CC: Jim Mora, Jr - Everything Michigan Needs

Submitted by blue_shift on

Why aren't we discussing Jim Mora, Jr. here? It seems like he would be the perfect fit for Michigan.

He's only 53 years old, runs a clean program, and is currently paid less than $2 million at UCLA. He's twice the coach of Hoke, at half the price. And his offensive scheme could fit our current personnel. No need for another disruptive offensive transition.

Why do I think he'd be great? First of all, he's had success at all levels of the game - from the NFL to college. He coached under Mariucci & Holmgren, comes from a strong football pedigree (PLAYOFFS?!) and made the NFC Championship Game with the Falcons.

Next, he clearly understands the importance of winning games and beating rivals. In 2011, UCLA was 6-8. In Mora's first year, they went 9-5 and beat USC. He won 10 games the next year, and has won 9 games this year - and as a former DB, he understands how to play defense against the heavy offensive hitters of the Pac-12.

On the recruiting trail, he catapulted a mediocre UCLA class into the Top 15 almost immediately and consistently brings in talent. He's proven he can also develop that talent, as he's sent guys to the NFL.

So why not Mora? He's young, enthusiastic, ethical, talented, understands the academic needs of a public university, recruits well, and has won at all levels of the game.

 

MGoBoard

Ghost of Fritz…

December 4th, 2014 at 9:07 PM ^

...have you watched? 

I suspect that most of the anti-Shaw sentiment on this board comes from watching just one Stanford game--the Rose Bowl loss to MSU.

Stanford's uninspiring offensive game plan in that game does count against Shaw, at least for me.  But the reality is that OSU also had a poor game plan againt MSU in the Big Ten Championshi game last year.

If you watched Stanford this year you would realize that Stanford is still a very good team in 2014.  At least three of the five losses this year could have gone either way, and were decided in the last few minutes or in OT.  They are a few players short of the 2013 squad in terms of talent, but are still a handful of plays from 10-2. 

As I stated on a different thread, under Shaw Stanford has a had a really great defense (even this year) and was able to throttle Oregon in 2012 and 2013.  If Shaw can scheme to stop Oregon's offense, he can scheme to stop OSU's offense. 

I am not saying that Shaw should be at the top the the list, but he should be on the list after the A level candidates.  Shaw would be a better hire than the guys that Florida and Nebraska just hired. 

One thing that you will notice about Stanford if you watched their games is that they do not beat themselves with mistakes.  Shaw's teams are well coached and fundamentally sound. Imagine seeing that at Michigan Stadium again.

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Rabbit21

December 5th, 2014 at 11:53 AM ^

They're frustrated by his game planning and calling.  Thinking most of his success is a byproduct of Hundley's individual brilliance rather than anything he does.  That said this is going by Bruins Nation which is by far the most batshit crazy of the SBNation blogs.  This is what years of frustration and flailing around can do to a fanbase, they're already worried that Mora has plateaued and that they're getting a Jeff Tedford vs. a Pete Carroll.  The question of who the hell do you think you'll get that will do better never seems to cross their minds. 

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aiglick

December 4th, 2014 at 7:25 PM ^

That's my choice. I think he's a step right below Harbaugh in appeal of available. He runs a clean program and is much more successful than a lot of the other candidates mentioned. Yes he is at a big school with a lot of resources but that makes him a good comp. It's hard to know how a coach at a smaller school would translate when paired with Michigan's resources. Yes he has dropped some games every year maybe he shouldn't have. Nobody's perfect and if you have a record over .700 you're doing pretty well. He is in the SEC so he may very well do better were he to come to the Big Ten. I'm not sure about his demeanor but I'd love some more advanced analysis and maybe a profile on him.

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Ryno2317

December 4th, 2014 at 7:12 PM ^

I am in L.A..  He is o.k., however, he is not even close to elite.  Plus, he just signed a big contract last year and did not go to Washington -- which was his dream job.  I don't think he is coming and I don't think I want him. 

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TheVictors

December 4th, 2014 at 10:22 PM ^

This is what I think.  I spend a lot of time in LA and have some clients who are pretty involved Alumnus at UCLA and they all love Mora and think he will be their coach for some time.

