Getty ImagesNow that Jim Mora the Younger has become the head coach at UCLA, he has to recruit kids to come play for him. He immediately targeted some of the college prospects from the Atlanta area, given that he spent several seasons there as coach of the Falcons.
And he has a hook based on the chronic inability of the Dirty Birds to realize success in the playoffs.
“The bottom line is this: The last time the Falcons won a playoff game, I was the head coach,” Mora told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “Kids remember that game, the 47-17 victory over the St. Louis Rams. A lot of kids around Atlanta, the state of Georgia and the Southeast follow the Falcons. They know that was the last time that the Falcons have won a playoff game.”
“So kids are interested with that connection to the Falcons, and the parents are interested in that, too. They all wonder why the Falcons haven’t won a playoff game since, and I can’t answer that question. For all the success that the Falcons have had since we left, they still haven’t won a playoff game — and that resonates with people.”
It’s the latest example of Mora’s ability to be blunt and brutally honest. In fact, if he didn’t possess that blessing/curse, he’d possibly still be coaching the Falcons. After all, it was a shockingly candid radio interview regarding his desire to return to the Seattle area — and his willingness to dump the Falcons if an opportunity arose at the University of Washington — that contributed to his dismissal.
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PLAYOFFS?!?!? YOU WANNA TALK ABOUT PLAYOFFS?!?!? PLAYOFFS???
Whoops…wrong Mora.
Did he also mention he was the last coach the Falcons and Seahawks fired?
Wow, a 30 point thrashing of a Rams team that finished the regular season 8-8. Did you tell them that, Jimmy?
Did you also tell them you were the last coach of the falcons who had a team loaded with talent, but underachieved?
Did you tell them that you failed to develop Michael Vick and Roddy White?
PLAYOFFS?! YOU KIDDING ME? PLAYOFFS?!
“Playoffs? You kidding me?”
The day will come.
He’s a good coach.
Better than the clowns that ATL has right now.
Were looking at you Ryan, White, Turner & Smith
You get BLOWN OUT of the playoffs, TWICE, AT HOME!
PLAYOFFS!!?? DON’T TALK ABOUT, PLAYOFFS!! YOU KIDDING ME??? PLAYOFFS!!? i just hope we can win a game. ok, i know this isnt the right Mora, but i thought that sounded right.
I guess he won’t be recruiting from the Seattle-area, then.
@atlien698
Drugs kill son.
Vick and Crumpler was all Atl had.
Now they have talent and hall of famers and 1st round o-linemen all over the place.
They just have a CHOKE at qb.
Facts dont lie unlike you.
He’s wasting his time in the SEC’s backyard.
I think morra will be a good college coach, kind of the way pete carrol was. You have a beautiful campus and you’re in southern california, the place sells itself.
@dogluverssuck,
Here are the facts: Falcons had Dunn, Roddy White, Vick, J. Abraham, P. Kearney, and even Brooking was still OK back then. They had sufficient talent to start 2005 season 6-2 and then ka-blooey!
I don’t know what first round o-lineman you’re talking about all over the place. Sam Baker (who finished the season on the bench) is the ONLY one drafted in first round. So aren’t you the one “lying” since you have no clue?
Mora could NEVER put together back-to-back winning seasons in ATL. Mike Smith has again and again. Look at the overall record of wins/losses of the 2 coaches and Mora looks incompetent. Mora couldn’t even realize that his “star” QB was a sociopath and had zero football IQ.
No thanks Mora, I’ll take the new regime over your class of clowns any day.
@Atlien
Ha ha you named 2 players still on current roster plus mention Vick again.
So you have:
Vick vs Ryan
Crumpler vs Gonzo
White vs White
Abe vs Abe
Keith vs Nicholas
Jenkins vs Julio
Nobody vs Douglas
Sure thats the reason they are 0-3 in playoffs.
Ha Ha
@dogluverssuck
“Now they have talent and hall of famers”
Okay, Tony Gonzales (who doesn’t have a whole bunch of gas left in the tank) will probably get into Canton. You mention “famers” ie, plural. What others?
