UConn hires ex-UCLA coach Mora to rebuild team
UConn has hired former UCLA and NFL coach Jim Mora to lead the program. Mora will begin as an assistant this season to start recruiting for the 1-8 Huskies.
OT- UConn Football Turns to Jim Mora To Rebuild
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For a minute there, with the video I thought they hired pops, LOL! is he still alive ? ...Well they didn't go for a up and comer or unknown, so this is a name that is pretty unexpected. Tons of HC'ing experience in the NFL and CFB. What they run and who they hire for an OC should be just as interesting. They need to play modern day offensive CFB .....even if they lose. ...Also nice that he's starting as an assistant for recruiting purposes immediately.
Jim L. Mora - New Uconn Head coach
Also interesting that interim Uconn HC coach Lou Spanos and the offense advisor Noel Mazzone, who Uconn hired after Edsall was told to take a hike..... both served with Mora at UCLA as DC and OC...
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The elder Jim Mora last coached in the NFL in 2001 and is now 86 and retired.
Jim E. Mora - Wikipedia
In depth breakdown from (an Aman sighting !).....Some speculation on his assistants, plus another current Uconn coach( Kyle Weiss) was also on his staff at UCLA.. One of Mora's former staff at UCLA who probably won't be working for him is Sal Alosi. I'd least I guess not since Sal has taken court action vs. Uconn.
www.theuconnblog.com
Jim Mora named UConn football’s new head coach
The former UCLA and Atlanta Falcons coach will be taking over the UConn football program.
www.theuconnblog.com
I am a little curious why he did not appear to get any other offers after UCLA fired him. His first 3 years at UCLA he was 29-11, but the last 3 he went 17-19. Aman's article raises disturbing questions about old school, Edsall-like mentality. Regardless of that, he has no track record as a college program builder, as Danny Hurley did when he came to UConn. So we will need to hope for the best and hope he does better than the last 3 disastrous hires, because if he doesn't, UConn will develop a national reputation as a graveyard of coaches and have trouble attracting coaching talent. None of UConn's last 3 coaches are coaching anywhere, they are all in the coaching graveyard. And we gotta hope Mora does not join them there.
First, Full disclosure, I was requested by Uconn and sat it in on a zoom call discussion on the FB Coaching hire with the lead from the Parker Search Agency.
Since I spend more time on TOS lately I can pass a few things on. Not that this guarantees anything on Mora, but there were alot of narratives that said Uconn wouldn't, couldn't, blah, blah, blah. That wasn't actually the view by people who handle these things at a higher level nationally ....(Parker)... So this hire and resume proves that.
First of all Aman's not completely right. Most Uconn fans honest about where this program is, and understand were' not getting Nick Saban, have viewed this hire very positive in the poll.
Aman linked an article that talked about Mora going Old School pro-style on offense being a bad decision later in his UCLA career. But Mora's 10 win seasons were with Mazzone as his OC and the spread, exactly who Uconn brought in this year to fix Uconn's O. So I'd guess Mora has played it both ways and is way more " new school " / flexible than Edsall. But no matter what, like you said: "we will need to hope for the best and hope he does better than the last 3 disastrous hires "
Regarding other offers, besides going through the Ollie (divorce) thing at UCLA and wanting to spend time with his HS aged kids after the UCLA gig, that are all in college now..... he couldn't afford to take a new job unless he wanted to give thi$ up.
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Regarding program building at UCLA they were 21-29 before Mora under Rick Neuheisel.....Mora like you mentioned was 46-30 with a 9 & two 10 win seasons.... and UCLA's been 15-25 since he left under Chip Kelly.
So be careful what you wish for..... But after the last 3 Uconn HC's......Chip's record would even do...SMH
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FWIW, Here's the poll, which is surprising seeing that most Uconn FB fans can't agree or be positive about anything, since we've been kicked in the nuts so long.
Rate the Hire (Jim Mora Poll )
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“We’re going to hire a great offensive coordinator that’s progressive in his thought process, is not stubborn in the way that he approaches the game and is intent on putting our players in the best position to have success and score points,” Mora said.
Speaking of Rebuild, very interesting piece by ESPN, the day after the Mora hire.........very long/in depth piece with alot of the main characters...I don't think ESPN would have done this kind of work with any other hire, so the Mora to Uconn era is already grabbing national attention. Now Mora needs to start winning FB games, which I'm sure CBS and their Uconn TV contract won't hate either with a headliner in charge.