The only other consideration which I haven't seen mentioned in the thread yet is the characterization of the UCLA football program as lacking support from the University Administration.

The Rose Bowl is not even close to being on campus and is outdated in many respects.  The UCLA Basketball team enjoyed a huge renovation to Pauley Pavilion (before the water main break and flooding) and is the premiere and central program in the UCLA AD.  I've heard some say that what UCLA wants is to be considered the academic equivalent of an Ivy or "Duke" and that the football team is being slowly choked off.

Mora's success seems to be in spite of all that but maybe he'd want to go to a program dying to give a new coach all the support and resources in the world.

 

And he'd have SoCal recruiting lines..

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LAMFan

December 5th, 2014 at 10:33 AM ^

I am a UCLA alum, grad school, get hit up for fund raising and know the guy who manages money brought in for the Pauley remodel.  UCLA is currently campaigning for an on campus football facility.  Support for high paid salaries at UCLA is accurate historically, but changing.  Things may not change fast enough for UCLA to keep Mora, but he and family are entrenched in great beach town, and UCLA has upped its game for fund raising and knows USC gets lots of money when the footbal team wins.

 

Ryno, not sure what you see, but I do think Mora is elite.  Top of the heap?  Maybe not.  Right for Michigan? Not sure.  he totally changed a soft culture at UCLA, and I think this could work at Michigan to change the 'this is Michigan' attitude that can at times result in performance that looks like the winged helmet and history translates to the field.

When someone mentioned above the UCLA academics being no slouch, I thought to take at look at latest rankings (take em with a grain of salt):

1: Cal

2: UCLA

3: UVa

4: Michigan

11 Illinois, 13 Wi, 14, PSU, FLA & UW, 18 OSU, 20 Purdue, Clemson, Ga, Md

With only a few exceptions, the schools in the top 20 do not field strong teams year after year.

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TheVictors

December 4th, 2014 at 10:23 PM ^

This is what I think.  I spend a lot of time in LA and have some clients who are pretty involved Alumnus at UCLA and they all love Mora and think he will be their coach for some time.

The only other consideration which I haven't seen mentioned in the thread yet is the characterization of the UCLA football program as lacking support from the University Administration.

The Rose Bowl is not even close to being on campus and is outdated in many respects.  The UCLA Basketball team enjoyed a huge renovation to Pauley Pavilion (before the water main break and flooding) and is the premiere and central program in the UCLA AD.  I've heard some say that what UCLA wants is to be considered the academic equivalent of an Ivy or "Duke" and that the football team is being slowly choked off.

Mora's success seems to be in spite of all that but maybe he'd want to go to a program dying to give a new coach all the support and resources in the world.

 

And he'd have SoCal recruiting lines..

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jmambro13

December 4th, 2014 at 7:15 PM ^

Good hire! I think he should absolutely be in the discussion with the top candidates. He develops talent (Hundley, Myles Jack, Datone Jones), he has NFL head coach and D-coordinator experience, he can recruit against anyone in college football, he runs a clean program and he wins games. To me he's the 3rd option behind the obvious, Harbaugh and Miles.

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Maize and Blue…

December 4th, 2014 at 7:27 PM ^

That the 49ers would hire him to replace Harbaugh, that way, Harbaugh could poach some of Mora's UCLA recruits and bring them to Michigan (KLS, Rosen), maybe Harbaugh could get Iman Marshall to come as well.

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gwkrlghl

December 4th, 2014 at 7:28 PM ^

Next, he clearly understands the importance of winning games and beating rivals.
If only Hoke had understood that it was important to win and beat your rivals! Someone quick, get Hoke on the phone. He can't make the same mistake again

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ThirdVanGundy

December 4th, 2014 at 7:30 PM ^

One bit. However I would still take David Shaw over him. Shaw has been great at Stanford and would only be better here with the better recruiting classes he would have.

