Mora Introductory Press Conference- Saturday November 27th 10:30am Rentschler Field Club Level | Page 2 | The Boneyard

Mora Introductory Press Conference- Saturday November 27th 10:30am Rentschler Field Club Level

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Hopefully there will be a replay which works. This live feed is useless.

edit: I've given up on the live feed.
 
Stinger92860 said:
Hopefully there will be a replay which works. This live feed is useless.

edit: I've given up on the live feed.
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Worked fine for me.

A few thoughts:

Mora is a really really good public speaker. He speaks off the top of his head, yet every answer seems as if it has been thoroughly prepared. That’s very hard to do well and he made it seem easy.

Mora said that as soon as the UConn job became available, he wanted it. He spoke about the UConn brand being a national brand, the amazing quality of facilities, the tradition of excellence, both on the field and academically, and the depth of fan support. He came across as being very sincere, I believe him, but he is a skilled speaker and difficult to read.

His answer as to why he reached out to high school coaches was excellent, and I suspect there will be video of it available soon. In essence he said that he believes there is wisdom at every level of coaching, so he wants to have a dialogue with the high school coaches. He also talked about how he’s invited them to practices and staff meetings so that they are knowledgeable about the school and the program sufficiently that when they have a college level player they will be comfortable sending them to UConn. It was a very smart answer.

My favorite part of the press conference was when he talked about how he “likes going uphill.“ He said that “hard things are hard“ and that makes them worthwhile. He recognizes that the Connecticut job will be hard, but that in and of itself is part of the attraction.

As the old saying goes the proof of the pudding is in the eating, and the proof of Jim Mora will be winning seasons, but he is an extraordinarily good hire in my opinion. Everything he has done so far, and it’s been a lot, has been thoughtful and intelligent. He’s hit the ground running before his first official day. He doesn’t seem like a guy to whom “good enough will be good enough.“ Time will tell, but I think Benedict hit the ball out of the park with this hire.
 
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Well, that for me was his interview. Hadn't heard him speak before this morning. Two thumbs up. Exceptionally articulate, humble, very sharp, and I like his lifestyle choices. I certainly see how he got the job.

As I said before, three times bitten, fourth time shy. So I am still somewhat wary. But if pushed, I would have to admit that I am pretty much all in at this point. With most people in the professional world, it doesn't take long to establish fit. This is a good fit.
 
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CL82 said:
... Time will tell, but I think Benedict hit the ball out of the park with this hire.
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Very good summary CL82! He really appears to be a homerun hire! Everything about him seems like a great fit for UConn and the job that lies ahead. His sincerity and heartfelt desire to succeed is evident in every interview so far! Love the hire! Can't wait for him to assume full leadership of our program!
 



-> In addition to Parker Executive Search, Benedict utilized Coaches by the Numbers, an analytics platform that offers objective evaluations. Benedict talked to a large group of candidates that included coordinators, former head coaches, present head coaches, and NFL coaches, mostly in virtual interviews. In early November, he traveled to Idaho to spend several days with Mora, and that clinched it. While out there, Benedict waited as Mora finished a letter of recommendation for a former player who had applied to law school, and saw a large journal of coaching decisions Mora had kept, analyzing the ones that didn’t work and why. <-

-> “I can promise you this, I’m more impatient than anybody,” Mora said. “In Atlanta and UCLA, we were able to turn it pretty quickly because I’m not a guy that compromises a whole lot. I don’t concede. I’m not going to look at our schedule next year and say, ‘we’re not going to win this game, we’re not going to win that game.’” <-
 



-> Mora plans to be active, but smart in the transfer portal. They’ve already offered some JUCO prospects.

“I would equate it to my years in the NFL where you built through the draft and you supplemented through free agency,” Mora said. “In college, you build through recruiting and you supplement through the transfer portal. I certainly think there’s value in it as long as you do a really good job of vetting the players, not only from a skill standpoint but a personality standpoint.

“We don’t want to become a team of mercenaries. You’re trying to build, develop, maintain a culture. It’s a little easier doing that when you’re recruiting players that you get to know over the course of years and their families over the course of years rather than just a weekend with a transfer guy.”

He’ll meet with the team collectively Sunday morning.

“Some (players) have asked me some tough questions,” he said. “‘What’s my future here? What are we going to do? Who are the coaches going to be?’ As honest I can be with them, I am, but there’s certain things I’m not able to talk to them about yet. Those conversations will come.” <-
 
2Infinity said:
Very good summary CL82! He really appears to be a homerun hire! Everything about him seems like a great fit for UConn and the job that lies ahead. His sincerity and heartfelt desire to succeed is evident in every interview so far! Love the hire! Can't wait for him to assume full leadership of our program!
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I don't think it was a home run hire....

IT WAS A BOTTOM OF THE 9TH 2 OUTS DOWN BY 3 GRAND SLAM HIRE!!!
 
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profootballtalk.nbcsports.com

FMIA Week 10: Patrick Mahomes And The Day The Chiefs' Slump Ended - Peter King, NBC Sports

Peter King's Football Morning In America (FMIA) column begins with Patrick Mahomes throwing five TDs in Vegas. Plus Packers-Seahawks and more NFL Week 10.
profootballtalk.nbcsports.com profootballtalk.nbcsports.com

Peter King interviews Jim Mora (from 11/22):

Five questions with the new football coach of one of the truly needy teams in major-college football:

FMIA: This came out of nowhere. How in the world did you get this job?

