Colorado State is expected to make UConn coach Jim Mora the school’s next head coach.

[RedStickHusky]

I like the fact that he's leaving as a success. UConn is not where coaching careers go to die. He's shown players that they can get national attention here and he's shown coaches there is success to be had. The only downside is that we may never know if he did enough to make the P4s rethink us. DB has to keep the momentum (and the money) rolling.

 

[CoreyBellDT]

No way Jim Mora goes to Colorado State. It's a crappy, really crappy G6 job and he'd be sucking ass in the MWC/PAC. He already left UCLA. why waste away losing to Boise State and SDSU? No way. NO WAY. If he were to leave Jim Mora would be dead to me. Dead. Along with UConn Football. But he ain't leaving.

Jim would have to be just another money grubbing blowhard looking for a safe bankroll to take the Colorado State job. Let's see what he says. Bullshit takes the bus.

Really? Colorado St. is one of the best G6 jobs, the main reason he is leaving is that he gets the opportunity to win a Championship and get to the CFP, that's the deciding factor.

 

[Platt81]

As I’ve had time to digest this, my initial thought was “why leave, that’s a lateral move” but the more I think about it that may be exactly why he left. He clearly loves the West Coast more, and although P4 jobs had his name floating around, he’d rather go somewhere that the pressure isn’t as high. He has proven he can build a weak program from the ground up, and let’s not kid ourselves, in the current climate we’re in he basically hit the ceiling of where UConn is going success-wise. He moves to a school with similar expectations (although a clearer but still difficult path to the playoff) vs going to Stanford or Cal where 7-8 wins season may not be enough. He checked multiple boxes by taking this job, gets back west but also not a high pressure job.

I am definitely bummed he is leaving, but from the timing I actually respect he made the move now vs waiting until after the new year for buyout reasons. Also gives us the chance to secure a coach and some potential new excitement before the bowl. Trying to stay optimistic here…

 

[ivrytontusker]

Colorado State is as close to the "west coast" as CT is to Chicago.

 

[UConn Dan]

Dave has a good record of hiring coaches (he was forced to hire Ollie). I have faith he'll get the right guy.

That was Warde Manuel who hired Ollie. Unless you mean he was forced to hire Edsall by the board...

 

[mikeinmanila]

Who hired Diaco and Edsall 2.0?

He tried to get Diaco to hire Jerry Kill as his OC which might have changed things. To his credit he pulled the trigger pretty quick when things weren't working out. Same for Edsall. Hard to fault the initial decision as both looked to be good hires on paper. They say your greatest lessons come from your biggest failures. Let's hope that the Mora hire was an indication that he's learned a lot...

 

[RioDog]

In all candor, I'd greatly prefer someone like Butch Jones (i don't see how Arkansas St is a better situation) than a gamble at this point.

Yes, there are some names that I would want nothing to do with even though I do believe they could win here (Brian Kelly tops the list), but one thing we cannot afford is striking out on our next hire. We may never be able to shed the label that we can only win with a very high quality coach who also will leave as soon as any other school offers him a job.

I think that ship has sailed.

 

[upstater]

Fort Collins is a pretty nice place to live.

Based on? I've known several people who lived there and they reported the opposite. Cow town, flat, kind of hick-y. Non-descript.

 

[CTBasketball]

That was Warde Manuel who hired Ollie. Unless you mean he was forced to hire Edsall by the board...

Kind of like how he was forced to hire Hurley as well. Dave had Capel as the top candidate.

 

[ZooCougar]

The only thing that surprises me is Colorado State.

It’s the little brother program in the state of Colorado. I mean, was Idaho State not available?

Good Luck. We’ll miss you Jim. But really. Good luck.

 

[ZooCougar]

Based on? I've known several people who lived there and they reported the opposite. Cow town, flat, kind of hick-y. Non-descript.

That’s what you say about everything west of Scranton. You live in eastern bubble.

 

[JwittersPAC]

He tried to get Diaco to hire Jerry Kill as his OC which might have changed things. To his credit he pulled the trigger pretty quick when things weren't working out. Same for Edsall. Hard to fault the initial decision as both looked to be good hires on paper. They say your greatest lessons come from your biggest failures. Let's hope that the Mora hire was an indication that he's learned a lot...

Hiring Randy Edsall second time was a good decision? The contract had those weird incentive clauses. Hiring him was done because he was cheap.

 

[JwittersPAC]

Kind of like how he was forced to hire Hurley as well. Dave had Capel as the top candidate.

