Connecticut announced Thursday that Jim L. Mora, the former coach of UCLA, the Seattle Seahawks and Atlanta Falcons, will take over the Huskies football program following the end of the regular season. Mora has agreed to a five-year contract, which will pay him $1.5 million in his first year plus the possibility to earn an additional $200,000 through incentives. He will serve as an assistant coach through the rest of the 2021 season and take over as head coach on November 28.
UConn parted ways with Randy Edsall in September after an 0-2 start.
"I am excited to have the opportunity to become the head football coach at the University of Connecticut," said Mora in a statement. "UConn possesses a nationally-recognized academic and athletics brand and I am thrilled to become a member of the community that makes up UConn Nation. This program is loaded with potential, and I look forward to getting to know the student-athletes on the team and am eager to get to work!"
A veteran coach at multiple levels, Mora last coached in college with the Bruins from 2012-17. He went 46-30 in Los Angeles with two 10-win seasons, four bowl appearances and posted a Pac-12 South title. He previously went 5-11 with the Seahawks in 2011 and was fired in January 2012 before the organization hired Pete Carroll.
"Getting to know Jim Mora over the last several days has been a terrific experience," said athletic director David Benedict. "Jim is a proven winner, a man of integrity, and he possesses the experience and the energy to lead our football program back to success. Jim is excited and undaunted by this challenge, and we both know that this program has great potential. I'm certain that, under Coach Mora's leadership, UConn football will once again realize that potential."
Mora burst onto the coaching scene with the Atlanta Falcons in 2004. That team, with Michael Vick at quarterback, went 11-5, won the NFC South and lost to the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC Championship Game. It marked Mora's only season in the NFL in which his team finished over .500.
"I am impressed by Coach Mora's tremendous wealth of experience and achievement professionally and in intercollegiate football," said UCLA interim president Andrew Agwunobi. "He is a true coach on- and off-the-field, and that degree of dedication will greatly benefit our student-athletes in his charge. I enthusiastically join UConn Nation in welcoming him to Storrs and look forward to his leadership of our program in the years ahead."
UConn's football future is a bit murky after the latest round of realignment. It left the American Athletic Conference in favor of football independence prior to the 2020 season, which was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Huskies haven't landed anywhere during the latest round of realignment, which is starting to wind down now that the MAC announced that it is staying at 12 teams.
