How UConn football coach Jim Mora is balancing transfer portal with Fenway Bowl preparation (Adamec)

[huskymedic]

-> "It's really strange to have free agency, the portal, before your last game," Mora said on a Zoom call Thursday. "I think it's created a ton of anxiety for players, a ton of uncertainty for players. As an adult in this profession we're more able to handle those anxieties and pressures than players are. Half of the battle right now is making sure our players are getting good direction as they work to make these decisions and that takes a lot of time." <-

-> The Huskies are going to take a few days off after the completion of fall semester final exams and will return to campus Dec. 19 to continue preparations for UNC.

"We've been working the portal, working the retainment of our players," Mora said. "That's been quite a heavy task and then go out and practice generically. We've got a week as a staff to dig in to UNC, figure all those things out, and see how we want to attack preparations for them."<-

 

[huskymedic]

Courant Version:



-> “Everyone kind of gets in the portal for a different reason. Just because you get in the portal these days doesn’t mean you want to leave. It might be to test your market value, it might be to see what else is out there. And it might be to leave, it might be that you maybe feel like there’s a place that’s better for you,” Mora said. “There’s all kinds of reasons, but the guys that have gone in have indicated to me that they want to play (in the bowl game). They want to finish this thing out. And they’ve also all indicated that they don’t necessarily want to leave.” <-

-> “I think any time a guy enters the portal, you have to assume that he’s not gonna be here,” Mora said. “There’s that part of it that’s very tricky for these guys and they don’t always understand that so we try to explain that to them very clearly. And then there are guys that are going into the portal that I tell them, ‘Hey, listen. I will tell you that we’re going to try to replace you, but you’ll have right of first refusal. … We’ll give you the option to come back before we fill your spot.’ <-

 

[Coult]

-> “I think any time a guy enters the portal, you have to assume that he’s not gonna be here,” Mora said. “There’s that part of it that’s very tricky for these guys and they don’t always understand that so we try to explain that to them very clearly. And then there are guys that are going into the portal that I tell them, ‘Hey, listen. I will tell you that we’re going to try to replace you, but you’ll have right of first refusal. … We’ll give you the option to come back before we fill your spot.’ <-

Who knows if this is common practice or not, but I really respect this approach. Not that this is news to anyone, but Mora just runs a great program.

 

[huskymedic]

 

[huskymedic]

 

[LoyalFanCT]

"And they've also indicated that they don't necessarily want to leave." Based on what Jim says, can we negotiate to keep some of them for another year?

 

[History Geek]

"And they've also indicated that they don't necessarily want to leave." Based on what Jim says, can we negotiate to keep some of them for another year?

I bet that happens with some

 

[RioDog]

I'm a slow processor but it has finally dawned on me that that with the NIL/portal dynamic there will be even more value placed on hiring coaches with NFL experience. Thank Christmas for HCJM.

 

[Bongo Fury]

His NFL experience and being able to observe other programs as a broadcaster was a big plus compared to some of the others in consideration at the time.

 

[uconnfan68]

Who knows if this is common practice or not, but I really respect this approach. Not that this is news to anyone, but Mora just runs a great program.

Every player should expect to be recruited over every year. That’s the life lesson.

 

[huskymedic]

Mora talks quite a bit about UConn & the portal in this interview:

 

[huskymedic]

nm