Jim Mora Expected to be Named HC

[huskymedic]

 

[businesslawyer]

I bet I can find similar comments on this board after Pasqualoni and after Randy 2.0. How'd those hires work out?

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. )

 

[CTFAN4LIFE]

This is what makes me nervous - one of the things that is absolutely vital in getting this program on track is to recognize relatively nearby recruiting hotbeds. CT should not be primary focus - Florida, Penn, Ohio and Virginia should be.

No reason to be nervous - we can walk and chew gum at the same time. Football staffs are large enough to cover the Northeast and the South. We did it before under RE-1 and we can do it again.

 

[businesslawyer]

An assistant coach in name only.

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.

 

[RSTuthill]

Meh. Whiff of a retread out of CFB for a very long time. Has the advantage of potentially retaining Spanos. DB apparently valued continuity very highly. A very valid concern and we will have to trust DB on this one. Fix it but don't change it sort of mindset. Will keep an open mind. Not wildly enthused at this point but we will wait to see who is on the staff.

But I do hope that he is on the sideline against Clemson.

Replace the "very long time" with "for awhile". Not such a long time. Apologies.

 

[MuchoDogYears]

Gotta say, don’t think he was mentioned. Even in jest. Proof nobody knows nothing.

Everybody knows something?

 

[BlueDogs]

I share your initial reaction. Very surprised, both by him specifically but even the resume more generally — older, out of the game for a few years, no east coast coaching. But that doesn’t make it a bad hire either. I need to let it sink in and give it thought.

But DB’s career is resting on this decision, so whether it works out or not I assume he made the choice very deliberately and purposefully.

This should bum out anybody who lived through PP ad GDL. This is a journeyman pick who has been out of the game. This has consultant smell all over it. I can't believe it. Totally wrong direction reinforced.

 

[metsfan2323]

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.

He can however start recruiting like the head coach.

 

[superjohn]

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.)

Nobody said anything about relying primarily on CT. recruits, you're tilting at windmills.

 

[shizzle787]

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.)

We are not a tiny state. We are ranked #29 in population nationally, ahead of Iowa, Kansas, Nevada, etc.

 

[Devland]

59 though. Old.

Depends on what side you're looking at it from. 59 , I consider young

 

[Exit 4]

Worth noting, Mazzone and Marinelli are close. If Mazzone is OC, wouldn't be surprised if Marinelli comes in as QB coach to be our tie to CT and New England

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.

 

[RSTuthill]

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.

Good point. I think right now he can only be an analyst anyway, right? The UConn coaching roster is full. No openings. But the fact that he will be immersed for the final three games is huge. That is called hitting the ground running.

It seems likely the Spanos will be retained as DC. Is Noel Mazzone a candidate for OC? Thoughts?

 

[Life Is Good]

Maybe he can turn Phommachanh into Mike Vick

Or maybe Krajewski into Tom Brady

 

[Skiblets]

"Mora and the University have agreed to a five-year deal through the 2026 season, and he will earn $1.5MM during his first year. The agreement also includes the opportunity for Mora to earn an additional $200,000 annually in performance incentives."

UConn Names Jim Mora as Next Head Football Coach - University of Connecticut Athletics

STORRS, Conn. - Jim L. Mora, has been named as the next head football coach of the University of Connecticut, as announced by director of athletics David Benedict

uconnhuskies.com

So an extra 300 to 500k to start for assistants using AD Dave’s 2m benchmark. I like it

 

[Buffett10]

Time to get Mike Vick as a QB coach

 

[gwhuskyfan]

 

[UConnKev]

Mora had plenty of time to vet the job and UConn athletic director David Benedict had plenty of time to vet Mora. Benedict spent nearly three-and-a-half days interviewing Mora at the coach's townhouse in Idaho this week. That came after more than four hours of Zoom conversations. In all, they spent nearly 45 hours getting to know each other and discussing the job.

 

[Chin Diesel]

A man takes 45 minutes to shower up, get dressed and pack for a trip and look what happens.

I'll go back and read everyone else's comments, but immediate thoughts:

1. Definitely name recognition and cache of coaching in NFL and HC at UCLA. A+++ on branding
2. Has to have a fat rolodex of qualified people he can bring in as staff. A+++ on coat tails
3. Little to no experience in northeast and Mid-Atlantic. C
4. Has personality and camera friendly demeaner to promote the program. A+
-Bonus of working the booth and having media contacts for publicity.
5. Coach named 3 weeks before end of season to shore up recruiting. Huge. A+++


Will it work? Who knows? But AD David Benedict definitely found a highly qualified coach, reflecting a search which had to be national in scope. Good job for the AD.

 

[Griggs]

Good lord. I give. What a mistake. Another career .500 Coach in college and the NFL. 59 years old. Young, energetic, winners is what we need. Get me Moorhead or the Holy Cross coach.

I'd give my left nut to be 59 against.
Like the pick.
No objection to keeping Lou as DC.

 

[CallMeBruce]

Joining the staff as an assistant coach until the end of the year is the single strangest part of this whole thing. What a joke

It means he can start recruiting right away, feel like this should be obvious.

 

[Yup!]

I couldn’t care any less where kids come from at this point. I want good football players. If they happen to come from CT, great.

Listen I can care less where they come from too, but we do have talent in CT and keeping them home is important. It’s been mentioned on here plenty that we should prioritize our back yard. Mora gets the picture. He wants to keep as much kids home and dominate the North East in recruiting. I can guarantee you he’ll be recruiting all over as well. No coach just recruits one area.

 

[giddyup]

One thing we need to do is give the guy support and the benefit of the doubt. This does not excite me in the least given the choices available. But, we rally around the new family.

 

[arch]

I think this hire is fine. Not splashy and not as creative as I had hoped, but I don’t totally hate it. All we can do I hope that it works at this point.

“Not splashy……”? No offence, but…..?

 

[Dooooooomed]