Jim Mora Expected to be Named HC

[Husky68]

It makes for a nice tweet. But while it's obviously incredibly prestigious to be a head coach in the NFL, I'm not at all sure that NFL coaching is nearly as good a preparation for college coaching as college coaching is.

Again, not saying anything good or bad about the hire yet.

You are questioning something that wasn't in the statement. Didn't say it was nearly as good a preparation for college coaching as college coaching is - But wow, look at the coaching

 

[Banta55]

He wasn't. The Golden report was wrong.

How about Chesney? Would've been happy with him as well.

 

[Pudge]

Look ... it is incredibly easy to recruit for the UCLA Bruins in Westwood. It is the #1 Public University in America & Westwood is charming with 1000s of sorority girls and lots of flavor. Ask Troy Aikman who I used to laugh at when he first arrived in the few bars in the downtown mixed use corridor.

You say they compete with USC; but the reality is the place (greater LA/Southern Cal) is so big that UCLA naturally gets a very high grade recruit just by being who they are; and distinctly different in many ways than SC. So being a good talent evaluator and picking right.

YES. You have to know JuCo. Yes you have to know Polynesian. But getting a top 15 QB every single year is a given. My primary interest - if you are watching college football in the last 5 years - is how he deals with the natural progression into a very transactional nature of the Sport. Transfer Portal. We still will be a development program - look at the roster we have today. But the MOST IMPORTANT skillset and tool has got to be solid video grabbing of talent from all over - to our great University.

 

[hardcorehusky]

How about Chesney? Would've been happy with him as well.

Can you really compare Chesney to Jim Mora?

 

[Husky68]

You are questioning something that wasn't in the statement. Didn't say it was nearly as good a preparation for college coaching as college coaching is - But wow, look at the coaching

Above must have been posted by me with fat fingers, this is "finished version".

Being picked by an NFL team to be HEAD COACH (assuming not picked for characteristics other than being good, and he was an assistant in NFL for almost 15 years before getting a HC job so plenty of opportunity to evaluate his coaching ability) is pretty good validation that you can coach. At least UCLA thought so.

 

[Big East Fa]

Wonder if he’ll be on Packer this afternoon (espn off campus)

Sirius XM channel 84 for those wondering. The station just branded as ESPNU radio.

 

[metsfan2323]

Can you really compare Chesney to Jim Mora

It is interesting how what the school finds desirable in a new football coach is very different from what they look for in a new basketball coach.

Chesney would have had a lot in common with the Hurley hire IMO, Mora would be like the basketball team going after Lon Kruger or Mike Woodson. I guess they feel the next great football coach is harder to identify.

 

[Pudge]

It is interesting how what the school finds desirable in a new football coach is very different from what they look for in a new basketball coach.

Chesney would have had a lot in common with the Hurley hire IMO, Mora would be like the basketball team going after Lon Kruger or Mike Woodson.

Baloney. You are - leaving out so much of the Hurley story. A HOF father. A solid playing career with a brother at Duke. A step by step progression from major Prep school through Wagner to URI. With March Madness experience - recruiting the northeast for kids that would intersect with UCONN.

There is no way Chesney at Salve Regina or Assumption and now HC is comparable. You are in a big speculating mode. With others

 

[Waquoit]

All good? No, it’s not all good. I’ll try to do a 241 tonight, but I see both pros and cons. I’m still wrestling with where I am on this. But as is clear, this is certainly not a Bob Diaco like strikeout, I’m just not clear that it’s a, say, Rick Leach to Texas Tech home run either,

Why be wrong twice?

 

[metsfan2323]

Baloney. You are - leaving out so much of the Hurley story. A HOF father. A solid playing career with a brother at Duke. A step by step progression from major Prep school through Wagner to URI. With March Madness experience - recruiting the northeast for kids that would intersect with UCONN.

There is no way Chesney at Salve Regina or Assumption and now HC is comparable. You are in a big speculating mode. With others

So how did Hurley get from Wagner to URI? No March madness experience at that point. URI took a calculated chance on him and scored big.

 

[CTFAN4LIFE]

Baloney. You are - leaving out so much of the Hurley story. A HOF father. A solid playing career with a brother at Duke. A step by step progression from major Prep school through Wagner to URI. With March Madness experience - recruiting the northeast for kids that would intersect with UCONN.

There is no way Chesney at Salve Regina or Assumption and now HC is comparable. You are in a big speculating mode. With others

Agreed - and running an 85 football player program versus 15 basketball and a staff of ~ 35 football coaches/assistants/strength coaches versus ~ 8 in basketball makes it understandable why experience is emphasized moreso in football than basketball.

 

[CTFAN4LIFE]

So how did Hurley get from Wagner to URI? No March madness experience at that point. URI took a calculated chance on him and scored big.

To a degree, but the jump from Wagner to URI wasn't that large especially for a pedigree like Hurley.

 

[metsfan2323]

To a degree, but the jump from Wagner to URI wasn't that large especially for a pedigree like Hurley.

I guess my point is Chesney already beat us, so how big is the jump?

Don't respond I don't want to hijack the thread, I'm happy with the Mora hire.

 

[Nextmanup]

given the process and the superlatives in his Tweets ... I would say Lou Spanos is in.

