Jim Mora Expected to be Named HC

[Yup!]

Do you read your own posts? WE ARE A TINY STATE. I’m not denigrating CT high school football by saying we can’t rely on our own recruits to the extent Florida or Georgia or Penn State or even Rutgers can. You called it. We are a tiny state. Even if our football was as good per capital as in Florida (hint — no sane person thinks it is), we couldn’t rely primarily on CT recruits. EVen if we were a top 40 program that should get the best kids . (Hint — we’re not a top 40 program. We’re not a top 130 program.)

WHO SAID TO PRIORITIZE ONLY CT???????? dude some of y’all I just don’t get it. I think just love to argue. Just leave it alone.

 

[Ldandy]

Although I've not been a huge fan of Mora's Coaching in the past, under the circumstances this is a pretty good hire. Mora is a known commodity whose name lends credibility to the program. It says to the sports world in general that we are making a commitment to FBS Football and bringing this program back the right way. Hire an unknown assistant or FCS Coach and you get labeled as having no commitment to the program. Hire a Briles, Miles or Richrod type and you get painted with the "they'll hire anybody to win" brush. Mora may be a less exciting name, but its a name with weight behind it.

He should be able to put together a solid staff, perhaps retaining one or two coaches for continuity purposes. Based on name recognition alone he should be able to win some recruiting battles with the Temples, Rutgers, and BC's of the world. This will get Uconn out of the talent hole that recruiting in the 100's does to a program season after season. The 80-50 Range won't be out of the question if he hires some young aggressive recruiters who can sell what Uconn actually has going for it. Good degree, nice campus, good facilities, TV Deal, interesting schedules. etc. My only concern is what he does on offense. Mora is a defensive coach (wash, rinse, repeat with Uconn Coaching Hires) who is pretty traditional on offense. JMO but running something pro style will not work at Uconn as the program will never have the talent to do it. He needs to hire someone who will run some version of a spread that can get athletes in space and take advantages of mismatches while hiding deficiencies. Overall this is a 7 out of 10 hire. I think it is a low ceiling high floor deal. I don't see him winning 10 games a year, but I don't see him losing 10 either. Win 6-7 games. Put an entertaining product on the field. Engage the fanbase. Exceed that and AD Dave hit a homerun.

 

[CL82]

Spanos, who was hoping to land UConn the job, is 1-6 since taking over for Edsall. In his time with Mora at UCLA, the Bruins reached two bowl games and finished with records of 9-5 and 10-3. Noel Mazzone, hired by UConn in September as an offensive analyst, was UCLA offensive coordinator under Mora in 2012-2015.

So are Mazzone and Spanos coordinators? I need to think about that a bit. I was ready for a clean sweep of the current staff, but I like what it does for continuity and in helping us retain our current kids. And obviously Mazzone was gave us an exciting offense as a consultant.

Dare I say it, but I’m feeling a little excited about UConn football again.

 

[JMick]

Marinelli had a family profile piece done on him in the Greenwich CT monthly flyer just two months ago. In the piece he made it clear he and his wife plan to raise their family in CT regardless of his coaching career. Currently he is on the IL staff as an offensive analyst considering he is living in Greenwich he apparently is doing that analyst work quasi remotely.

Things seem set up for for this to be his moment to enter the local college football coaching scene.

I would really like to see that happen, it would be significant with the instate recruiting.

If Mazzone is OC, it's a no-brainer. John has been running Mazzones offense for over a decade. He's a good coach. Kids like him.

 

[BugsyCT]

 

[UConnJim]

No. You don’t. You don’t have “so many” three and four star recruits laughing at us because CT doesn’t have that many three and four star recruits to begin with. Plus, why shouldn’t they laugh at us. Most of the few thousand of us left to go to games can only laugh at us.

But other than that really good take.

In the 4 years from 2018 to 2021 there were a total of 9 4* and 52 3* recruits from Connecticut high schools. None of the 4* recruits went to UConn and 5 3*s went to UConn. Sure, you are never going to get all of the top recruits in Connecticut to go to UConn, but surely the number can be greatly improved from 8% of the 3* and 4* recruits.

Look at college QBs from Connecticut. You've got Will Levis at Kentucky (after Penn State), Taisun Phommachunh at Clemson, David Summers at Syracuse now in portal, Tyler Van Dyke at Miami, Drew Pyne at Notre Dame. Why couldn't UConn get even 1 to be our next Dan Orlovsky?

 

[Dove]

Jim Mora will not be coaching UConn football next season...




.







.






...if the program is vaporized on Saturday.

 

[Da_Aisijimo_Gou]

46-30 is .500?

Modern math

 

[UConnStats]

Time to get Mike Vick as a QB coach

This would never happen but would be insane for recruiting actually

 

[#1 PA Husky Fan]

I think I like it. I'll hold off judgement until staff is in place and some recruiting wins.

 

[Buffett10]

Spanos, who was hoping to land UConn the job, is 1-6 since taking over for Edsall. In his time with Mora at UCLA, the Bruins reached two bowl games and finished with records of 9-5 and 10-3. Noel Mazzone, hired by UConn in September as an offensive analyst, was UCLA offensive coordinator under Mora in 2012-2015.

