What is Jay Norvell's ethnicity and nationality? What we know about the CSU Rams HC

Colorado State coach Jay Norvell became the antagonist in the perpetual drama surrounding the Colorado Buffaloes and their coach Deion Sanders earlier this week. Norvell made fiery comments that hint at a spicy encounter when the two teams meet on Saturday.

Jay Norvell was born on Aug. 28, 1963, in Wisconsin to Merritt Norvell, the first black athletics director in Michigan State history. Both his parents are American, making him fully American.

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Is Jay Norvell black?

Colorado State coach Jay Norvell was born to Merritt Norvell, who was black, and Harriette Cynthia Norvell, who was also black and one of the first black models in Wisconsin. They had two sons, Jay and Aaron Norvell.

Merritt Norvell was one of the country's foremost inclusion and equality advocates. He was even specifically thanked for his role in developing minority coaches by former NCAA president Mark Emmert.

Merritt Norvell passed away in 2020, a year after his wife, who succumbed after a battle with cancer.

"We are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Merritt Norvell," Emmert said.

“His remarkable legacy in college sports began as a college athlete at Wisconsin and included serving as one of the country’s first Black athletics directors at Michigan State. Throughout his career, Merritt was a strong advocate for minority coaches and championed leadership and professional development."

Jay Norvell detailed the history of his father working with icons of black consciousness and famous minority rights leaders during his Colorado State unveiling.

“My father was a great man,” Norvell said. “He got his Ph.D. from Wisconsin. He was a social worker. He was a community worker.

"He came up in the late ’60s, and my father was on the Wisconsin campus when Muhammad Ali was traveling and speaking on college campuses; when Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. were speaking. He was the point person (for those speeches).”

Norvell recently made headlines when he took a jab at Colorado coach Deion Sanders.

“I don’t care if they hear this in Boulder,” Norvell said “I told them (ESPN) — I took my hat off, and I took my glasses off. I said, ‘When I talk to grown-ups, I take my hat and my glasses off. That’s what my mother taught me.'”

Jay Norvell is not afraid to pick a fight as evidenced by his back-and-forth verbal feud against one of the most charismatic and effusive coaches in college football, Deion Sanders.