Fort Collins, Colo.–East Yukon Football coach Jim Mora says there’s coaching potential here Colorado State His interest first arose six years ago.
The new Rams coach said he looked at his messages and found that one of the 2019 recruits had expressed interest in the job that went to Steve Addazio after Mike Bobo left.
“So, that’s when it initially came on my radar,” said Mora, who is taking over the Rams program after the midseason firing of Jay Norvell.
“I have a relationship with Jay Norvell. Jay worked for my dad,” Mora said. “…When the program decided to move on from Jai, I was immediately interested. It renewed my interest in 2019.”
The Rams’ move from the Mountain West Conference next summer to the newly configured Pac-12 with Boise State, Fresno State, San Diego State and Utah State adds to that interest. They’ll join Gonzaga and Texas State along with holdovers Oregon State and Washington State.
“The brand identity is huge,” said Mora, who coached in the Pac-12, which looks dramatically different during his tenure at UCLA. “I’ve been involved with the Pac-12 since it was the Pac-8 and then the Pac-10 and then the Pac-12, whether it was my dad as a coach, me as a player or me as a coach.
“The Pac-12 represents excellence. It always has. Now, this may be a new community of members in the Pac-12, but it is still the Pac-12 and this new community of members is going to make the Pac-12 conference powerful once again.”
The Rams are coming off a 2-10 season, including 1-7 in the Mountain West.
“I like challenges,” said Mora, who led UConn to nine-win campaigns the past two seasons. “I like the idea of moving forward immediately and trying to create something that is lasting and special.”
Mora said he is happy to be back in Colorado where he spent some of his youth and asked how many 14ers there are in the state because his goal is to climb mountain peaks amid the build-up to the program.
Told there were 54 of them, Mora said, “We’re going to win a Pac-12 championship, we’re going to compete for a national championship and I’m going to climb 54 14,000-foot mountains.”
All of these seem like big tasks for a program that has only had one winning season since 2017.
Mora, 64, who spent four seasons as an NFL head coach with the Atlanta Falcons and Seattle Seahawks, compiled a 27-23 record in four years at UConn. The Huskies are 9-3 this season, and each of their three losses went in overtime, making them the only school that has not lost in regulation this year.
Mora, whose five-year contract at Colorado State starts with a base salary of $2.4 million and includes annual raises, returned to Connecticut on Monday night to meet with his former players and staff.
“With the way our calendars got messed up at the University of Connecticut, I didn’t get a chance to address the team that I coached and I have to look them in the eye and say thank you and I love them and appreciate them for all they do,” Mora said.
Mora will return to Fort Collins for Signing Day.
“I’ve had the opportunity to talk to each commit,” he said.
Colorado State fired Norvell on October 19. Norvell was in his fourth season and had an 18–26 record, including an 8–5 mark and an Arizona Bowl appearance last year. When Norvell was fired and defensive coordinator Tyson Summers was serving as interim head coach, the Rams were 2–5 and lost their last five games.
Mora’s tenure at UConn represents a career comeback. He compiled a 46–30 record at UCLA from 2012–17 and then stayed out of coaching and worked as a television analyst until UConn hired him.
UConn went 6-7 and 3-9 in Mora’s first two seasons before going 18-7 the last two seasons. The Huskies went 9-4 and won the Fenway Bowl last year for their first bowl win since the 2009 season.
Mora, who expressed confidence this will be his “last step” in coaching, will make his Colorado State debut on September 5 when the Rams host Wyoming.
