Just when you thought the college football coaching carousel couldn’t get any more crazy leading into rivalry week, guess again. The first hiring was made last week when Virginia Tech hired former Penn State coach James Franklin.
There is expected to be some craziness this week, and before the week even started, another opening happened. Hours after Florida State announced they were bringing back Mike Norvell, fellow ACC member California fired Justin Wilcox.
Wilcox’s firing comes one day after Stanford steamrolled the Golden Bears at home to the tune of 31-10. There are several high-profile openings in the SEC and Big Ten, which are not as attractive as Cal is. However, Pete Nakos of On3 released a list of potential candidates, and he had a former NFL head coach and current college coach listed.
Former NFL Head Coach Jim Mora Linked to California Opening
One name that has been quietly linked to some of the other openings across the country is former Seattle Seahawks and Atlanta Falcons coach and current UConn coach Jim Mora.
“Another former West Coast head coach, Jim Mora, is in his fourth season at UConn and has won nine games in back-to-back years. The former Atlanta Falcons and UCLA head coach has emerged as a popular name in searches at Stanford, Colorado State, and Oregon State. He is 73–53 as an FBS head coach,” wrote Nakos.
Now this is certainly an interesting name. Mora does have West Coast ties from his time at UCLA. In six seasons with the Bruins, he went 46-30, including 2-2 in bowl games, from 2012-17. He was fired in November of 2017.
Mora spent three seasons with the Falcons, going 26-22 from 2004-06, before going 5-11 with the Seahawks in 2009. Those stops were a long time ago, but what you can’t deny is the success that Mora is having in college football right now, albeit at a smaller school.
Jim Mora is Having Success at UConn
Let’s face it, the landscape in college football has changed over the years, and it isn’t for everyone. Look at the struggles Bill Belichick is having this season at North Carolina after they lost to Duke on Saturday afternoon to fall to 4-7. Mora, however, is having success with Connecticut.
He is 27-23 in four seasons in Storrs with the Huskies, and they are 9-3 this season after closing the regular season with a 48-45 win over Florida Atlantic on Saturday. As part of his eight other wins this season, he beat Duke, which beat Belichick and UNC on Saturday, two weeks ago at home, 37-34, in what was an embarrassing loss for the Blue Devils and ACC.
Mora is 64 years old and is from Los Angeles, but his familiarity with the area and the recruiting that he did when he was at UCLA would be a bonus. Also, maybe the biggest bonus is Cal being in the ACC.
The conference is seeing a changing of the guard at the top this year. SMU and Virginia are the two favorites to reach the ACC Championship Game. Clemson, Florida State, and Miami are not running it like they should be, given how down the conference is.
That is why Virginia Tech’s hiring of Franklin makes them believe they can contend. Mora has multiple schools interested, and it feels like he’ll leave and head west this year.
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