UConn Names Jim Mora As Next Head Coach

Jim Mora will be UConn's next head football coach, the school announced on Thursday morning.

Mora, 59, will be the 32nd head coach in UConn's history, succeeding Randy Edsall, who stepped down on Sept. 6. Mora will be an assistant coach for the remainder of the 2021 regular season. His tenure will officially begin on Nov. 28.

"I am excited to have the opportunity to become the head football coach at the University of Connecticut," Mora said. "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."

Mora's coaching career began in 1984 when he was a University of Washington graduate assistant. Mora then spent most of his career in the NFL, earning his first head coaching gig with the Falcons in 2004. Mora went 26-22 with Atlanta but was fired after the 2006 season.

Mora became the Seahawks' defensive coordinator in 2007. He was named head coach for the 2009 season but was fired after going 5-11. Mora returned to the college ranks in 2012 to become UCLA's head football coach. Mora lasted five years and was fired in 2017 after going 46-30 with two 10-win seasons.

His next task will be turning around a program that is at rock bottom. UConn is 1-8 this season and has won just nine games in the past five seasons. UConn did not participate during the 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

UConn athletic director David Benedict said the program has great potential and that Mora's experience is what stood out to him.

"Getting to know Jim Mora over the last several days has been a terrific experience," Benedict said. "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."