The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Mora learning the UConn way from the likes of Auriemma and Hurley
SOUTHINGTON — When Jim Mora welcomed UConn athletic director David Benedict to his Idaho home for a November retreat to discuss the possibility of becoming the Huskies’ next football coach, he continually stressed one point in particular — that he would be visible and involved in the everyday energy of campus life.
Mora said he would be seen all over campus and today he is, often walking his dog. He would be at basketball games and he was, all winter. He would be at baseball and softball games, and he has been all spring.
Mora vowed to be invested in more than his own program, never isolated. After all, who would Mora ever get to believe in UConn football if he couldn’t earn the trust and friendship of the successful coaches around him?
“We’ve talked a couple times about UConn and the challenges here,” women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma said Monday before a UConn Coaches Road Show appearance at Kinsmen Brewing Company. “I think he’s going to be amazingly good. You don’t want to go out on a limb, but if he can’t get this done here, then it’s just not doable.”
Auriemma seems to be sold on football’s potential for becoming, at least, interesting again.
He and Mora had dinner together shortly after Mora arrived on campus.
“I didn’t open my mouth,” Mora said. “I just sat and listened to him. I wished I had a tape recorder or a notebook to take notes. Maybe I can get him to recreate that night some time.”
Mora and Auriemma remained in close contact for a while. Of course, Auriemma was pretty busy during one stretch, coaching his Huskies to the national championship game, and Mora had some business of his own to attend to in March and April.
“He was great before they started spring practice,” Auriemma joked. “Then those guys go into the wit
ness protection program and you don’t see them until after New Year’s.”
Coaches will still be coaches. But it’s important to note Mora hasn’t needed manufactured get-togethers like Monday’s to feel like he is fitting in.
“Everyone is so kind, so nice, so quick to jump in and help, so quick to offer any type of advice that I might need,” Mora said. “And they’re great coaches. I’ve been fortunate in my college career to be around some great, great coaches. But never, I would say, at the level I’m finding at UConn.”
UConn football has been a losing program and a boring program. The Huskies won’t get a chance to win football games until late-August. Winning more than they lose, if that is possible, could take a couple or a few years. But the program is already in a good mood and is well liked. That is a significant change and a good start.
UConn baseball coach Jim Penders, whose team is 42-10 and has clinched the Big East regular season championship, walks through football’s Shenkman Training Center and Burton Family Football Complex just about every day.
“Just the flavor in that building since he’s taken over and the way his kids are interacting, it seems like they’re a lot more brighteyed and bushy-tailed and excited to be there,” Penders said. “There’s a different kind of energy. I think it’s going to be fun to watch, and fun to support.”
The Coaches Road Show is a community outreach event. Mora, Auriemma, Penders, men’s basketball coach Dan Hurley and softball coach Laura Valentino, whose team lost Sunday to Villanova in the Big East championship game,
appeared for a crowd of a couple hundred Monday. Tickets were $25.
On Tuesday, the Road Show, introduced over four nights in 2019 but left off the schedule the following two years due to the pandemic, moves to Two Roads Brewing in Stratford. The group of coaches expected for the final stop is Auriemma, Mora, Hurley, hockey coach Mike Cavanagh and men’s soccer coach Chris Gbandi. An event scheduled for Wednesday at the Hard Rock Cafe in New York has been canceled.
“I’ve felt nothing but support since I got here,” Mora said. “When you’re around guys like Coach Penders and Geno and Danny, and everyone else on this campus, there’s a high level of expectation, a very high standard. So I take it as a challenge. We have to be able to meet the standard of UConn Athletics. It’s not easy to do, but I like hard things so I’ve kind of relished it.”
Mora, 60, is not new to coaching. But he’s brand new to UConn.
“I like to watch Coach Penders in the dugout,” Mora said. “I like to watch Geno on the sideline. I like to watch Coach Hurley. Because they all do it a different way, yet they’re all very successful. There’s nothing more fascinating to me than trying to read Geno’s lips when he’s talking to his athletes in the huddle. Or, I watch Dan and he’s intense, he’s passionate, he’s emotional — yet I’ve never once seen him being negative toward one of his players during the game. Coach Penders … his demeanor: calm. He’s directing things. Never getting out of control. I think that’s really contagious with his players. I’m able to learn from these people every single day.”
Mora said he has learned a lot from other coaches in areas applicable to recruiting, “some of the things that are attractive about our
institution over others, some of the advantages we have,” he said.
Penders texted Mora Monday because a baseball player who is considering transferring to UConn is also interested in trying to be a placekicker on a football team.
“They’ve been very visible on campus and very supportive of what we’re doing,” Penders said of Mora and his fiancé, Kathy. “We’d like to do the same for him. … I don’t know a damn thing about football. But I do think having spent a lot of time on the campus, I think we have some resources we can share. But I think he’s got it more than figured out. I’ve been really impressed.”
Hurley talked briefly about the benefit of spending time around successful coaches like Auriemma and Penders since he began his own rebuilding project four years ago — and about getting a kick out of talking to Mora, who coached the NFL’s Falcons and Seahawks.
“The staff has been coming in and playing some pickup at noon,” Hurley said of seeing football assistant coaches in basketball’s Werth Champions Center. “I don’t think any of them can help us.”
Mora’s debut will be Aug. 27, when UConn plays at Utah State.
“I think most of the hard coaching takes place Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday,” he said of his sideline demeanor. “Saturday, it’s about being there for (players) and supporting them, making sure they can count on you and having their best interests in mind. The only thing that really upsets me on gameday is if we’re errant on timeouts or clock management or if the officials don’t get the call right.”