Mora: “I was hopeful that I’d get another opportunity be a head coach in college football. I really enjoy coaching college football. But I was starting to doubt if it was gonna happen as time went on, after UCLA. [Mora was fired in November 2017.] When this job came open, I reached out to them. I don’t think I was on their radar at all. I mean, at all. I haven’t been on anyone’s radar. I had a couple people reach out to the athletic director, David Benedict, and he got interested. We’d done some Zoom calls. I told him, ‘I’m going away for about two weeks.’ He goes, ‘Have a good time. Nothing’s gonna happen while you’re gone.’ So I’m in Venice last week and he calls me, says, ‘When are you coming home?’ I said, ‘Sunday.’ He goes, ‘I’ll be in Idaho waiting for you.’ I landed Sunday about 4 in the afternoon. We go out to dinner at 6:30, then we spent all day Monday at my house, and all day Tuesday and all day Wednesday at my house. Got the deal done Wednesday night. Normally, when I’ve taken a job, I’m kind of a baby. I don’t like to move. But I popped up this morning at 5 and I couldn’t wait to jump in the car, get to the airport and fly here

FMIA: This program is so low right now. Why’d you want the job?

Mora: “I’ve had a lot of people ask me, why would you go to Connecticut? You know, They’re not very good, you’re a West Coast guy, you’re almost 60. I’m like, besides the fact that my kids kinda gave me a clear runway, I love coaching football and I truly love coaching college football. I love the impact you can have on these young men. And I’m just blessed to be able to do it again. I’ve talked to the governor of the state. I’ve talked to business leaders. I’ve talked to all the people that support the program that are of prominence. This can be a great program.”

FMIA: The governor? Ned Lamont? What’d he say? Is he behind this?

Mora: “It was on a Zoom call. He’s standing there and he’s fired up and he’s telling me how important football is to the state. And offering support. He wasn’t the only one. Tuesday night and all day Wednesday, I had Zoom calls with 12 people. To a person, men and women and the governor and lieutenant governor and all kinds of people, and to a person, they all kind of expressed the same sentiment, which was don’t believe what you hear—UConn football is very important to this state and we support it and we want it to be respectable and competitive again and we think you’re the guy to do it. Meant the world to me. Maybe the odds are stacked against us a little bit. You know me, Peter, you’ve known me for all my professional life. I’m a dogged competitor and I also don’t know that the odds are stacked as heavily against us as it might appear on the outside.”

FMIA: How can you get competitive?

Mora: “I think number one, attacking the transfer portal. I see it a little bit like free agency in the NFL. It’s a chance to get some really good players, really quickly. You can have a great recruiting class, but there are still young players that haven’t played in college football. They haven’t really spent time away from home or been on a college campus. But you can go get some transfers that have some experience, playing experience, experience on campus. They’re more mature. You can make some quick headway that way. And I think you coach the heck out of them. I think you really do a great job of creating the culture of accountability and toughness and discipline.”

FMIA: You never recruited the Northeast. You’re a West Coast guy, as you said. How will you be able to recruit an area foreign to you?

Mora: "Something’s that gonna really help me is that I have some name recognition. I think that’ll bring credibility. Thirty players that I recruited are playing in the NFL. I’ve coached, as an assistant or head coach, 28 members of Pro Football Hall of Fame. I don’t care where you recruit. If you can tell a kid, ‘30 guys I recruited play in the NFL, I’ve coached guys in the Hall of Fame,’ then they’re like, Whoa, really?’ I think that'll help."
 
Uconngal said:
Why as a longtime season ticket holder and donor do I need to pay for access to this? I already have seats to the game. I don’t need to pay $30/pp to go to this in the middle of tailgating and have access to seats I won’t use.
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All I hear on this board is that they need to spend more money. But when it comes time to pony up, I'm amazed by all the whining. Where is the money supposed to come from?
 
Often, money isn’t the solution that people assume it is. It’s not just access to capital, it is spending it wisely. UConn invested wisely in Coach Mora’s and his assistants. As the program grows, they were going to be moments where the University in the state are going to have to invest in it to continue that momentum, but for right now, we are positioned nicely to change the culture and become competitive again.
 
I was at the press conference. Most of it was the usual passion stuff and back slapping.

One thing Mora said was actually important. He is student of game management. He has an analysis his own time management decisions, good and bad to learn from them. Having a coach that understands how to use the game clock shows up in the W/L column.
 
Waquoit said:
All I hear on this board is that they need to spend more money. But when it comes time to pony up, I'm amazed by all the whining. Where is the money supposed to come from?
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We can agree to disagree on this. I have paid more than my fair share over the past 14 or so years in support of the program. I have paid to go to events, away games, and bowl games in the past and will continue to do so. This particular event to me didn’t make sense. I was able to watch it live-streamed from my tailgate. I didn’t need to be asked to pay to go watch it.
You want more money and support from me there needs to be some mutual benefit. You want more people to get excited about things make them accessible to ALL not exclusive pay events. To me this was a missed opportunity to engage with the die hard fans that are out in the Blue lots every game day.
 
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