So are Mazzone and Spanos coordinators? I need to think about that a bit. I was ready for a clean sweep of the current staff, but I like what it does for continuity and in helping us retain our current kids. And obviously Mazzone was gave us an exciting offense as a consultant.

Dare I say it, but I’m feeling a little excited about UConn football again.

Screw continuity when this trash defense is allowing 38 ppg.

 

[UConnDan97]

Exactly this!

This is a very good hire. Whether it works out or not, time will tell. But this is a solid football decision, and that's all that you can ask for. Also, this further exemplifies that UConn is serious about football. Again, that's all that you can ask for.

Pride. Heart. UConn.

 

[huskymedic]

 

[Buffett10]

This would never happen but would be insane for recruiting actually

Yep. Residents of Ct would crucify AD Dave and Mora

 

[FfldCntyFan]

The quality of this hire will depend entirely on the quality of recruiters that he can add to the staff.

With his experience, he (and his staff) will be able to do enough with X's and O's. If we end up bringing in sufficient talent, we can do very well. If not, well....

I do remember a couple of broadcasts (he was the analyst on at least two road games) where he was gushing about our facilities and potential. I wouldn't be surprised if he approached DB.

 

[Bomber36]

No. I guaranty you he’s not going to try to right the ship in 16 days. How big an idiot would you have to be to want that responsibility. It would be a waste of time. He’s on the sidelines to meet the players, figure out who he wants to stay and keep those whom he does want to stay. He’s on the sidelines for next year, not this year.

Duh…I mean in how he will be viewed by everyone. It’s obviously just a ploy to get him onboarded quickly so he can hit the ground running after this debacle is over. Everyone will view him as the head coach in waiting, regardless of what he does or doesn’t do.

 

[Durks07]

Stop. This isn’t a bad hire because of how P and Randy 2.0 worked out, no more than it’s a good hire because we didn’t go the Diaco route. This hire — like any other decision — should be judged on its own merits.

(Note that I didn’t say it was good or bad. )

Exactly. I hope this works out, but no one knows how this will work out, and we will not know for at least 2-3 years. I thought PP was going to be a disaster. He was. I thought Diaco, a "young and hungry" assistant coach was going to elevate us to a top 25 level program. He did not. I thought that Randy 2.0 would stabilize a sinking ship and get us back to 7-5 and 8-4 seasons. He did not. College sports is littered with "home run" hires who were fired in 2-3 years.

Mora is a major name who has succeeded in the NFL and college football where success lives on borrowed time for all but 5 people. I'm optimistic that he can turn this program around. Let's see what happens.

 

[CL82]

Screw continuity when this trash defense is allowing 38 ppg.

Kind of agree, but it wouldn’t surprise me at all if Spanos stays on.

 

[Big East Fa]

Even though I'd be more excited for Moorhead. Mora did a pretty decent job at UCLA. Hopefully if this is true he's still got connections to some good assistants.

I thought it was joke UCLA fired him.

 

[CL82]

“For me, it’s a great fit,” Mora said, his voice bounding with enthusiasm. “It’s a chance to do what I love to do with a school that’s a national brand. It’s a chance to do what I love to do at a university that prides itself on athletic and academic excellence.”

Well F everyone one of the haters on the board who refused to recognize that fact.

 

[shizzle787]

“For me, it’s a great fit,” Mora said, his voice bounding with enthusiasm. “It’s a chance to do what I love to do with a school that’s a national brand. It’s a chance to do what I love to do at a university that prides itself on athletic and academic excellence.”

Well F everyone one of the haters on the board who refused to recognize that fact.

Exhibit A why if there is a split in Division 1 with the big schools leaving, we'll be one of them.

 

[Yup!]

In the 4 years from 2018 to 2021 there were a total of 9 4* and 52 3* recruits from Connecticut high schools. None of the 4* recruits went to UConn and 5 3*s went to UConn. Sure, you are never going to get all of the top recruits in Connecticut to go to UConn, but surely the number can be greatly improved from 8% of the 3* and 4* recruits.

Look at college QBs from Connecticut. You've got Will Levis at Kentucky (after Penn State), Taisun Phommachunh at Clemson, David Summers at Syracuse now in portal, Tyler Van Dyke at Miami, Drew Pyne at Notre Dame. Why couldn't UConn get even 1 to be our next Dan Orlovsky?

Thank you Jim..

 

[businesslawyer]

Screw continuity when this trash defense is allowing 38 ppg.

There is certainly a fair question to be asked, in terms of whether or defensive problems are all based on lack of talent, or whether coaching contributed. Because if you believe the latter, keeping Spanos on as DC is not a no brained.

 

[BlueandOG]

Interesting…

Why would Dan-O, who I love, think he has any right to influence a coaching hire? Stop quibbling!

 

[blue93]

“Not splashy……”? No offence, but…..?

Splashy probably wasn’t the right word here. I meant it more as a “how the hell did we land this guy?” kind of hire. I don’t feel that way about a guy who hasn’t coached in 5 years.