High school Chow began his coaching career in
Hawaii, where he was born, at
Waialua High and Intermediate School. He was the head coach there from 1970 to 1972 and posted a 5–25 record in three seasons.
BYU In 1973, Chow left for
BYU to be a graduate assistant under
LaVell Edwards, who was installing an innovative pass-oriented offense. He was promoted to receivers coach in 1976, a post he would hold until 1982 (apart from a one-year stint as running backs coach). In 1979, BYU led the country in passing offense, total offense, and scoring offense during the regular season, and quarterback Jim McMahon finished fifth in the Heisman vote. In 1982, head coach
LaVell Edwards named Chow as principal offensive play-caller. Chow continued to call all the offensive plays for the rest of his 17 years at BYU. In 1983, the offense, led by quarterback
Steve Young, set NCAA single-season records for pass completion percentage (71.3%) and total yards per game (584.2). Young finished second in the Heisman vote. In
1984, the unbeaten BYU team won the consensus
national championship. Quarterback
Robbie Bosco finished second in the nation in total passing and third in the Heisman vote. Chow became quarterbacks and receivers coach in 1986. Sarkisian finished the season with a quarterback rating of 162.0, the third highest in the country. During his 27 years with BYU, the Cougars had a record of 244–91–3. Under Chow's tutelage, quarterback
Philip Rivers broke seven school passing records and was named ACC Freshman of the Year.
USC In 2001, Chow accepted
Pete Carroll's offer to serve as the offensive coordinator at
USC, and became one of the highest-paid assistant coaches in the country. In
2002, quarterback
Carson Palmer won the Heisman trophy, the first Trojan to do so since
Marcus Allen in 1981. The
following year, USC finished 12–1 and won the
Associated Press National Championship, the school's first national title since
1978. In
2004, quarterback
Matt Leinart won the school's sixth Heisman trophy and USC trounced Oklahoma 55–19 in the
BCS National Championship. He left USC in spring 2005, after unsuccessfully interviewing for the
Stanford head coaching vacancy, for a job offer to be the offensive coordinator of the
Tennessee Titans—his first job on the professional level. Their head coach,
Jeff Fisher, was a graduate of USC.
Tennessee Titans Chow was the Titans' offensive coordinator from 2005 to 2007. During this time, the Titans had non-losing seasons in 2006 (8–8) and 2007 (10–6), and appeared in the 2007 AFC Playoffs. In 2007, the Titans were 21st overall in total offense, with a total of nine touchdown passes.
UCLA On January 15, 2008, after being fired by the Titans following the 2007 season, Chow was hired by new
UCLA Bruins head coach
Rick Neuheisel as offensive coordinator. While Chow made his reputation by developing quarterbacks, Ramona Shelburne of
ESPNLosAngeles.com said he never really had one to develop at UCLA due to injuries to their quarterbacks.
Utah Chow was immediately hired as the offensive coordinator of the
Utah Utes, a team that was getting ready to enter its first season in the
Pac-12. Chow began his first season as head coach of Hawaii in 2012 and posted a
3–9 record. In his second year, Hawaii finished
1–11, losing five games by a touchdown or less including two in overtime. In response to speculation about his job security, Hawaii's administration expressed confidence in Chow. Through his first two seasons, Chow was one of only two Hawaii coaches (along with
Fred von Appen) to have begun his tenure with consecutive losing seasons since the school attained Division 1 status. On November 1, 2015, Chow was fired as head coach of the University of Hawaii after suffering a 58–7 loss at home against
Air Force. Taking his spot as interim head coach was offensive lineman coach
Chris Naeole. Chow's overall coaching record at Hawaii was 10–36 in four years of coaching.
High school Chow moved to
Manhattan Beach, California after leaving Hawaii and joined the coaching staff of his former wide receiver at USC,
Mike Williams, as an assistant coach at
Van Nuys High School in the spring and summer of 2016. Chow left Van Nuys to be an assistant coach at
Mira Costa High School in Manhattan Beach for the 2016 regular season.
Los Angeles Wildcats On June 12, 2019, new XFL franchise
Los Angeles Wildcats announced Chow had been hired as their offensive coordinator.
Helvetic Guards From August 2022 to April 2024, Chow was the first and only head coach of the
Helvetic Guards in the
European League of Football. In his sole season as head coach, the Guards finished with a 3-9 record and failed to make the playoffs.
Vienna Vikings In April 2025, Chow was hired as an offensive analyst for the
Vienna Vikings. ==Head coaching interest==