My thought is - given my respect for ScottVib - that we will see 2 other assistants retained, maybe 3. And yes ... I think the backoffice Zyskowski & Steinberg.

greatest NEED? OLine guy. And the UCLA guy elevated and elevated and is now the OLine coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers ... so we ain't getting Klemm.

also lucky ... Mora doesn't have a son following

Steinberg needs to go. Coach Z is good at what he does..

 

[Waquoit]

I guess my point is Chesney already beat us, so how big is the jump?

I don't even know who Chesney is. Having said that, who would be more likely to build the better staff at UConn, Mora or Chesney?

 

[metsfan2323]

I don't even know who Chesney is. Having said that, who would be more likely to build the better staff at UConn, Mora or Chesney?

Definitely Mora.

Mora, Mazzone and Spanos did very well at UCLA, I hope they get that band back together and sprinkle in some promising young position coaches.

 

[Nostical]

Nothing but good things to say about the Mora hire. And also the Benedict search. Think it's easy going against the short list presented by the expensive search firm? But those interviews never felt right to DB and when he was approached re the idea of Mora he rose to the challenge of testing whether it had a chance of being real. He spent an extraordinary amount of time with Mora and in the end he loved what Mora represented for UConn. I said this elsewhere, but wouldn't it have been nice if Warde Manuel had moved into Diaco's house for 4 days before deciding whether to hire him? My sense is he just might have hit the pause button after watching Bobby serving fishcakes for breakfast in his red pants.

 

[Pudge]

So how did Hurley get from Wagner to URI? No March madness experience at that point. URI took a calculated chance on him and scored big.

OK ... you hit a single. Hurley zoomed past that with URI (sorry HC isn't comparable). And yes ... he had CHOICE of Pitt, other P5 schools AND UCONN. Because of his name and play, he was always on a higher trajectory. I hope our HC friend achieves: we will be watching.

 

[HuskyHawk]

It makes for a nice tweet. But while it's obviously incredibly prestigious to be a head coach in the NFL, I'm not at all sure that NFL coaching is nearly as good a preparation for college coaching as college coaching is.

Again, not saying anything good or bad about the hire yet.

I don’t disagree. But as a symbol of commitment, which UConn needed, I think it speaks volumes.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Look ... it is incredibly easy to recruit for the UCLA Bruins in Westwood. It is the #1 Public University in America & Westwood is charming with 1000s of sorority girls and lots of flavor. Ask Troy Aikman who I used to laugh at when he first arrived in the few bars in the downtown mixed use corridor.

You say they compete with USC; but the reality is the place (greater LA/Southern Cal) is so big that UCLA naturally gets a very high grade recruit just by being who they are; and distinctly different in many ways than SC. So being a good talent evaluator and picking right.

YES. You have to know JuCo. Yes you have to know Polynesian. But getting a top 15 QB every single year is a given. My primary interest - if you are watching college football in the last 5 years - is how he deals with the natural progression into a very transactional nature of the Sport. Transfer Portal. We still will be a development program - look at the roster we have today. But the MOST IMPORTANT skillset and tool has got to be solid video grabbing of talent from all over - to our great University.

This is a funny post. Not at all wrong, just funny. Westwood vs USC on the border of South Central. It’s amazing UCLA hasn’t been more successful really. It highlights just how much old history still matters in college football.

I Think Mora gets it. He has no USC to compete with now. No Oregon either. When he first gets 7 wins and we go to bowl he will be a hero.

 

[uconnfan68]

So has Foley retired yet? Best OL guy we’ve seen

I think Dante is free…

 

[HardFacts]

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.

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

Dan-O loved the RE2 hire!!! how did that work out!

 

[Pudge]

This is a funny post. Not at all wrong, just funny. Westwood vs USC on the border of South Central. It’s amazing UCLA hasn’t been more successful really. It highlights just how much old history still matters in college football.

I Think Mora gets it. He has no USC to compete with now. No Oregon either. When he first gets 7 wins and we go to bowl he will be a hero.

the major difference in the last 30 years is USC has become so much better as an overall academic school. UCLA has risen a little. Both have become major international anchors for so many departments - and credit that to LA as a world class city like only a dozen others. Yes - there is a race tie to being on the edge of Crenshaw + Martin Luther King Blvd; and UCLA broadens to HS deep into the Valley, San Gabriels and Ontario/Inland Empire.

You are right in concept: WE are the only Public FBS school in NE and NY basically (because I view Buffalo as a midwestern outpost).

 

[Kolumbo]

the major difference in the last 30 years is USC has become so much better as an overall academic school. UCLA has risen a little. Both have become major international anchors for so many departments - and credit that to LA as a world class city like only a dozen others. Yes - there is a race tie to being on the edge of Crenshaw + Martin Luther King Blvd; and UCLA broadens to HS deep into the Valley, San Gabriels and Ontario/Inland Empire.

You are right in concept: WE are the only Public FBS school in NE and NY basically (because I view Buffalo as a midwestern outpost).

Well, don't forget the other U which is currently without a coach, or The Academy.

 

[businesslawyer]

I don’t disagree. But as a symbol of commitment, which UConn needed, I think it speaks volumes.

I fully agree that to the extent the purpose of the hire was to show a commitment to football, it was a home run. How favorably one reacted to the immediate news may correlate strongly to how concerned about PR one is.