Apparently, coaching the Huskies is no longer Jim L. Mora’s “dream job,” but leveraging the Washington vacancy certainly was a dream come true. Mora not only rebuffed a rumored attempt to replace Steve Sarkisian at Washington, who quit Monday in order to take the USC job, he signed a six-year contract extension Tuesday with the Bruins.
Mora, a Washington graduate and letterman defensive back who walked on from Interlake High School in Bellevue, began his coaching career with the Huskies as a graduate assistant under Don James in the mid-1980s and spent 25 years coaching in the NFL, including with the Seattle Seahawks. His name quickly rose to the top of the speculative list of candidates after Sarkisian bailed after five years at Washington.
When Mora coached the Atlanta Falcons in 2006, he said in a radio interview with KJR, “If that (Washington) job’s open, you’ll find me at the friggin’ head of the line with my resume in hand ready to take that job.” Mora later claimed he was only joking.
After the Falcons fired Mora, he moved to Seattle, first as an assistant, then head coach of the Seahawks in 2009. The Seahawks fired him after a 5-11 season, replacing him with Pete Carroll. Mora returned to the big time in 2012 when he took over for a former Huskies coach, Rick Neuheisel, at UCLA.
Mora has had two 9-3 seasons at UCLA, including wins each year over USC, prompting him to say, “We own LA.” So now it’s on with Sark. Mora made $2.3 million in 2013, about what Sarkisian made at Washington. Both are in for big raises. Mora’s announcement came nearly simultaneously with the USC press conference introducing Sarkisian.
While Mora was considered Monday by some as the frontrunner for the Washington job, several others have surfaced as potential Sarkisian replacements, including Doug Nussmeier, Alabama’s offensive coordinator and a former Husky assistant to Sarkisian; Gary Pinkel, coach at Missouri and a UW assistant from 1979-90; Chris Petersen, Boise State’s head coach, and Justin Wilcox, Washington’s defensive coordinator.
Pinkel, whose Tigers are No. 5 in the BCS standings and likely bound for the Sugar Bowl, turned down the Washington job in 2008 after Tyrone Willingham was fired. He was also considered for the vacancy in 1998 after Lambright was fired. The job was filled by Neuheisel.
Carroll said he is “thrilled” that Sarkisian, his former Trojan assistant, got the USC job.
“This is a life-long dream for him,” Carroll told ESPN 710 Tuesday morning. “As a kid that grew up in Southern California, there’s no coach that they could have hired that understands LA better, and what that’s all about. That’s my opinion. He has a tremendous sense for the area and the schools and the coaches and the traditions and all of that. It’s why it was such a big deal for him to get this opportunity.
“He had a great time here in Washington. He loved it and did a great job with them. But it’s just a chance to go home and do it at a great university.”
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="2171411 https://sportspressnw.wpengine.com/?p=2171411">8 Comments
Wow – I’d like to see what Hugh Millen has to say about this one, Mora’s old teammate and roommate!
Talk about a turn coat: I thought for sure he’d come back to UW.
A true capitalist – take from the poor sports fan and the public trough and line thy pockets. “Loyalty, we don’t need no stinking loyalty”…
A little bit surprising, although no doubt UCLA decided they’d better put this ember out before it became a fire. I guess Mora isn’t as into Seattle as he used to be. Are there ANY honest coaches out there?
And, please, don’t give the job to some assistant who’s never run a program before. Let the players be the ones learning on the job, not the coach.
Mora signed for $11m over 5 years, less than what Sark was making @ UW, so he passed up a significant raise. I’m sure UW would have moved over $3m if needed easily.
A full stadium, great radio and tv contracts and loyal fans are worth BIG MONEY.
Hindsight is 20/20 yet when Kiffin was fired Woodward should have expected a hard run @ Sark by USC. Doesn’t seem like he planned this out very well, simply calling Mora Monday or Tuesday by phone.
He should have been in LA Sunday morning to meet with Mora and sign him up on the spot. When the downside is NOT getting the ONE guy you want, you go to extremes and Woodward didn’t do it.
A tough lesson learned.
Mora and Sark are LOVED by the high school coaches down there and they know them all. The next guy will be fighting over the leftovers. Tough deal.
So that’s twice now Mora has turned down his “dream job”. Doesn’t sound much like he really thought UW as his dream job…..
Sounds like Jim has some loyalty to his current employer, something you don’t see to often in either college or pro sports.
jafabian, I don’t buy that. He was given an extension by UCLA after UW came calling. If he was loyal to UCLA why would he need an extension? I’m not faulting him for staying. Instead, I’m chuckling at this idea that UW was his “dream job”. Clearly it isn’t.