UCLA fires Mora

[AlaskanFAN 1,665]

Mora fired as HC at UCLA after 6 seasons. They were even nice enough to do it on his 56th birthday. 

http://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/21472304/ucla-bruins-fire-head-coach-jim-mora-six-seasons

UCLA fired football coach Jim Mora after six seasons, a day after the Bruins lost to rival Southern California for the third straight year.

Offensive coordinator Jedd Fisch will serve as interim head coach for the remainder of the season. Fisch declined to comment on the move, which was announced by athletic director Dan Guerrero on Sunday -- Mora's 56th birthday.

UCLA fell 28-23 at USC on Saturday night to drop to 5-6.

"Making a coaching change is never easy, but it's an especially difficult decision when you know that a coach has given his all to our University," Guerrero said in a statement. "Jim helped reestablish our football program, and was instrumental in so many ways in moving the program forward.

"While his first four seasons at UCLA were very successful, the past two seasons have not met expectations. We thank Jim and his family for his service to our school and his unquestionable commitment to our student-athletes."

Mora said in a statement later Sunday that he wanted to thank Guerrero and the administration "for giving me the chance to work at a great institution for the past six years. Coaching student-athletes at UCLA has been the most rewarding experience of my career, and I know the future is bright for the program."

He thanked the "outstanding coaches" for their efforts, and the student-athletes he'd had "the privilege to work with."

"Again, thank you for the opportunity to be the head football coach at UCLA. It has truly been an honor."

Mora compiled a 46-30 record with the Bruins, but after going 29-11 in his first three seasons, UCLA is just 17-19. It can still qualify for a bowl game with a win against Cal at the Rose Bowl on Friday, and would accept an invitation pending any conflicts with the school's finals' schedule, a school spokesperson confirmed.

Fisch declined comment on Mora's dismissal, but said he would address the media on Monday. He told ESPN his focus was on "trying to game plan for Cal."

Guerrero will lead the search for Mora's replacement and be assisted by senior associate athletic director Josh Rebholz, booster Casey Wasserman and former UCLA quarterback Troy Aikman.

Under the terms of his contract, Mora is owed approximately $12.36 million. UCLA said it will exclusively use department-generated funds to cover the cost. Before bonuses, he was scheduled to make roughly $3.7 million annually through the 2021 season. He was California's highest-paid state employee.

As it became clear UCLA would fail to meet expectations for a consecutive season, Mora addressed his job status last week.

"Every day that I've ever coached football, I've felt like I'm coaching for my job, so nothing's ever changed," he said. "Every day, I'm going to go into the office and I'm going to do the best I can, and I'm not going to leave until I've done everything I can to be the best I can be."

The Bruins won 13 of their first 20 games against ranked teams in Mora's tenure, but have since lost six straight. They also won three straight against rival USC after Mora was hired, and have now lost three in a row.

UCLA currently has the nation's No. 14-ranked recruiting class for 2018 and has finished with a top-20 class the past three years.

 

 

 

 

 

[augolf1716 21,109]

Mora is a strange coach. Got to know him when he was Falcons coach. Just to young at the  time for the Falcons. Very OCD 

[PowerOfDixieland 3,226]

27 minutes ago, augolf1716 said:

Mora is a strange coach. Got to know him when he was Falcons coach. Just to young at the  time for the Falcons. Very OCD 

He is one of the bigger "richards" in coaching.  Totally sarcastic and bitter personality.  He's running out of places to coach.

[AU64 10,122]

1 hour ago, PowerOfDixieland said:

He is one of the bigger "richards" in coaching.  Totally sarcastic and bitter personality.  He's running out of places to coach.

With his buyout he can wait it out comfortably though...

Wasn't he one of the people on our wish list a while back.?

[Mikey 16,576]

46 minutes ago, AU64 said:

With his buyout he can wait it out comfortably though...

Wasn't he one of the people on our wish list a while back.?

If you read this board long enough, you'll see every coach in the nation on some disgruntled Auburn fan's wish list.

[mcgufcm 4,096]

I suspect this, not Gainesville, is the Chip Kelly landing zone. 

[Randman5000 4,226]

Ouch. I liked Mora. I thought he would have had better success. 

[AU64 10,122]

So now Chip's name is tossed into the pot for UCLA.....beginning to think he is this generation's version of John Gruden....every HC opening that comes along he name is immediately tossed into the conversation.  

Chip is considered a west coast guy but seems he went to Oregon from New Hampshire or something .....so seems he's adaptable.

Guess that might be Mora's last rodeo ?  

[Randman5000 4,226]

I hope Chip goes to UCLA and not Florida. 

[ToraGirl 5,498]

18 hours ago, PowerOfDixieland said:

He is one of the bigger "richards" in coaching.  Totally sarcastic and bitter personality.  He's running out of places to coach.

Oh, but people were throwing his name around for Auburn's HC back in the day.  Not so long-ago-and-far-away day.  Time tells a lot.

[PoetTiger 1,896]

7 hours ago, Randman5000 said:

I hope Chip goes to UCLA and not Florida. 

somebody needs to bring some balance to the East....it’s UGA and no one else.

[lionheartkc 6,150]

17 hours ago, PoetTiger said:

somebody needs to bring some balance to the East....it’s UGA and no one else.

I'd rather it be Tennessee... bama needs to be challenged by the East annually. 

[80Tiger 899]

I don't see him to UCLA. Yes he was at Oregon, but he had big time Nike backing. Don't think UCLA will throw the money at Kelly or his staff that would be required to make them relevant. Not sure he ends up at UF either. Seems to be over rated IMO.

