Jim Mora's previous head coaching job was at UCLA in the Pac-12. His next head coaching job will be at Colorado State, in a very, very different Pac-12.
The Rams are expected to hire the UConn head coach for the same position in Fort Collins,according to ESPN's Pete Thamel, with a deal expected to come together in the near future.
Mora has head coaching experience in both the NFL and the Power Five, having held the job for the Atlanta Falcons, Seattle Seahawks and UCLA. A few years after his firing by UCLA, he joined a near-destitute UConn program in 2021, the successor to Randy Edsall's disastrous second tenure, and has since built the program up to a winner, with back-to-back nine-win seasons in 2024 and 2025.
The Huskies were not beaten in regulation this season, as all three of their losses came in overtime.
That success made the 64-year-old Mora an attractive candidate for some schools this coaching cycle, and he is reportedly landing at a Fort Collins program that needs a similar revival as it heads to a revamped Pac-12. The conference might not be as competitive as its past iteration, but it's clearly shooting for a level of prestige above Colorado State's past home of the Mountain West and other Group of Five conferences.
Mora is replacing Jay Norvell,who was fired this season after a 2-5 start. The Rams posted an 18-26 record in Norvell's four seasons with the program and haven't won a bowl game since 2013, when Jim McElwain was head coach.