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Danwillhor

December 4th, 2014 at 7:32 PM ^

if we miss on our unicorn hires (let's start to get real, guys/gals, it's 99.9% not happening) I think JMJr would be an excellent hire. I'd have him up there right outside the top tier of our unicorn wish hires. The guy (much like Harbaugh at Stanford) turned UCLA from a bad program & team into a winner. He's young, can recruit, he can clearly win, runs an offense that is not too extreme in either direction, etc. Like Jimmy, you'd have to be concerned about him looking to the NFL in a few years but winning quickly would make the job even more desirable if he did leave. Also, if he left it would mean he did a great job. I don't think we can afford another drastic change in play philosophy. Unless we're truly willing to give a turbo spread coach the time to get his guys AND let them mature into the system (5-6 yrs) we have to get a multi-pro offense guru type. The reason urbz did so well so quick was a poor conference and Tress always recruited for speed & power. He could run the spread (pass or read option) with Smith/Pryor and with most of the same players go manball if they got hurt or the next year they had a pocket guy. Urbz inherited a team ready and used to the speed & lingo of spread. Michigan didn't in 07/08 on all aspects. The same is true now. We'd be bad for a year or two with Mullen, Malzahn, etc. Then we'd be decent for a couple years (we can't oversign, can't take almost any Juco kid to speed up the process). Finally, if things go right and the coach recruited well, year 5 we'd be "good". A solid team but not a powerhouse. Year 6 is when, if all went well, we'd take off. SO, we either hire a guy that can compete and build on who we have now OR happily.....AND I MEAN HAPPILY, FFS....resign ourselves to a true rebuilding project. It would hurt for multiple seasons but would likely pay off around 2021. Unless we're willing to wait, we have to hire a flexible guy like JMJr (a few others outside the unicorn list) to win now. I'd take him.

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Danwillhor

December 4th, 2014 at 7:54 PM ^

yeah, this is very true for many reasons. The school is nice, the location is nice, California is a recruiting dream, etc. I just wonder if Michigan (set up with more support, facilities & players ready to win with good coaching/gameplan then when he went to UCLA) is a rare high profile job he'd go east for. Maybe?

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diag squirrel

December 4th, 2014 at 7:58 PM ^

I'd love Mora but if he turned down Texas, he clearly values $2M in sunny California over whatever U-M could pay him. And he's probably going to get a raise after this season anyways.

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Bleedmaizeblue

December 4th, 2014 at 7:43 PM ^

Didn't he just get beat by double digits by Stanford?! And Oregon earlier this yr? He's 0-6 vs them combined. And he loses a couple other games every season. I want a coach that can out coach other teams. He obviously lacks coaching in big games.



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alum96

December 4th, 2014 at 7:46 PM ^

In terms of results he is basically Mark Richt of the West coast.

As others have said he was basically given the texas job and said no.

The other issue with him is any level of sustained success and you hear NFL rumors constantly wiith him. 

He'd win, but like Richt (on a much shorter time frame) he finds ways to lose some head scratchers.  Think he'd return us to Lloyd Carr status.

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alum96

December 4th, 2014 at 7:51 PM ^

One dude's grades of the Pac 12 coaches this year - again one dude's opinions but always like to see people who live in that part of the country with their closer views than us from 3K miles away

http://blogs.mercurynews.com/collegesports/2014/12/04/pac-12-football-g…

 

1. Nobody had a truly awful season, which I’d describe as losing four or five more games than should reasonably be expected.

2. Top to bottom, coaching in the Pac-12 is the equal of any conference in the country, if not better.

3. My criteria for the grades: How did each coach make use of the talent available over the past three months — some good coaches had bad seasons.

Oh, and I hold the HC responsible for everything, including strength/conditioning, special teams and the side of the ball that he doesn’t take a hands-on role in coaching.

 

Here we go …

Arizona’s Rich Rodriguez 
Grade: A+
Comment: Won the South, won in Eugene and is within range of a playoff berth with a rookie quarterback and spotty defense. Magnificent.

Oregon’s Mark Helfrich
Grade: A
Comment: Sure, helps having the best player at the most important position. But Helfrich made shrewd use of Royce Freeman and adjusted the passing scheme to fit the personnel. And he figured out a way for the defense not to screw the whole thing up.

