UConn officially announces former NFL, Pac 12 coach as next head coach

The Connecticut Huskies have honed in on the next head coach of their football program. UConn has announced their hiring former UCLA and NFL coach Jim Mora to takeover their program

“Jim L. Mora, has been named as the next head football coach of the University of Connecticut, as announced by director of athletics David Benedict on Thursday, November 11,” the school wrote in a release. “Mora will become the 32nd head coach in program’s history, which dates back to 1896.”

Mora hasn’t coached since 2017, after he was fired by the UCLA Bruins. Prior to his time at UCLA, Mora was a head coach in the NFL at two different stops — the Atlanta Falcons and Seattle Seahawks.

Moreover, the school revealed that Mora will be designated as an assistant coach through the end of the 2021 season — allowing him to begin his recruiting responsibilities. Afterwards, he’ll officially become the head coach on November 28th.

Since his time at UCLA ended, Mora has been an analyst for ESPN. Now, it seems he’s looking to get back into coaching. Surprisingly, he’s taking one of the more challenging jobs in the nation.

UConn hasn’t had a winning season since 2010. With Jim Mora, they’re swinging big to fix their troubles once and for all.

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Furthermore, Mora’s hire lines-up with UConn’s lofty goal to become a prominent brand of football in the area. Since the football program left their conference so the Huskies’ powerhouse basketball programs could be part of the Big East, UConn viewed this hire as important to staying in the picture as a Northeast independent.

“I’m not going to compare ourselves to the likes of Notre Dame,” UConn athletic director David Benedict told Yahoo’s Pete Thamel earlier this year. “But BYU is not necessarily so far out of the realm of comparison that we can’t establish ourselves like BYU as an independent.”

Jim Mora being the guy for UConn signals a new era for the program. They’re taking their football program seriously, and are hoping to develop a new era of Huskies football. Eventually, we could look back at this as the first domino that fell in their quest for respectability.