When UConn’s football players return to campus after the Thanksgiving break, they will be addressed by their former coach.
Jim Mora, who accepted the head coaching job at Colorado State last Tuesday night, will travel back to Connecticut after his introductory press conference Monday in Colorado to meet with players, several of whom have put their names in the transfer portal.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement“Many of the players left directly from FAU (where UConn played its last regular season game in Florida Nov. 22), thus a team meeting was not possible,” Mora told The Courant, in an exchange of text messages Sunday afternoon. “I am flying back across the country (Monday) to look these men in the eye and say thanks for the work they did and the things we accomplished together.”
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Mora’s departure from UConn was expected. He has strong ties to the Rocky Mountain region and the West Coast, and the turnaround he achieved in Connecticut made him a hot coaching commodity in a year when dozens of jobs are opening. His departure did draw some criticism in Connecticut, particularly since UConn still has a bowl game to play, though this has become the normal timing of coaching moves in football. He offered a farewell statement via social media Friday night.
Mora wanted it known that players and officials at UConn knew what was going on all along. AD David Benedict announced that Mora was leaving early Wednesday morning, the day before Thanksgiving.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement“I sent a group message (to players) via ‘teamworks,’ the only way to communicate with them all when scattered across country, the moment the deal was done,” Mora said. “The AD at UConn was kept in the loop the entire time. … Frankly, I did it exactly the right way, all above board, with honesty and integrity and all with the interest of the UConn players in mind.”
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As the search for Mora’s successor gets underway, offensive coordinator Gordon Sammis has been named interim head coach, tasked with keeping the roster as intact as possible for the Huskies’ bowl game in December or early January, place and opponent yet to be determined. UConn (9-3) won 20 of its last 27 games under Mora, and 27 of 50, with three bowl-eligible seasons. The program lost 50 of 60 games before he began in 2022.
“I left UConn better than I found it,” Mora said, “and I handled my departure the way a man with integrity does so. … I loved umy time here, we embraced it.”
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