Arizona State’s Todd Graham
Grade: B+
Comment: Challenged for the division title until the final minutes of the 12th game and deftly retooled the defense. But the loss in Corvallis was inexcusable, and if USC had simply defended a Hail Mary, the Devils wouldn’t have been in the race down the stretch.

Utah’s Kyle Whittingham
Grade: B
Comment: Finally got it right with Dave Christensen running the offense and sculpted a stout defense. Now, if he could only find a quarterback.

Cal’s Sonny Dykes
Grade: C+
Comment: Orchestrated the climb from awful to mediocre but didn’t beat a team with a winning record, couldn’t overcome BYU in the finale and can’t get it right defensively.

UCLA’s Jim Mora
Grade: C
Comment: Bruins were overrated in the preseason (No. 7), which isn’t Mora’s fault, but they tanked the finale with nothing less than the division at stake, which is.

Washington’s Chris Petersen
Grade: C-
Comment: Soft noncon schedule padded the win total and two major gaffes cost UW potential victories (fake punt vs Stanford and clock management at Arizona). In his defense, the Huskies were seriously flawed at QB.

Colorado’s Mike MacIntyre
Grade: C-
Comment: Has the youngest team and the least-talented roster in the league (by far), yet the Buffs competed in every game and were oh-so-close four times (Cal, UCLA, Oregon State and Utah).

Stanford’s David Shaw
Grade: D+
Comment: Shaw on Shaw: “It starts with me … making sure the guys are in position to do the things they’re capable of doing and realizing that every year we’re a different team and that you can’t just do what you did last year.” Couldn’t have said it better myself.

USC’s Steve Sarkisian
Grade: D+
Comment: The lack of depth cannot be discounted, but the Trojans were talented enough with their top 25-30 players to win more than eight (remember: no Oregon). And I simply cannot get past the collapse vs ASU or the complete rollover vs UCLA.

Oregon State’s Mike Riley
Grade: D
Comment: Won just two conference games — I expected four or five Ws — and one of them was Colorado. Tough to give Riley anything lower than a D because of an injury list that stretches to eternity.

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bamf16

December 4th, 2014 at 8:23 PM ^

If you try to discuss a coaching candidate other than Jim Harbaugh, you get fanatical imbeciles downvoting it without rhyme or reason.

 

If Jim Harbaugh were to come out and say he's interested in the job, will interview after the 49ers season, etc, ok, maybe I could understand.

 

I'll admit that I don't fully get the vitriol towards Schiano, but I'm not overly excited about him as a hire either.  I let it go, becuase that discussion isn't really worth it.

 

But my goodness, Jim Mora is a good football coach, and if the Harbaughs, Miles, and Bob Stoops say no, Michigan should be thrilled to get Mora.

 

*Edit: He's not a junior, apparently

 

 

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Danwillhor

December 4th, 2014 at 8:32 PM ^

the beauty (maybe the only) of using the app almost exclusively is you don't see negs/pos. I can reply how I like with zero pandering or trying to impress folk without worrying about negs. I average about 1.4 started threads a year so it's not something I concern myself with. Other than a lack of paragraphs/spacing, some post/embed/link issues and the inability to start a thread if you wanted to the Android app is beautiful for being able to simply post how you truly feel. I try to remain respectful to all. I can joke at times but I only post my honest thoughts when serious. If people agree - cool! If not and are decent about it (no insults/snark) - I respect that and try to continue the dialog. All the while I could be getting negbombed to ruins, ha. I can't see so I don't care. Ignorance is bliss and the app leaves you ignorant to neg and pos. I love it!

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Buccaneer_9

December 4th, 2014 at 8:02 PM ^

He's not a Junior.  Why does everybody ge this wrong?

Father: James Ernest Mora

Son: James Lawrence Mora

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Perkis-Size Me

December 4th, 2014 at 10:30 PM ^

Sweet.

I can't wait for four more years of rebuilding, infighting within the fanbase, and ass kickings from OSU/MSU to continue.

Mullen has had one good year, and the teams he's beaten that we thought were good, like A&M, LSU and Auburn, really aren't so good. I'd like to see sustained success, personally.



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