The guy I worked with is gone.''

Chow's referring to former Cougars coach LaVell Edwards, who retired in 2000. While Chow downplays the significance of facing BYU, it's big news in Utah, where he rose to prominence as an assistant coach with the Cougars by coaching such quarterbacks as Steve Young, Jim McMahon, Marc Wilson, Ty Detmer and Robbie Bosco.

The conventional wisdom at BYU is that Chow left because he was upset he wouldn't replace Edwards as head coach. Chow denies it and said he left because he knew Edwards was retiring.

``That's what people don't understand. I never sat around waiting for the head-coaching job,'' Chow said. `` I stayed around for my family. Then it was time to go. I knew LaVell Edwards was leaving, so I left.

``I didn't sit around waiting for that job. The sad part is a lot of other guys sat around and stayed and are now out of work. It was time to go. I knew things were going to change. Of all the other guys that stayed, four are out of work.''

Chow left BYU in 2000 for North Carolina State. At the time, he became the highest-paid assistant coach in the country, making $150,000. He quickly developed freshman quarterback Phillip Rivers into a star and became a popular figure in Raleigh, N.C.

But the success at North Carolina State didn't ease the speculation in Provo, Utah, that Chow left on bitter terms.

``I left because it was time to go and I knew I wanted to go in another direction,'' he said.

Whether it's true he wanted to be the head coach at BYU, Chow hasn't acted like a man desperate to lead a program since he's been at USC. In the past two years, he turned down offers from Southern Methodist and Kentucky to be the head coach.

He said it didn't matter BYU never gave him a courtesy interview before hiring Gary Crowton, then an assistant with the Chicago Bears.

``No, no, I didn't expect that,'' Chow said. ``They made up their mind to go in a different direction.''

Chow even speaks kindly of Crowton.

``He's good salt,'' Chow said.

Even those close to Chow don't think this week's game bears special meaning.

``I think there's something there but it's not any more important than any other game,'' said USC quarterbacks coach Steve Sarkisian, who played for Chow at BYU. ``I don't think his emotions run any higher than for Auburn.''

Perhaps it's because of Chow's understated manner that the game isn't seen with more significance.

``He's not a man of many words,'' Sarkisian said.

By contrast, if USC coach Pete Carroll was going up against a former team, he'd make no effort to conceal his emotional attachment. In particular, in the NFL, Carroll enjoyed facing his favorite team, the San Francisco 49ers, where he was an assistant.

``I always wanted to win those games more than anything,'' said Carroll, who graduated from the University of the Pacific and was a head coach or assistant with five pro teams. ``Some of my favorite wins in the NFL were against San Francisco.

``I've always thought in matchups like these, when a guy's going against his hometown team, it causes special feelings.''

That underscores the differences between Carroll and Chow. Although Chow said, ``Guys have called for tickets,'' he hasn't spoken much about the game.

``We really haven't talked about it,'' Sarkisian said.

Even Sarkisian soft-pedaled the feeling about facing his alma mater.

``There's not a guy I played with or coached with,'' he said. ``It's a different head coach and different uniforms. There's not a lot of ties.''

It might be a little different for Chow. His wife and youngest son still live in Utah. In fact, Chow said he stayed at BYU for so long so he could rear his family there.

``I stayed around for my family,'' he said.

Now, with BYU coming to the Coliseum on Saturday, he doesn't want anyone to get excited about the idea he's facing his former longtime employer.

``It's one game at a time,'' Chow said.

Scott Wolf, [phone]

scott.wolf(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

2 photos, 2 boxes

Photo:

(1 -- color) USC offensive coordinator Norm Chow, pictured, spent 27 years at BYU and left after coach LaVell Edwards' retirement in 2000.

(2) Norm Chow, second from left, rose to prominence as a BYU assistant coach by mentoring its long line of strong quarterbacks.

Steve Mitchell/Associated Press

Box:

(1) EXPERTS' consensus: WOLF'S PICKS

(2) AP TOP 25