"Inside the lobby of the UConn football facility, bowl trophies shimmer inside their perfectly maintained glass cases, an ever-present reminder that there once was a time when the Huskies were not the butt of football jokes.....Conference realignment soon wreaked havoc on the collegiate landscape, affecting the Big East in a catastrophic way. In the fallout, one could make the argument that no program has been hurt worse than UConn. "
Paul Pasqualoni still remembers the morning the ACC made its final realignment announcement, in 2012: It would take Louisville over UConn to replace Maryland. He describes the news as a "giant punch in the stomach."
I have to give Diaco some credit for his statement and accountability.....
In a phone interview, Diaco said he felt he had enough administrative support, the facilities and the budget to get the job done."I just didn't win enough games in that last year, with the expectations where they were," Diaco said. "But it wasn't for a lack of support and resources. It was just my fault, honestly. It's a production business, and if it's not there, then you don't get to do it. I took complete accountability. I don't think they were resource-related or conference-related, or anybody else's fault."
www.espn.com
"Inside the lobby of the UConn football facility, bowl trophies shimmer inside their perfectly maintained glass cases, an ever-present reminder that there once was a time when the Huskies were not the butt of football jokes.....Conference realignment soon wreaked havoc on the collegiate landscape, affecting the Big East in a catastrophic way. In the fallout, one could make the argument that no program has been hurt worse than UConn. "
Paul Pasqualoni still remembers the morning the ACC made its final realignment announcement, in 2012: It would take Louisville over UConn to replace Maryland. He describes the news as a "giant punch in the stomach."
I have to give Diaco some credit for his statement and accountability.....
In a phone interview, Diaco said he felt he had enough administrative support, the facilities and the budget to get the job done."I just didn't win enough games in that last year, with the expectations where they were," Diaco said. "But it wasn't for a lack of support and resources. It was just my fault, honestly. It's a production business, and if it's not there, then you don't get to do it. I took complete accountability. I don't think they were resource-related or conference-related, or anybody else's fault."
Adelson: How UConn football became the biggest loser in realignment
In the 10 years since playing Oklahoma in the 2011 Fiesta Bowl, UConn has become the poster child for conference realignment's losers. Can the Huskies find their way back to college football relevancy?
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Jim Mora: I’m Pretty Fired Up | FOX Sports Radio
UCONN Head Football Coach Jim Mora joins Doug Gottlieb on The Doug Gottlieb Show.
Pops already chimed in and didn't pull any punches about what he saw with Uconn.
“I watched the first half,” Jim E. Mora. “Here’s my impression. One, I think the defense was respectable. Respectable. I thought the offense was bad. Real bad. To play at the major college level and the teams they’ve got to play, they’ve got to get better. A lot better.”
"The younger Mora is not as blunt and doesn’t believe in throwing players under the bus, or making a sideline show of chewing one out. Like Dan Hurley, he believes in doing the hard coaching in practice and being supportive on game days."
Also heard Benedict didn't pull any punches about the task at hand. But Jim L. and pops both said yes to doing this and wanted the challenge. Kinda sounds like the same way Calhoun knew what he getting into when he took over Uconn hoops with no Gampel and Uconn a bottom feeder in the Big East.
“He called me last Tuesday or Wednesday,” the new UConn coach football said Sunday in an empty XL Center hours before the women’s basketball opener, “and he said, ‘You know, I’ve been thinking. You’ve got to take that job. Guys like me and you, we’re bleepin’ competitors. We’ve got to bleepin’ compete.’ And he doesn’t usually cuss like that, especially to me. “He doesn’t throw F-bombs around, and he goes, ‘This is what makes us who we are. You’ve got to go take that job.’ That fired me up.’”
They talk nearly every day. His father called before the game at Clemson to tell Jim L. he was inheriting the third-youngest team in college football, “so you’ve got some guys to work with.”
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Great read from NBC Sports on the Mora hire:
I caught up with Mora late Friday afternoon, just off a plane in Atlanta, on his way from his home in Idaho to see Saturday’s UConn game at Clemson. “This is the craziest thing,” Mora said, terminal noise in the background. “Do you realize that a week ago today, I’m on vacation in Venice, having a wonderful time in Italy, and today I’m back in it, the coach of UConn? Crazy!”
Five questions with the new football coach of one of the truly needy teams in major-college football:
FMIA: This came out of nowhere. How in the world did you get this job?
