According to Matt Howe of 24/7 Sports on Monday, former National Football League head coach Jim Mora Jr. of Los Angeles, California is returning to coach football. It just will not be in the NFL at the moment. That is because Mora Jr. has agreed to be the head coach of the University of Connecticut Huskies of the National Collegiate Athletic Association.
In his coaching career, Mora Jr. spent three seasons coaching the Falcons from 2004 to 2006, and another season with the Seahawks in 2009. He had a record of 31 wins and 33 losses as a head coach in the NFL. Mora Jr.’s best season came in 2004 with the Falcons as Atlanta won the NFC South with a record of 11 wins and five losses, before losing 27-10 to the Philadelphia Eagles in the 2005 NFC Championship game. Mora Jr.’s lone playoff win came on January 15, 2005 in a 47-17 Falcons triumph over the St. Louis Rams.
Mora Jr. coached the Falcons during a time when Michael Vick was in his prime. While with the Falcons in 2006, Vick led the NFL with 1039 rushing yards, the second most rushing yards by a quarterback in a single season in NFL history. Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson has the record as he had 1206 yards when he was named the NFL’s most valuable player in 2019.
Jim Mora Jr. is also the son of Jim Mora Sr., who coached the New Orleans Saints from 1986 to 1996, and then the Indianapolis Colts from 1998 to 2001. In his final season coaching the Colts, Mora Sr. had a legendary press conference where he said “playoffs” in a strange voice on numerous occasions following a 40-21 loss to the San Francisco 49ers. The Colts finished up that season at 6-10, and missed the playoffs.
