A message from Mora

[jostar1]

Somewhere in one of these threads it's implied that Mora was testing the waters for more money, hoping UConn would match, but Marenka Radic wouldn't sign off. Maybe this is what D'amelio is referring to?

This is what Chief posted:

Chief00 said:
What you owe and what you give are two different things. What you give is what defines you
Having said that Lamont and Benedict took the high road but a Mora like silence from the person who is at the mid point of that reporting relationship. It is clear the ball was dropped in regards to what needed to be a quick negotiations turnaround by the institutional sign off. That is a major failure. The two people who look bad in this is Mora and the President of UConn.

 

[Kolumbo]

Marc got the feeling he didn’t want to leave. His theory is Mora was testing the waters for a big job. Colorado State came. He got an offer. Did UConn match the offer? Did they show they were willing to up the commitment to football?

Marc says these questions need to be asked of UConn.

Marc clearly thinks UConn deserves some blame here.

blame or credit

It would make sense if there were some major disagreement between DB and JM which led to him taking off to his final destination, so to speak, the way he did. It'll be interesting to see what comes out. And if that were the case, so be it. perhaps there was some football membership scenario which JM preferred and DM declined. No matter, it's in everyone's best interest at this point. Pull the sled!!

 

[Gburyhusky]

C'mon guys this is garbage. Mora and Benedict are both seasoned professionals and there's no chance that a lack of communication caused all of this. Your best source on this is Millen.

 

[maple]

I look at how Mora chose to handle leaving UConn to go to CSU and that's really all I need to know about the whole thing. For whatever reason, he decided to leave UConn. Fine. It's how he handled it that sticks in my craw -- you can't just walk it all back now and act like you were essentially forced into making these choices. It rings false.

 

[ThabeetDown]

I don't buy for one second that it was a "failed" renegotiation by Maric. If Mora really wanted to stay, he would still be HC. It's not like anything he got from CSU is better than UConn (or if it was can't be matched), at least what you can negotiate on.

His little BFF trashing the program in the press shows why he left. That's true character on display. Really disappointing from Mora that he clearly didn't believe in the State or the fans any more. Probably was sick of being second fiddle to hoops like he was at UCLA and now he can be the top dog in Fort Collins. These guys are so egotistical. Sad end to a fruitful four years, but Mora is far from the victim that Marc is playing him out to be...

 

[CL82]

We need to get to the bottom of this. Imagine UConn fans turning on Mora without knowing the whole story. lol

That would be like people reflexively defending him without knowing the whole story.

 

[JwittersPAC]

That would be like people reflexively defending him without knowing the whole story.

I assume you know I was joking. I think Mora’s story is bs.

 

[huskymedic]

 

[Waquoit]

He has buyer's remorse already.

 

[CL82]

Reasonable statement by him. Still, he could've handled his departure with considerably more grace. I feel like there's more to this story. I suspect more details will come out over time.

 

[Kolumbo]

I saw a clip of the crowd at and not very impressed at all. Their social media posts are delusional, that's for sure. Last coaching stop, community, blah blah. He'd love to pull out the same speech in 2 years about an hour's drive south in Boulder

 

[UConnJim]

First, college coaches leave all the time, they are either fired or leave for another job. For UConn football, not in a P4 conference, if a coach is successful he will leave. Isn't that better than firing him for failing?

Mora did a great job at UConn, but he fumbled the exit. It didn't help that the last game was in Florida before the Thanksgiving break so players, in general, went home and were not in Storrs. Thus, Mora wasn't able to tell the players in person because nobody was on campus.

Mora has seen the pushback on his departure and he is trying to fix the narrative surrounding his departure. If you read Millen's view of how things went down, Mora made up his mind that he was leaving weeks ago. Millen said Mora and he started texting about the job 2 weeks ago. Heck, Mora's wife visited Ft. Collins to check it out. I would trust what Mora said to Millen, a long time friend, over what D'Amelio thinks might have motivated him to leave.

Finally, there were many reports that Mora was interested in Stanford (been available all season) and Cal and he was identified as a candidate. He wanted one more shot at a P4, but it wasn't going to happen at 65 years old.

 

[HuskiesFan1014]

I just can't be over the top mad at Mora. He came in as a mechanic to fix a broken car and got it running. Maybe he sent the bill without a friendly meet up, but big deal. Maybe he'll take some of your new tires off to keep with him, but that's what the auto mechanic portal says is OK.
Hugh Millen, on the other hand, can kiss me where it stinks. Scorned Dad much, Hugh? Absolutely unnecessary trashing of UConn and his veil is super transparent. He can eat a you know what (starts with D.)