Mora: “I was hopeful that I’d get another opportunity be a head coach in college football. I really enjoy coaching college football. But I was starting to doubt if it was gonna happen as time went on, after UCLA. [Mora was fired in November 2017.] When this job came open, I reached out to them. I don’t think I was on their radar at all. I mean, at all. I haven’t been on anyone’s radar. I had a couple people reach out to the athletic director, David Benedict, and he got interested. We’d done some Zoom calls. I told him, ‘I’m going away for about two weeks.’ He goes, ‘Have a good time. Nothing’s gonna happen while you’re gone.’ So I’m in Venice last week and he calls me, says, ‘When are you coming home?’ I said, ‘Sunday.’ He goes, ‘I’ll be in Idaho waiting for you.’ I landed Sunday about 4 in the afternoon. We go out to dinner at 6:30, then we spent all day Monday at my house, and all day Tuesday and all day Wednesday at my house. Got the deal done Wednesday night. Normally, when I’ve taken a job, I’m kind of a baby. I don’t like to move. But I popped up this morning at 5 and I couldn’t wait to jump in the car, get to the airport and fly here.”
Full read - lower in the Pro FB talk column-
profootballtalk.nbcsports.com
I caught up with Mora late Friday afternoon, just off a plane in Atlanta, on his way from his home in Idaho to see Saturday’s UConn game at Clemson. “This is the craziest thing,” Mora said, terminal noise in the background. “Do you realize that a week ago today, I’m on vacation in Venice, having a wonderful time in Italy, and today I’m back in it, the coach of UConn? Crazy!”
Five questions with the new football coach of one of the truly needy teams in major-college football:
FMIA: This came out of nowhere. How in the world did you get this job?
Mora: “I was hopeful that I’d get another opportunity be a head coach in college football. I really enjoy coaching college football. But I was starting to doubt if it was gonna happen as time went on, after UCLA. [Mora was fired in November 2017.] When this job came open, I reached out to them. I don’t think I was on their radar at all. I mean, at all. I haven’t been on anyone’s radar. I had a couple people reach out to the athletic director, David Benedict, and he got interested. We’d done some Zoom calls. I told him, ‘I’m going away for about two weeks.’ He goes, ‘Have a good time. Nothing’s gonna happen while you’re gone.’ So I’m in Venice last week and he calls me, says, ‘When are you coming home?’ I said, ‘Sunday.’ He goes, ‘I’ll be in Idaho waiting for you.’ I landed Sunday about 4 in the afternoon. We go out to dinner at 6:30, then we spent all day Monday at my house, and all day Tuesday and all day Wednesday at my house. Got the deal done Wednesday night. Normally, when I’ve taken a job, I’m kind of a baby. I don’t like to move. But I popped up this morning at 5 and I couldn’t wait to jump in the car, get to the airport and fly here.”
Full read - lower in the Pro FB talk column-
Jim Mora’s Back
FMIA Week 10: Patrick Mahomes And The Day The Chiefs' Slump Ended - Peter King, NBC Sports
Peter King's Football Morning In America (FMIA) column begins with Patrick Mahomes throwing five TDs in Vegas. Plus Packers-Seahawks and more NFL Week 10.
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Another great interview with Rich Eisen including Jim L. doing his Jim E. impersonation of "playoffs" and calling him about "you gotta take that job ". And he tells a dinner with Geno story !
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It's funny how the elder Mora is now better known for his classic "Playoffs" presser than his actual NFL head coaching career, which was very successful. The "Playoffs" presser and Herm Edwards "You Play the Game To Win" presser are probably the two most memorable presser moments in NFL History and are side by side in the YouTube Hall of Fame. Here is the long 50 second version of Mora Sr.'s Playoffs rant (which I failed to post above) and Herm's "Play the Game to Win":
Funny thing about these presser meltdowns, a DJ/producer who I've had at some of my events put out a pretty popular remix/music track of this stuff. DJ Steve Porter is from Amherst and worked at a record store near Umass. He later got signed for some work with both the NBA and ESPN.... Here's his "Press Hop "mix :
Wow they managed to not only work in Mora's "Playoffs" presser but also Joe Namath's drunken sideline interview on ESPN with Suzy Kolber. I watched that interview live at the time it happened and thought the ESPN producers were extremely slow to shut that interview down. It was obvious Namath was drunk from the start. However it was the best thing that could have happened to Namath, who I think got sober after that, and even for Kolber as he made her a sex symbol when she really wasn't. I didn't go all the way through that mixtape but it seems to be missing my favorite college basketball Presser Meltdown with Kevin Borseth, who noted the importance of offensive rebounding in basketball (if I had been at this presser, the first question I would have asked would have been, "hey coach, can you tell us how you really feel about your team's rebounding efforts?", LOL:
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Report: Mora will hire former Greenwich High School Coach John Marinelli:
www.nhregister.com
UConn expected to hire former Greenwich football coach John Marinelli
Although his deal nor his position are finalized, an announcement is expected to come...