Yeah are people on BY agents or publicist for DB. lol

 

[HuskiesFan1014]

Damn it. Had to change my "by-line" yet again. "Mora excited than ever before" doesn't feel okay anymore. I need a safe space.

 

[Uconnalliance]

Well, here we go back into the abyss another four years of rebuilding, hopefully the stadium doesn’t empty, I wonder who they could possibly get at this point, I was thinking, Chip Kelly only because he’s in New Hampshire guy and just got canned by the Raiders, but that’s probably a reach

 

[noeynox]

Colorado State's athletic budget in 2024 was $73 million vs UConn at $106 million.

How about football budgets?

 

[mikeinmanila]

That was Warde Manuel who hired Ollie. Unless you mean he was forced to hire Edsall by the board...

Sorry, my bad. And look where Warde ended up! Benedict did get us back to the Big East, hired Hurley, Mora, drastically improved our facilities, etc. All in all, I think most would agree that Dave's been a good AD. Hopefully the Mora hire was a result of the lessons learned from the Diaco and Edsall2 hires... and fires.

 

[MilliniumPrince]

“And here comes Chip Kelly, new HC riding out to a sold out Rentschler Field on a motorcycle to take on the Leopards.”

Hell No!

There is only one name to call.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Kind of like how he was forced to hire Hurley as well. Dave had Capel as the top candidate.

What?

Im curious as to what you are smoking.

AD Dave defied the trustees and fired KO (against their orders) because he saw Hurley as someone we could not afford to miss out on.

It became an ugly incident because the board didn't want to pay KO's buyout, but Dan Hurley was the only head coach DB considered at the time KO was fired.

 

[Fatroony5]

I mentioned this earlier in the thread but I don’t think this is very surprising to AD Dave. Maybe the destination, but not that he’s leaving. I had someone with ties to the program reach out to me after they found out I did a FOIA of his contract to see more details in it; this was like 2 months ago. That person was on the scent back then, so some people had to know this was a possibility.

 

[UCFBfan]

I’m skipping all the posts in this thread, sorry. I’m livid. CSU is a downgrade. Sorry, it’s not a lateral move. They are going to the Mountain West that’s disguising themselves under the name PAC-10. There is no way their resources are that much better than what we have. He is a god here and can retire when he wants. He has built a foundation that can only go up. I don’t care if he wants to go back west. Why come east to start with if that’s the case.

This team will crater if they promote Sammie. Bottom line. As it is, we will go into next seasons challenging schedule without the transfers that will likely decommit and a new coach who we have no clue who it is but will need to try and continue what Mora started. There is a less than 20% chance they can successfully do that.

I am in complete melt down and we are finished mood. We actually were gaining respect again. We were bringing fans back. We were returning to prominence. I just see us going back to finding a new rock bottom. I understand coach Moves when they are young an up and coming guys. But a 60+ year old coach with multiple stops that did not end well but finally finding amazing success up and leave to a lateral/downgrade move?? We’re screwed and I have little confidence that we nail this hire. I love AD DB but we have failed so often hiring coaches for FB, I have no confidence.

 

[Kowalski]

He’s losing Fagnano and Bell. We probably aren’t getting nine wins next year and he’s not getting younger. It’s a seize the moment move for Mora.

I think it probably was a big factor. If he was going to make a move, I think he felt he had to do it now. Didn’t want to chance next year’s team taking a few steps back. He always talked about being motivated by the challenge but when you take over a program that bottomed out, there’s really no place to go but up.

Don’t get me wrong - not trying to diminish the success he had here in any way but the real challenge is sustaining success beyond 4 years - e.g., like Calhoun, Geno and now Hurley did. I appreciate what Mora did here over that time but it’s clear he used the job as a stepping stone. Not blaming him necessarily. Good luck to him.

 

[Bubba1957]

No retreads. I like Gordy. Can any do more than he’s done? First he fixed a putrid o line. Then the o. He’s the next John Madden!

 

[ZooCougar]

No retreads. I like Gordy. Can any do more than he’s done? First he fixed a putrid o line. Then the o. He’s the next John Madden!

No retreads. Also no unproven commodities.

 

[Zerostatic]

I really wish he would've retired here. He could've been another feather in UConn's cap for finding good coaches who leave a legacy. I think more likely than not the move won't look good on his part in retrospect.

With that said, I never got the sense he was some irreplaceable coaching mastermind. A proven and competent head coach is not difficult to find. The key is portal recruiting and a robust NIL/player compensation strategy that keeps our spending at the top of G5 programs (or low P4) and we should keep pumping out bowl-eligible winning seasons. That's all we really need to do until a conference opportunity presents itself.