 

[Dove]

Just like Dove said!!!

 

[jostar1]

Just like Dove said!!!

Yes, you were right! I didn't think he would say anything about UConn.

 

[uconnric]

All the comments regarding him are true. What really gets me is that we all believed that David Benedict made it crystal clear what the situation was here in Storrs. Jim begged for the job, David explained the situation, and Jim jumped on it. We didn't bring Jim here to get us halfway home and then jump. We believed once he got us halfway, he had to guts and ability to keep it going. I'm sure we all figured 5-10 years.

He bolted while his stock was high. Is he that insecure that he believed this was his high point? There should be no talent drop off after a year like we had. It was his job to keep moving UConn up. Hit the portal and bring in replacements.

Let's face it, with the abysmal strength of schedule we had, objectively UConn is greatly improved but not more than a decent G5. And we will certainly drop a few notches given how he left and where he left us. I don't see any of this mission accomplished stuff. Maybe, maybe if David told him we'd be in a P4 and that didn't pan out, then maybe it makes sense. But Jim's a big boy. He should know far more about all of this CR bs than the rest of us and should have know it was more likely than not that UConn would still be independent. He's the type who always thinks the grass is greener. At least he found his path to a fully funded retirement.

There aren't too many coaches who bolt to a destination of choice when their stock is low. Given the fact that much of the team had left for Thanksgiving I'm not sure how else he could've handled it. The timing of football recruiting and championships needs a makeover. We usually don't have these issues with basketball coaches.

 

[Bandito2025]

I just can't be over the top mad at Mora. He came in as a mechanic to fix a broken car and got it running. Maybe he sent the bill without a friendly meet up, but big deal. Maybe he'll take some of your new tires off to keep with him, but that's what the auto mechanic portal says is OK.
Hugh Millen, on the other hand, can kiss me where it stinks. Scorned Dad much, Hugh? Absolutely unnecessary trashing of UConn and his veil is super transparent. He can eat a you know what (starts with D.)

After his kid came to UConn and received a great education. What Hugh said was unnecessary

 

[RitzLuce1]

This was a great day for UConn football content.

Ramblin' Russ hour and a half long spaces featuring Marc D'amelio.

(D'amelio joins 17 mins in)


And Joe D'Ambrosio starts cussing out Steve Cully on their uconn football youtube show (starts at 19:50)



Maybe going through a coaching search every 4 years isn't such a bad thing. I haven't been this entertained or seen this much passion in conversations about the program in a long time.

 

[JwittersPAC]

First, college coaches leave all the time, they are either fired or leave for another job. For UConn football, not in a P4 conference, if a coach is successful he will leave. Isn't that better than firing him for failing?

Mora did a great job at UConn, but he fumbled the exit. It didn't help that the last game was in Florida before the Thanksgiving break so players, in general, went home and were not in Storrs. Thus, Mora wasn't able to tell the players in person because nobody was on campus.

Mora has seen the pushback on his departure and he is trying to fix the narrative surrounding his departure. If you read Millen's view of how things went down, Mora made up his mind that he was leaving weeks ago. Millen said Mora and he started texting about the job 2 weeks ago. Heck, Mora's wife visited Ft. Collins to check it out. I would trust what Mora said to Millen, a long time friend, over what D'Amelio thinks might have motivated him to leave.

Finally, there were many reports that Mora was interested in Stanford (been available all season) and Cal and he was identified as a candidate. He wanted one more shot at a P4, but it wasn't going to happen at 65 years old.

Mora also applied for the Oregon State job. He also applied for the Washington State job the year before. So obviously he was thinking of leaving the previous year.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

MorAI

 

[Hoophound]

I couldn’t listen to these dummies.

 

[huskymedic]

🙄 Bit of a click-bait headline after reading the full article:



Assisted <<

 

[WestCoastHusky]

Here is the link to the Space discussion: https://x.com/i/spaces/1yoKMPkeMODxQ

 

[Kolumbo]

I just can't be over the top mad at Mora. He came in as a mechanic to fix a broken car and got it running. Maybe he sent the bill without a friendly meet up, but big deal. Maybe he'll take some of your new tires off to keep with him, but that's what the auto mechanic portal says is OK.
Hugh Millen, on the other hand, can kiss me where it stinks. Scorned Dad much, Hugh? Absolutely unnecessary trashing of UConn and his veil is super transparent. He can eat a you know what (starts with D.)