Yep, I mentioned it yesterday on the FB board, always seemed to be a disconnect with Edsall and alot of the CT HS coaches. Mora's already been making the rounds in CT ....Before stops @ Arizona and Illinois, Marinelli and his pops have quite a history with the CT HS game. Plus he's an N-zone offense guy who worked with Noel Mazzone ( @ U of AZ) in the past, who Uconn hired to fix the offense this year after Edsall got the boot.
New Uconn FB assistant coaches
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Here's the official announcement on Marinelli and 3 more hires. Also Mora has cleaned house including Uconn's interim HC Lou Spanos, his former DC at UCLA. Looks like they've also hired the youngest head coach in D-1 football, a BC grad, to be associate head coach and OC under Mora.Report: Mora will hire former Greenwich High School Coach John Marinelli:
UConn expected to hire former Greenwich football coach John Marinelli
Although his deal nor his position are finalized, an announcement is expected to come...
List of New Uconn FB assistant coaches (4 official)
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Sounds like he could be groomed as Mora's eventual replacement, although if the offense performs well, he might not stick around until Mora retires and could leave for some other, greener pasture. Trying to trust any of these guys to be "loyal" to UConn is unrealistic, mostly because such loyalty doesn't really exist in reality. So we cannot really try trusting any of these assistant coaches to stay. Bob Diaco didn't stay at ND, as we all know, and ND fans were very upset about it at the time. Of course, they are not so upset any more.
On the same topic, I find the coaching carousel in college football to be the source of great amusement. Many "hot", "flavor of the month" coaches are regularly anointed the "next Messiah", only to be unceremoniously fired 3-4 years later. Recent examples would be Tim Herman at Texas and Dan Mullen at Florida; 1.5 years after an undefeated national championship season, Ed Orgeron was relieved of duties at LSU. Schools like LSU fall in love with themselves and see themselves as the premiere destination in college football, only to have a school like USC, a true college football blue blood, swoop in and hire sway Lincoln Riley (oops, forgot about those Trojans, who lived up to their name in this case). It's a comedy show of greed, hypocrisy, outlandish and wild expectations, and hype. I don't see how any person with a half a brain can watch the college football coaching carousel and not laugh their ass off at this spectacle of the absurd.
It's just one of the truths of that particular profession. Not alot of Coach K's, JC's, Izzo's, Boehiem's etc etc in CFB. It's always an up and down game for not only the HC's but hundreds of assistants( with 15-20+ man staffs) that lose their jobs too.
It makes it easy to see why guys like Edsall and Diaco love to talk about 5 year plans ( or are more than happy to take a whole year off with pay, in Randy's case). RE knew he didn't have to answer questions about losing if you don't play. It' all about excuses and collecting your paycheck as long as possible for most of these guys.
Then you have guys who are/or seem to be heading down like Morehead, who was a Uconn metion, going to Akron in the MAC because he thought he would get a better deal waiting to leave Oregon. Or former Mich, WVU coach, Rich Rodriquez now just accepting a job at Jacksonville St., one of 2 FCS school moving into what's was left of C-USA to hold that conference together.
It makes it easy to see why guys like Edsall and Diaco love to talk about 5 year plans ( or are more than happy to take a whole year off with pay, in Randy's case). RE knew he didn't have to answer questions about losing if you don't play. It' all about excuses and collecting your paycheck as long as possible for most of these guys.
Then you have guys who are/or seem to be heading down like Morehead, who was a Uconn metion, going to Akron in the MAC because he thought he would get a better deal waiting to leave Oregon. Or former Mich, WVU coach, Rich Rodriquez now just accepting a job at Jacksonville St., one of 2 FCS school moving into what's was left of C-USA to hold that conference together.
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This is definitely part of the comical aspect of this. I remember when Kevin Sumlin was at Texas A&M, after a couple of good years with Johnny Manziel at QB, he got a big contract (6 years and $30 million, all guaranteed), but he never had equivalent success as his first two years. The boosters got so impatient with him that a bunch of them banded together to put up the money to buy him out of the guaranteed contract so the school could fire him. I think they actually worked out a deal whereby if the boosters put up the money the school had to fire him, and that's what happened. And I think those same boosters helped pay Jimbo Fisher's contract to replace Sumlin.
