UCLA Bruins Hire Jim Mora Jr As Heach Coach
It’s not Kevin Sumlin, it’s not Chris Peterson or Urban Meyer either. The UCLA Bruins have hired former Atlanta Falcons and Seattle Seahawks head coach Jim Mora Jr. as their new head coach. After firing Slick Rick Neuheisel the Bruins decided to go a completely different route with their new head coach.
Hire someone who has absolutely zero ties with the university.
While it might not be the flashiest hire like Peterson or Meyer would have been it’s still a very good hire for a program looking for anything positive. After going 21-29 in four seasons under Neuheisel Mora will be handed the task of getting back to a consistent winning tradition in Pasadena.
So what does Mora bring to UCLA? One, he hasn’t ever coached or played at UCLA which gives him a clean slate. Two, he hasn’t coached in college football which will allow him more wiggle room should he start slow. Three, he’s a defensive minded coach with good leadership and knows how to win.
The closest Mora has gotten to UCLA was back in 1984 when he was a graduate assistant at Washington. Mora did play three years at Washington as defensive back but hasn’t been back to the Pacific Athletic Conference until now. or Mora he comes to UCLA with a collegiate record o 0-0 with the same record in both wins and no All-Americans.
He couldn’t ask or anything better. He’s got the best recruiting base west of Texas in Southern Cal and he’s already got a few good players to build off of quickly. Kevin Prince at quarterback and Jonathan Franklin at runningback are two elite caliber players that Mora will benefit from having right away.
The most important hire for Mora will be who he hires as his offensive coordinator and how strong they are in recruiting. With the high school gold mine known as Southern California Mora will need to hire an offensive coordinator with college experience that can recruit at SoCal.
Having to go up against Steve Sarkisian and Lane Kiffin in recruiting Southern Cal Mora will need to have a solid recruiting class this season to start on the right foot.
Not the flashiest guy, but a coach that can get this program back on track–Jim Mora Jr. If he can get his recruiting going ASAP then he will have a strong start to his college coaching career.
Mora signed a contract for 5 years, $12 million, plus incentives.
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