UCLA parts ways with coach Mora

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 Pac12), 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 school announced that Mora’s contract will be “honored by UCLA Athletics, exclusively using department-generated funds.”

The extraordinary buyout indicates the depth of frustration in Westwood with Mora, whose program has declined precipitously since 2015. The Bruins even fired Mora on his 56th birthday.

“Jim helped re-establish our football program, and was instrumental in so many ways in moving the program forward,” Guerrero said in a statement. “While his first four seasons at UCLA were very successful, the past two seasons have not met expectations.”

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 issued a warm statement through the school, thanking Guerrero for the opportunity.

College basketball

TRUMPS RIPS UCLA PLAYERS » President Donald Trump says he should have left three UCLA basketball players accused of shoplifting in China in jail.

Trump’s tweet Sunday comes after the father of player Li Angelo Ball minimized Trump’s involvement in winning the players’ release in comments to ESPN.

“Who?” LaVar Ball told ESPN on Friday, when asked about Trump’s involvement in the matter. “What was he over there for? Don’t tell me nothing. Everybody wants to make it seem like he helped me out.”

Trump has said he raised the players’ detention with Chinese President Xi Jinping during the leaders’ recent meeting in Beijing.

The players returned to the U.S. last week. They have been indefinitely suspended from the team.

Says Trump: “Now that the three basketball players are out of China and saved from years in jail, LaVar Ball, the father of Li Angelo, is unaccepting of what I did for his son and that shoplifting is no big deal. I should have left them in jail!”

The younger Ball, along with fellow freshmen Jalen Hill and Cody Riley, aren’t with the rest of the No. 23 Bruins, who are in Kansas City to play in the Hall of Fame Classic on Monday and Tuesday. The trio isn’t allowed to suit up, be on the bench for home games or travel with the team.

The players were arrested and questioned about stealing from high-end stores next to the team’s hotel in Hangzhou, where the Bruins stayed before leaving for Shanghai to play Georgia Tech.