2025-26 Coaching Carousel | Page 22 | The Boneyard

2025-26 Coaching Carousel

Nicklo28 said:
I agree. That’s my only concern if Mora leaves will Benedict make the right hire.
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I don't think Benedict will get the next hire right, and that's what scares the tish out of me. We lucked into Mora, we'll not catch lightning in a bottle twice consecutively.
 
KryHavok said:
I don't think Benedict will get the next hire right, and that's what scares the tish out of me. We lucked into Mora, we'll not catch lightning in a bottle twice consecutively.
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I think the program is in a much better place with resources - funds. It was also shown you can win here. I think it will be much easier to get a new head coach if and it is a big if Mora is leaving.
 
KryHavok said:
I don't think Benedict will get the next hire right, and that's what scares the tish out of me. We lucked into Mora, we'll not catch lightning in a bottle twice consecutively.
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He hired Mora and he hired Hurley. He came from Auburn where football is king.

What makes you think he'll get the next hire wrong, exactly?
 
I want Jim to stay as much as the next guy.

One aspect I think has been overlooked is financial security. Jim is 64, not 35 or 45. He has made his wealth, no longer in the “accumulation phase” as are many of his younger contemporaries. Big bucks may be much less important to him than “quality of life.”

Proximity to family, comfortably, wife’s preferences, etc…..these matter more as we age…….I know, at 77.

If he goes, I’ll be forever grateful that he made us relevant again. If he stays, I’ll simply be grateful.
 
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UConnTrumbull said:
Just our luck
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I always figured that if Jim was successful here, he would be here 3 to 4 years and then move on. It's the nature of the business.

If he thinks it's time to bounce then best of luck to him.

What is surprising is that if the interest is legitimate, then they are overlooking some of the absolute coaching debacles we have seen this season and the second or third softest SOS in the FBS. This isn't meant to be negative, it's just the truth.
 
Cal is a bit of a head scratcher, Wilcox has the second-best record of any head coach they've had in the 2000s (under .500 but they've been dreadful much of the time) and will have them in a third straight bowl game this year.
 
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ZooCougar said:
I always figured that if Jim was successful here, he would be here 3 to 4 years and then move on. It's the nature of the business.

If he thinks it's time to bounce then best of luck to him.

What is surprising is that if the interest is legitimate, then they are overlooking some of the absolute coaching debacles we have seen this season and the second or third softest SOS in the FBS. This isn't meant to be negative, it's just the truth.
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I agree. I think Jim is very good at managing a program, evaluations, meeting with boosters, liked by his players (players coach), etc. But I think he is below average in game decisions and halftime adjustments
 
I don’t know what Mora will do. I think he ‘ll be here but if not Thank you Coach!

Mora is a professional in the best sense of the term. He knew what was needed and went out and did it. I think he was embarrassed about the 2023 performance and basically said that won’t happen again!

He is also a very good football coach. Maybe not Saban but put him at Bama with those resources and I wouldn’t be shocked if he won a title.
 
ScottVib said:
Cal is a bit of a head scratcher, Wilcox has the second-best record of any head coach they've had in the 2000s (under .500 but they've been dreadful much of the time) and will have them in a third straight bowl game this year.
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Getting trounced by a bad archrival doesnt help.
 
freescooter said:
I don’t know what Mora will do. I think he ‘ll be here but if not Thank you Coach!

Mora is a professional in the best sense of the term. He knew what was needed and went out and did it. I think he was embarrassed about the 2023 performance and basically said that won’t happen again!

He is also a very good football coach. Maybe not Saban but put him at Bama with those resources and I wouldn’t be shocked if he won a title.
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I think Deboer has proven that winning National Championships at Alabama is not a given.
 
freescooter said:
I don’t know what Mora will do. I think he ‘ll be here but if not Thank you Coach!

Mora is a professional in the best sense of the term. He knew what was needed and went out and did it. I think he was embarrassed about the 2023 performance and basically said that won’t happen again!

He is also a very good football coach. Maybe not Saban but put him at Bama with those resources and I wouldn’t be shocked if he won a title.
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Jim is a great manager of a program. Top notch. But he is not remotely close to Saban’s level. Saban was successful at three different universities - Michigan State, LSU one a title and at Alabama won 6 of them, you are trying to compare Mora to the greatest college football coach ever. Mora’s weakness is he is not very good at making decisions in a game and particularly halftime adjustments.
 
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huskymedic said:
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I was at a friend's house who has three kids enrolled at FSU. Two were home today for Thanksgiving week. None of them were happy.
They also don't have $60m to affect the decision making process.
 
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Vowelguy said:
Getting trounced by a bad archrival doesnt help.
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I get it, but if you aren't sure who that next guy is... that's a program that has vacillated between dreadful and mediocre for most of the last 25 years and there's every chance that you pay the buy out and get worse. In the end it feels a bit like a director of football operations looking to make their mark by hiring their guy.
 
