If UCan turn around UConn, reviving CSU should be no problem.
In the final days of its most embarrassing season in 37 years, CSU pulled off the play of the year, jolting college football with the hiring of Jim Mora.
This is a home run. Defies expectations. Runs against the grain.
In a stunning move by athletic director John Weber and president Amy Parsons, the Rams tip-toed around younger candidates and alums to land a 64-year-old who has been a resume bloated with NFL and college experience and success.
Consider me impressed. With one bold move, CSU showed it is serious about football.
The Rams seek relevance, want a football team capable of competing for conference championships, winning bowl games. A team fans and students alike can be proud of.
So, they brought in a coach whose resume reads: been there, done that.
“The fact that Jim chose us means a lot. He wants to be here. He wants to revitalize the program. He has accomplished that everywhere he has been,” said former CSU legendary defensive end Sean Moran, who played for Mora as his defensive coordinator with the San Francisco 49ers in 2002 and 2003. “He is a winner. He is not going to rest until he gets CSU to the next level.”
When CSU fired good-guy-but-bad-fit Jay Norvell on Oct. 19, Weber promised to pursue a coach who could help Colorado State “become the most loved, most watched, most innovative athletics program in the West.”
He kept his word.
The worst thing you can say about Mora is that he is in the twilight of his career. But he is aging like Benjamin Button. A fitness freak for years, Mora boasts uncommon energy and motivation.
Who better to help CSU climb back into the college football conversation than a man who has a reached the 14,411-foot summit of Mount Rainier multiple times?
“He is super youthful,” said Hall of Fame Los Angeles Times reporter Sam Farmer, who chronicled and participated in a 2009 climb of Rainier for charity with Mora and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. “He is hyper-focused. A really smart defensive coach. I really like him.”
Mora fits in ways CSU needs.
He boasts a 73-53 record in 10 college seasons. The Rams begin play in the Pac-12 next season. Mora coached in the conference at UCLA, leading a “Bruin Revolution” that produced four bowl berths and a 29-24 mark in league games. And he posted back-to-back nine win seasons at UConn, the type of success that has eluded the Rams consistently since the salad days of Sonny Lubick 25 years ago.
The Huskies were poised to abandon football, and Mora turned a stadium that was crickets into a weekly can’t-miss event.
“I like the fact that he has ties to the West Coast and Pacific northwest. He has great connections,” CSU booster Shawn Osthoff said. “I sure hope he brings stability. CSU has been seen as a stepping stone for mid-major coaches. It seems like Mora is a guy that wants to be here, wants to be here for the next 10 years, wants go to a bowl game every season and wants to win every one. There is a lot of excitement.”
Mora represents CSU’s fourth head coach since Canvas Stadium opened on campus in 2017. The football program remains the window into a school. And the Rams cannot afford to keep missing on this hire with so many positive things happening with in-state enrollment and across the athletic department.
Mora, of course, must live up to the hype and hope. But he is a grown up. He brings change and credibility.
As a coach, he is not unlike the Broncos’ Sean Payton. He brings an edge and expertise on building a winning culture. This is exactly what CSU requires as Mora inherits a pile of rubble — there are gems underneath the mess — from interim Tyson Summers, whose team has proven better at spitting than winning over the past month.
You know it is a good hire when fans are asking why Mora didn’t wait for a better opportunity.
“You have no idea how bad it can be as the moderator of a message board. The volatility of the fan base is in my face everyday,” said Joel Cantalamessa, founder and manager of RamNation.com. “It is great to see people speaking positively about CSU football and the future. We are Rams fans, so we won’t trust it until we see it on the field because we have been burned so many times. But, we are very hopeful that this is going to work out.”
For three years, CU’s Deion Sanders has sucked the life out of the room. But his climbs as proof, Mora is comfortable in an oxygen deprived environment, embracing this latest challenge.
CSU found the sweet spot. Mora doesn’t have anything to prove, but still relishes in proving people wrong. He believes he should have never been been fired at UCLA, and the school’s record since 2017 has proven his point.
Mora will not arrive at CSU with a wandering eye, looking for the next big paycheck. He clearly wanted this job. And he is ready for it, having navigated high school recruiting and the transfer portal successfully at UConn. Mora is known for his defensive acumen, but he recognize the importance of a scoring style points.
His last Huskies team featured a quarterback who finished with 28 touchdowns and one interception. CSU’s offense this season was about as fun as watching Cam the Ram eat seeds and sage.
Mora, who will be officially introduced at a Monday afternoon news conference, will bring in coaches with his fire and passion. He will demand accountability, and likely use some curse words to get his point across.
“He can be a hard(bleep). But in a good way. If he has something negative to say, he will follow it up with something positive. He wants to get the best out of you,” Moran said. “Every play, every day was my motto. Me and Jim got a long great. He loves that energy in the locker room, in the weight room. If you have that mentality he will find a way to get you on the field.”
There would have been other options for Mora over the next month. He picked the Rams as much as they picked him. That is why this represents the school’s biggest win in a long time. CSU showed football matters. A lot.
Mora wasn’t just the right hire, but the best hire.