Eh, they're both the same level of d b a g to me. If it were me switching jobs like this, I'd be sure my friend wasn't going around flapping his lips to the press about how I was sneaking around getting it done. Plus just because I work in a business with slimeballs doesn't mean I would sacrifice my own integrity to be like them. And he came in as more than a mechanic, or so he said.

 

[HuskiesFan1014]

Eh, they're both the same level of d b a g to me. If it were me switching jobs like this, I'd be sure my friend wasn't going around flapping his lips to the press about how I was sneaking around getting it done. Plus just because I work in a business with slimeballs doesn't mean I would sacrifice my own integrity to be like them. And he came in as more than a mechanic, or so he said.

Fair take.

 

[Kolumbo]

 

[KryHavok]

🙄 Bit of a click-bait headline after reading the full article:



Assisted <<

So him got "immediately interested' after Norvell was fired on Oct 19th, that was right after we beat BCU, then the next game we lose to Rice...was him's head up the clouds that week? This means him was checked out almost half of our season.

As for him calling us a basketball school, we'll no ducking tish genius, those 18 trophies (15 when him joined) pretty obviously inform we're really great in that sport. But him completely disregard that we were competitive in Big East football and have sent many players to the NFL. How many BCS/New Year's bowls CSU go to? We're 4-4 in bowls over 25 years vs. 6-12 for CSU in their 100+ years. Is not like we don't have any football identity.

"And I am proud that I was associated with it. It was really, really fun.”

Ahhh, I'm gonna nitpick him here on the choice of words. "Associated" with us, but never truly one of us, that's why him never put Storrs on him's X account, right him? But him definitely feel him's a Ft. Collins guy last Tuesday, no associating there cuz him all in on himself as a Ram.

Him did a really great job for us. And now in the manner that him left, poached our recruits, and perhaps encouraged some of our players to enter the portal, him is largely undoing the very fragile momentum we need to sustain the program. I will take a transactional and perhaps unpopular opinion of thinking that despite the last 2 years of success, the last thing him did to us was to really set back the program by leaving when/how him did, so for that I will offer him no gratitude. It's never a good time to lose a coach, it's even worse to lose one when there are so many shattered pieces to put back together up and not enough glue to go around.

Well this was a rather bleak post. The more open HC positions I see, the less I feel AD Benedict can find the right person to lead our team. Can we hire Saban for a week as a special consultant to give us some insights/recommendations? 😅

 

[ScottVib]

The only area where Colorado State could have an edge on UConn is in percentage of revenue sharing dollars going to football. If Colorado State is committed to fully funding revenue sharing at 20.5M (I bolded because that is a big if) then they are highly likely to spend a higher percentage of that 20.5M on football than UConn is.

Based on the math I did looking at the budget reports (these don't have revenue sharing dollars in them) and comparing football/basketball spends:

CSU: Football ~67%; Men's & Women's Basketball (combined) ~33%
UConn: Football ~37%; Men's Basketball ~39%; Women's Basketball ~24%

I would assume that UConn would probably fund football a little higher than that, as it may not need to spend quite as highly to still be the highest spending women's basketball program... but unlike Colorado State, UConn, the rare FBS program that spends more on basketball than football (despite funding football like most of the top of G5), will need to commit significant resources. I'd also assume that CSU would devote a higher percentage than 67% to football as well.

 

[Kowalski]

🙄 Bit of a click-bait headline after reading the full article:



Assisted <<

What exactly is the purpose of saying “It’s a basketball school” at a press conference about the football program. Everyone knows UConn BB is elite already. Saying it at a football event doesn’t help Uconn’s objectives to raise the profile or its FB program or help DB fill the coaching vacancy with the right candidate. No, it’s clearly just a self-serving statement on Mora’s part.

I remember when Warde Manuel left UConn, he talked about how UConn clearly deserved to be in a power conference even though he obviously wasn’t able to get it done here. Nonetheless, Warde is an example of what a classy person with integrity does when he moves onto another job in college sports.

 

[AllHusky]

Warde was a friend after he left. Obviously anything UConn was not top of mind, but he sure would help us if he could, even if it meant using positive verbiage. Reading Havoks post is grim, but really puts together all the subtle insults and put downs that Mora perpetrated verbally or behaviorally. I am a bit shocked that he is allowed to be on campus to be honest.