Former NFL and UCLA coach Jim Mora has been named the next head football coach of the University of Connecticut. He spoke to the media soon after the announcement.
The University of Connecticut has chosen a new head football coach.
Former NFL and UCLA coach Jim Mora has been named as the next head football coach of the University of Connecticut.
UConn Athletics said Jim L. Mora will be an assistant coach through the end of the 2021 UConn football season through Nov. 27 and his duties will include recruiting.
He will officially start as head football coach on Nov. 28.
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Mora has a five-year deal with UConn, through the 2026 season, and he will earn $1.5 million during his first year. He will also have the opportunity to earn an additional $200,000 per year in performance incentives.
Mora takes over after former UConn head football coach Randy Edsall stepped down after coming to a "mutual decision" with the director of athletics. Lou Spanos has been serving as the interim coach.
Mora, 59, has 10 years of head coaching experience, including six as the head coach of UCLA.
Dog House
“I am excited to have the opportunity to become the head football coach at the University of Connecticut,” Mora said in a statement. “UConn possesses a nationally-recognized academic and athletics brand and I am thrilled to become a member of the community that makes up UConn Nation. This program is loaded with potential, and I look forward to getting to know the student-athletes on the team and am eager to get to work!”
Jim L. Mora's Football Coaching History
In 2009, Mora took over as head coach of the Seattle Seahawks.
In his initial season as the head coach of the Atlanta Falcons in 2004, Mora directed the team to an 11-5 record, becoming just the eighth rookie head coach in NFL history to win 11 games and the 11th to bring home a division title, UConn said in a news release announcing the appointment.
Mora served on the San Francisco 49ers coaching staff from 1997-2003.
From 1992 to 1996, Mora worked on the staff of his father, Jim E. Mora, as the secondary coach with the New Orleans Saints.
In 1985, he entered the NFL coaching ranks with the San Diego Chargers under head coach Don Coryell.
Mora began his coaching career in 1984 at the University of Washington.
