UCLA fires Mora after promising start to tenure fizzles.
LOS ANGELES — Jim Mora’s tenure at UCLA began with three years of enormous promise. It ended with the school abruptly firing the coach late in his sixth season — and on his birthday, no less.
UCLA dismissed Mora on Sunday with one game left in the regular season. Athletic director Dan Guerrero announced the shocking move one day after rival Southern California’s 28-23 victory over the Bruins (5-6, 3-5 Pac-12), who have lost six of nine while going winless on the road this season.
Offensive coordinator Jedd Fisch will coach the Bruins in their regular-season home finale against California on Friday night.
UCLA must pay more than $12 million to buy out the remainder of Mora’s contract, which runs through 2021. The extraordinary buyout indicates the depth of frustration in Westwood with Mora, whose program has declined precipitously since 2015. The Bruins fired Mora on his 56th birthday.
Mora went 46-30 in his first significant collegiate coaching job, but the Bruins are on the brink of their second consecutive losing season despite a roster filled with elite recruits led by quarterback Josh Rosen.
Mora won at least eight games in each of his first four seasons, giving the Bruins four straight winning seasons for the first time since 1988 under Terry Donahue. But UCLA finished 4-8 last year with one of the nation’s worst offenses, and its record hasn’t improved significantly this season despite getting a full season from Rosen, who missed the second half of 2016 with a shoulder injury.
The Bruins won 10 games in Mora’s second and third seasons, tying the modest school record for victories in a season. Mora, the former coach of the Atlanta Falcons and the Seattle Seahawks, was the widespread subject of NFL speculation at the time, but he repeatedly vowed to stay with the Bruins.
UCLA is 17-19 since 2015 with Rosen in the program, including 10-16 in the Pac-12. The Bruins won just 10 of Mora’s last 27 games.