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As a prep in Oceanside, Calif., Jordan Wynn understood football like few players his age.

As a true freshman at Utah, he started.

As a 23-year-old graduate assistant at Hawaii, Wynn was, for all intents, the offensive coordinator. He told Sports Illustrated he wanted to be a head coach by 32.

Now, at 25, he's a volunteer.

"This business is what it is," said Wynn, who was surprised he wasn't retained after serving as Hawaii's quarterbacks coach and de facto OC in 2014. "You have to keep your head up and roll with the punches."

That meant, for Wynn, calling up onetime Utah coach Dave Schramm to ask if he could contribute this season at Fresno State. For free.

Wynn acts as a sort of unpaid consultant for the Bulldogs, reviewing film and charting plays from the booth on gamedays. Meanwhile, he observes how the FSU staff operates, noting to himself what he'll do differently when he gets the chance to coach again.

Hawaii was a unique experience.

Former Utah OC Norm Chow hired Wynn as a graduate assistant in early 2013, after a fourth shoulder injury forced Wynn's medical retirement from the U.

That summer, Wynn helped persuade Chow to hire former Utah receiver and roommate Luke Matthews for another GA opening.

Then, the day before the start of fall camp, Chow fired offensive coordinator and wideouts coach Aaron Price. The famously cash-strapped Rainbow Warriors wouldn't hire a replacement for two seasons.

Recalled Matthews: "Coach Chow, he sat down with both of us and kind of asked us, 'Hey, do you think you guys can do this?'"

They did.

Chow — who earlier this year declined a request to speak about Wynn — is renowned for his offensive expertise, and one might expect that he had a heavy hand. But that wasn't the case, Matthews said. Chow gave his input and let his offensive coaches hash it out.

By Wynn's fourth game as a graduate assistant, he said, "I was calling the plays and running the meetings and doing the majority of the gameplan."

It was a collaborative effort, and Wynn said he was careful to listen to the more experienced coaches at the table. Coaches and players, likewise, were supportive of him.

Another former Utah quarterback who became an assistant at a young age, former Wynn coach Brian Johnson, said that in that position, "competency is key."

"If your players know and understand that you can teach them, then it's not a problem at all, and I think it can be an advantage," Johnson said.

The Rainbow Warriors struggled in 2013, but they managed 27.4 points per game, up from 21.2 the year before, and Sean Schroeder, a quarterback from the same freshman class as Wynn, threw for 28 touchdowns.

Essentially the offensive coordinator, Wynn was "promoted" to quarterbacks coach in 2014. Matthews officially became wideouts coach, a position he still holds.

Hawaii improved to four wins last season, but its scoring dipped to 20.9 per game, and Chow decided to hire Idaho State offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Don Bailey.

Wynn's 10-year plan took a hit. He was out.

He spent the time between February and July at home in Ocean-side, trying to find a job after most teams had filled their vacancies.

Single, with no kids, and having saved some money during his two years at Hawaii, he broached the idea of volunteering for Schramm. You're too smart for this, Schramm told him, "Go make a bunch of money as an engineer." But Schramm was ultimately happy to reunite with his former recruit, even if NCAA rules prohibit Wynn's involvement with players.

Wynn still occasionally talks to Johnson — last week asking the Mississippi State quarterbacks coach for dirt on No. 15 Ole Miss. And after Wynn was fired, he was flattered to receive guidance from Kyle Whittingham.

"We talked about every two or three weeks," Whittingham said. "Wondering what his next move should be and if I knew of any opportunities, that kind of stuff."

Schramm hopes he'll be able to help Wynn land a job this December or January. An eventual return to Utah — where some current players are former teammates, including former roommate Isaac Asiata — would be "ideal," he said.

But what comes next?

"That's the question." —

No. 21 Utah at Fresno State

O Saturday, 8:30 p.m. MT

TV • CBS Sports Network —

About Jordan Wynn

The Poinsettia Bowl MVP as a true freshman, Wynn went 14-7 while starting in four seasons at Utah, but frequent shoulder injuries caused him to medically retire in 2012. "There's no doubt in my mind: Had Jordan not gotten hurt, he'd be in the NFL right now," said Fresno State offensive coordinator Dave Schramm, who coached Wynn at Utah. After retiring, he spent the remainder of the 2012 season on the sidelines as a sort of student coach, before getting hired as a graduate assistant early in 2013 by former Utah offensive coordinator Norm Chow, at Hawaii.