I honestly thought Sumlin was mostly a standup guy but apparently his coaching decisions drove the local fans and media (and boosters) bananas. Sumlin then went to Arizona where he lasted 3 years until he lost to Arizona State 70-7 and was fired the next day.
There are some guys who fall into the Coach K/Calhoun/Boeheim/Izzo category. Guys like Nick Saban and Dabo Sweeney and there is a very good under the radar coach at Utah who nobody seems to know but he has been great for around 20 years. But what amuses me is how the media latches onto and builds up guys. Bobby Diaco was one of those guys, whom they called the "hottest coach in the country." 7 years later he is out of coaching after being fired from each of his last 5 jobs in 5 successive years. It's the wild wild world of college football coaching.
And now that Brian Kelly has left ND for LSU I guarantee you ND fans are shocked and insulted that he would leave the "best destination in college football" for LSU. But this is ND's punishment for playing as an Indy. It's keeping them out of the CFP.
And Kelly is another guy who is like the CBB coaches you mentioned. Record of 263-96 in 30 years as a head coach. Pretty amazing. He has won everywhere he has been, 4 different schools.
And Kelly is another guy who is like the CBB coaches you mentioned. Record of 263-96 in 30 years as a head coach. Pretty amazing. He has won everywhere he has been, 4 different schools.
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Yeah, even Saban at Bama for awhile now (15 seasons) and is now 70 has had over a dozen different stops in his career, pro and college ( 5 HC ing jobs)... Crazy thing this CFB coaching carousel.
Another longtime guy like Whittingham, is Gary Patterson . He'd been at TCU forever (22 yrs) and even got em' from C-USA to a P-5 conference (Big 12) right before TCU was ready to join the Big East. ( His best years were when TCU was in the MWC). So he made them millions by building up their brand and elevating them. But be careful what you wish for, because now after a few so so years in the Big 12 he's out of a job.
I think most of these CFB coaches know that's the deal where ever they are , that's why they're all sniffin' around for a new job because they can be gone that quick. Not many retirement jobs that's for sure.
Actually Mora (even though he has only about half his staff confirmed ) said just the opposite in this podcast with former NFL/Virginia DL Chris Long ( yes Howie's son). He said he's bringing in a young staff and he hopes they do well which creates other opportunities for them in the coaching world.
Also he's just the opposite of Edsall, who's such a control freak on his breaking down everything and starting from scratch (so he can justify losing) Randy dismissed it and was against using the portal.
Mora said CFB 's new reality is like the NFL in a way. With CFB recruiting like the NFL draft and you need to supplement your team by Juco's and the Portal which is like NFL free agency , so you can turn the team around and get to winning quicker.
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I think Mora is recognizing the reality of the college football coaching carousel. My statement above was more intended for fans who gripe and complain that assistants leaving UConn are "disloyal", "backstabbers", "opportunists", and "greedy gold-diggers". The posts above have thoroughly examined the culture that produces the college football coaching carousel, so we (like Mora) all have to understand that it is what it is.
On the other hand, I find certain elements of it amusing. My cousin, who is a huge ND fan, was moaning and complaining to me last night about how he was shocked and upset by the departure of Brian Kelly of Notre Dame to LSU. ND fans tend to be in a fog of unreality that the school is the premiere destination in all of college football. I told my cousin there are likely 2 reasons why Kelly left ND: (1) SEC schools continually whipping his ass in recruiting, so that "if you can't beat em, join em"; (2) Kelly thinks he has a better chance winning a NC at LSU than at ND. These truths hit my cousin harder than a Joe Frazier in his prime punch. He seems to think it is automatic that Luke Fickell of Cincy will get the ND job now, but I think Oklahoma will have a lot to say about that.
On the other hand, I find certain elements of it amusing. My cousin, who is a huge ND fan, was moaning and complaining to me last night about how he was shocked and upset by the departure of Brian Kelly of Notre Dame to LSU. ND fans tend to be in a fog of unreality that the school is the premiere destination in all of college football. I told my cousin there are likely 2 reasons why Kelly left ND: (1) SEC schools continually whipping his ass in recruiting, so that "if you can't beat em, join em"; (2) Kelly thinks he has a better chance winning a NC at LSU than at ND. These truths hit my cousin harder than a Joe Frazier in his prime punch. He seems to think it is automatic that Luke Fickell of Cincy will get the ND job now, but I think Oklahoma will have a lot to say about that.
