The question seems reasonable, even predictable, but Norm Chow wants no part of it. He shakes his head repeatedly, raising his hands as if to ward off an intruder.
With this year's USC-UCLA game fast approaching, the Bruins' offensive coordinator refuses to discuss the time he spent coaching at that other school.
"There's nothing to talk about," he says.
The fact is, this year's edition of the cross-town rivalry involves more than football. The game looks to be a mismatch, so the real drama might be on the sidelines with a delicate web of relationships and hints of sour history between coaches.
Start with Chow and USC Coach Pete Carroll, seemingly the perfect duo -- the offensive guru and the defensive specialist -- combining to rebuild the Trojans in 2001. After four seasons, Chow was gone.
Add UCLA defensive coordinator DeWayne Walker, who served as Carroll's associate head coach for one season before leaving in 2002. Landing at UCLA a few years later, he engineered the 13-9 upset that knocked the Trojans out of the 2007 national championship game.
Then there is Steve Sarkisian, USC's current offensive coordinator. Years ago, Walker recruited him to play quarterback at Brigham Young, where Chow nurtured him into a starter. It was Sarkisian who rejoined the Trojans' staff as part of a reorganization that nudged Chow to the NFL.
Now, private quarterbacks coach Steve Clarkson, who has ties to both programs, compares the rapport between the former colleagues to "the elephant in the room."
"If I'm with Pete or Sark, Norm's name doesn't come up," he says. "And vice versa when I'm with Norm. It will always be the great ghost."
A ghost that might hover over the Rose Bowl on Saturday when Carroll, Chow, Sarkisian and Walker step onto the same field for the first time in seven years.
Prince of the city
For all the success Carroll has enjoyed at USC -- two national championships and six major bowl games in eight years -- some fans can't help but wonder what might have happened if Chow had stuck around.
The highly regarded offensive coordinator jumped to a similar position with the Tennessee Titans in 2005 after pursuing the head coaching position at Stanford. Carroll was considering a plan to promote him and, at the same time, relieve him of play-calling responsibilities.