ScottVib said:
I get it, but if you aren't sure who that next guy is... that's a program that has vacillated between dreadful and mediocre for most of the last 25 years and there's every chance that you pay the buy out and get worse. In the end it feels a bit like a director of football operations looking to make their mark by hiring their guy.
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Mora and west coast job openings are de rigueur…
 
ScottVib said:
I get it, but if you aren't sure who that next guy is... that's a program that has vacillated between dreadful and mediocre for most of the last 25 years and there's every chance that you pay the buy out and get worse. In the end it feels a bit like a director of football operations looking to make their mark by hiring their guy.
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Riverboat Ron Rivera
 
UConnDan97 said:
He hired Mora and he hired Hurley. He came from Auburn where football is king.

What makes you think he'll get the next hire wrong, exactly?
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I generally love your positivity, not gonna blow smoke up your arse at all cuz I really respect your passion for UConn, but let's not conflate notions. Getting Hurley was absolutely brilliant, though UConn basketball was well established with 4 prior men's BBall championships, and Hurley knows full well of our legacy given his own Big East history. We don't really have issues with basketball hires (notwithstanding Ollie's later years).

Yes, Benedict came from Auburn... where he worked for just 2 years before becoming our AD. I think his SEC creds are an oversell TBH when it comes to football. I realize he was essentially forced to bring back RE. That said, if his SEC experience were that much of an asset he could've perhaps found a way to bring in better (assistant) coaches during RE2. Him getting Mora may not have been so much his singular doing but also Mora reaching out. There was a mutuality at play then.

So then why my pessimism now, it's predicated on several aspects. We've been drubbed ad nauseum about our lack of conference with nothing to play for (forget the CFP) and very little glory to achieve (high tiered bowl tie-in). We've been spurned by the 2 power conferences that had a passing fancy for us. We don't unfortunately recruit well from our home area, and no 4 star player is gonna waltz through our door. What talented and upcoming coach would willingly walk into that situation? We have top flight G6 facilities that can hold their own against many P4 schools, but so what? The 2010's showed that we couldn't get anybody decent to come here except a has been, a nut job, and spineless coward.

We need a tactician who can draft via the portal and spot the diamonds in the rough (yep, sounds exactly like Mora)...I don't feel confident that Benedict can convince that type of successful coach to come here (I think he can certainly find him, but hiring him would be a Herculean task). I don't see anybody competent who fits that mold and who has UConn as their preferred next job.

I will be happy to eat my words if I'm wrong and Benedict finds our next savior...I'll be even happier if this whole thing passes over and Mora stays several more years.
 
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KryHavok said:
I generally love your positivity, not gonna blow smoke up your arse at all cuz I really respect your passion for UConn, but let's not conflate notions. Getting Hurley was absolutely brilliant, though UConn basketball was well established with 4 prior men's BBall championships, and Hurley knows full well of our legacy given his own Big East history. We don't really have issues with basketball hires (notwithstanding Ollie's later years).

Yes, Benedict came from Auburn... where he worked for just 2 years before becoming our AD. I think his SEC creds are an oversell TBH when it comes to football. I realize he was essentially forced to bring back RE. That said, if his SEC experience were that much of an asset he could've perhaps found a way to bring in better (assistant) coaches during RE2. Him getting Mora may not have been so much his singular doing but also Mora reaching out. There was a mutuality at play then.

So then why my pessimism now, it's predicated on several aspects. We've been drubbed ad nauseum about our lack of conference with nothing to play for (forget the CFP) and very little glory to achieve (high tiered bowl tie-in). We've been spurned by the 2 power conferences that had a passing fancy for us. We don't unfortunately recruit well from our home area, and no 4 star player is gonna waltz through our door. What talented and upcoming coach would willingly walk into that situation? We have top flight G6 facilities that can hold their own against many P4 schools, but so what? The 2010's showed that we couldn't get anybody decent to come here except a has been, a nut job, and spineless coward.

We need a tactician who can draft via the portal and spot the diamonds in the rough (yep, sounds exactly like Mora)...I don't feel confident that Benedict can convince that type of successful coach to come here (I think he can certainly find him, but hiring him would be a Herculean task). I don't see anybody competent who fits that mold and who has UConn as their preferred next job.

I will be happy to eat my words if I'm wrong and Benedict finds our next savior...I'll be even happier if this whole thing passes over and Mora stays several more years.
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The deck is still stacked. Stability, increased resources (even incrementally), and savvy scheduling is the continued road forward. Mora has to be the guy for the rest of the decade. Fingers crossed. Joe Morehead ain’t it.
 
Rdkid said:
The deck is still stacked. Stability, increased resources (even incrementally), and savvy scheduling is the continued road forward. Mora has to be the guy for the rest of the decade. Fingers crossed. Joe Morehead ain’t it.
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Perhaps Mora is using this as leverage for Dave to commit more resources
 
I'm not sold on Mora leaving, and I absolutely believe that there may be one or two specific places that we would need to worry about, anywhere else would merely be someone throwing names in a hat. Stanford may be one of those specific places, but until I hear something real I will postpone panic mode.

If we do need to hire a new head football coach in the very near future I cannot say without any doubt that Benedict will hire the right guy. I can say without a doubt that I would rather have him make the hire than any AD we've ever had.
 
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