[AU64 10,122]

9 minutes ago, 80Tiger said:

I don't see him to UCLA. Yes he was at Oregon, but he had big time Nike backing. Don't think UCLA will throw the money at Kelly or his staff that would be required to make them relevant. Not sure he ends up at UF either. Seems to be over rated IMO.

He was a pioneer with the hurry up offense and did a lot with undersized players . Seems to me the conference would benefit by having a guy with his background coming in. Most of the recent new coaches in the SEC haven't brought much of a reputation with them . 

[gravejd 3,270]

Kelley to UCLA seems like a good fit to me. UCLA tends to have good QBs go through there just naturally and Kelley wouldn't need the NIKE backing he had at Oregon to get recruits interested

[lionheartkc 6,150]

17 hours ago, AU64 said:

He was a pioneer with the hurry up offense and did a lot with undersized players . Seems to me the conference would benefit by having a guy with his background coming in. Most of the recent new coaches in the SEC haven't brought much of a reputation with them . 

I'm not sold that he could survive the SEC. It's not like he fared well against the two decent SEC teams he played while he was at Oregon. I think Chip gets a lot of credit for dominating a lesser conference that was even weaker when he was the coach at Oregon.
 

Also, don't forget that he was busted for illegal recruiting to make his team dominant in the PAC. Anyone who thinks it was an isolated incident is kidding themselves. Its not like Nike isn't know for manipulating players in other sports. I think he would thrive at bama with the REC in his pocket, but I would expect him to struggle in recruiting unless he built an SEC staff under him.

[Barnacle 9,064]

8 minutes ago, lionheartkc said:

I'm not sold that he could survive the SEC. It's not like he fared well against the two decent SEC teams he played while he was at Oregon. I think Chip gets a lot of credit for dominating a lesser conference that was even weaker when he was the coach at Oregon.

Hard to know. I think he's worth the risk, though. Will come down to recruiting. Don't think he had the players to compete in the SEC.

[lionheartkc 6,150]

Just now, Barnacle said:

Hard to know. I think he's worth the risk, though. Will come down to recruiting. Don't think he had the players to compete in the SEC.

Which is interesting since he had Nike to get him pretty much any player he wanted. 

I don't think his style of football translates to this conference. Speed only kills when the things that are bigger than you are also quite a bit slower than you. I see him as the opposite of Bielema, who was dead set in his belief that he could conquer the SEC with slow but strong BIG 10 football. If Chip brings in his small but fast PAC 10 philosophy, it will be the National Championship game for him all over again.

If he coaches in the SEC, he's going to have to change his stripes a bit. As we've seen first hand, that's not a strong suit of most coaches.

[LKEEL75 2,566]

No way he survives in SEC ball.  He didn't survive in the NFL because he doesn't care about D.  Of course we all know that defense wins championships

[Barnacle 9,064]

Just now, lionheartkc said:

Which is interesting since he had Nike to get him pretty much any player he wanted. 

I don't think his style of football translates to this conference. Speed only kills when the things that are bigger than you are also quite a bit slower than you. I see him as the opposite of Bielema, who was dead set in his belief that he could conquer the SEC with slow but strong BIG 10 football. If Chip brings in his small but fast PAC 10 philosophy, it will be the National Championship game for him all over again.

If he coaches in the SEC, he's going to have to change his stripes a bit. As we've seen first hand, that's not a strong suit of most coaches.

Except he didn't get any player he wanted. Like I said, its hard to know either way, but I think he's worth the risk. If he is able to recruit at an SEC level on both lines, then he obviously increases his chances at being successful. Since Hugh Freeze was successful in his style in the SEC West, I have no doubt that Chip's style could be successful in the East. He just needs to recruit at a very high level, which is a pre-req to success in our conference anyway.

[Barnacle 9,064]

3 minutes ago, lkeel75 said:

No way he survives in SEC ball.  He didn't survive in the NFL because he doesn't care about D.  Of course we all know that defense wins championships

I thought that 2010 defense was pretty darn good. 

[lionheartkc 6,150]

4 minutes ago, Barnacle said:

Except he didn't get any player he wanted. Like I said, its hard to know either way, but I think he's worth the risk. If he is able to recruit at an SEC level on both lines, then he obviously increases his chances at being successful. Since Hugh Freeze was successful in his style in the SEC West, I have no doubt that Chip's style could be successful in the East. He just needs to recruit at a very high level, which is a pre-req to success in our conference anyway.

The difference between Kelly and Freeze is that Kelly intentionally recruited smaller, faster guys on the D-line and at backer because he believed (and was right in the PAC) that he could win with speed over power. Is he willing to change his philosophy and focus more on power? That's the big question.

If he hires a couple of lock down recruiters and is willing to alter his philosophy, I could see him doing well. But I could say the same thing about other coaches who would probably cost a lot less. I just think he gets far too much love for someone who had a successful run at one college (yes, he was only the head coach at a single school), under questionable circumstances, and a sub-par run in the NFL.

Incidentally, the similarities between Kelly and Freeze is that they both took good but not great programs to a level not before seen and they both left as known cheaters in recruiting.

[lionheartkc 6,150]

14 minutes ago, Barnacle said:

I thought that 2010 defense was pretty darn good. 

I still believe that if the field wasn't such a disaster that night, the score wouldn't have been so close.

[Barnacle 9,064]

4 hours ago, lionheartkc said:

I still believe that if the field wasn't such a disaster that night, the score wouldn't have been so close.

They had a great plan. No question we were the better team, however. 

[auskull 239]

I think at this moment, UF is desperate, much like UAT when it went after Saban. I think odds are Kelly will end up at UF.