Mora reminds me of lane kiffin, i wonder how the battles between those two are going to be.
@dogluverssuck
I notice how you completely skipped over defending your idiotic comment that Ryan is surrounded by first-round o-linemen everywhere…
The point is, that team under Mora SHOULD HAVE done better than one winning season. And forgive me if I am not overly impressed with a win over a Rams team that went 8-8 in the regular season. If you think that makes Mora a better coach than Mike Smith, you need some help.
@atlien698;
Is there any doubt today’s ATL team has more talent than the 2005 team?
The only QB’s with more hype but less success than Ryan are named Romo…and not even he suffered a blowout loss in a home playoff game.
Wow. He is happy because he won a playoff game? How did he do in Seattle?
I don’t know if Mora Jr. is a great coach or not but his bluntness is refreshing. So many coaches have perfected the art of using a lot of words to say nothing. It’s nice to see a guy speak his mind and not worry about being politically correct.
Guy is one of the biggest jokes in the history of the NFL.
Arrogant prick who got a job in the NFL through Nepotism….period.
So glad he’s back in the college game so I don’t have to hear this clown speak on TV.
Enjoy UCLA….you wont last long there either.
Mora is such a hothead. He has no self control. Mark my words: Jim Mora Jr. will implode at UCLA. He’ll leave or get fired in a storm of controversy. He cannot control his temper, whether it’s in the locker room, at a press conference podium, or calling into a radio show. He’ll blow up at some point and say something idiotic that he’ll regret when it’s too late.
Too bad because he has the knowledge and skills to be a decent head coach. But he is easily offended, will hold grudges with people in the press, and has no sense of humor, particularly when the subject is himself.
Enjoy UCLA. You’re football program is in the hands of a man who has ZERO SoCal in his system. He’ll stick out like a sore thumb down there.
He’s also the last Seahawks coach to only win 5 games.
Both playoff blowouts were by teams that eventually won the Super Bowl, so it wasn’t exactly the same as beating the Lambs.
I liked his enthusiasm. That’s about it. He’s a tard.
Hey Mora’s got to use any hook he can and good for him !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mora is a huge JO. You beat up on a far inferior Rams team. I remember watching that game as a Falcon fan saying …… this isnt even fair. What happened the next week? You lost to Philly (you also threw your headset on the ground and kicked it like a huge baby like your dad). Then you started 6-2 the following year and took a huge dump the rest of the season, ending up 8-8. The following year was even worse, finishing 7-9, with the highlight being a week 17 loss to Phillys backups. Vick was fighting dogs under your watch the whole time, and you failed to develop him. You were fired in Seattle after one season. You stink. Shut your face.
And how about that 4-12 finish with the Seahawks? You know, the season that you spent the whole year throwing various players under the bus in your media interviews, while the team visibly quit on you week after week?
Only reason this guy has a job is because nobody cares about the Seahawks so nobody saw the EPIC fail that was his career here. Or the countless whiny, immature, and pathetic statements he made afterward, blaming everyone and everything else for his own failures.
I feel bad for UCLA. Just one failure after the next there. And they all seem to have ties to Washington.
Only reason why they even went to the NFC championship was because Vick carried that joke of a team on his back. Mora didn’t do a damn thing.
I guess Mike Smith should remind Mora Jr. that he is coaching in the NFL while Mora Jr. is coaching in the Pac-12…
He had no control over his players. Vick is a prime example. Just imagine how bad it will be with immature college kids.
Mora blows his own horn to much and nobody ever hears it. He is a nut.
Mike Smith also sucks,,,,, no issue with that either.
Hopefully Mora can also recruit his partner in the booth last year Ron Pitts, so that Seahawk fans are spared from him for the 6-8 games he did last year.
Chris Meyers was an upgrade.
The 2nd falcAints loss was on the road to the Giants
My favorite memory of him is when he was still in Atl & his dad CORRECTLY noted that Vick was a coach killer. That was awesome.
2nd favorite: when he used a cell phone on the sideline to call about playoff scenarios.
Whoever compared him to Lane K, I agree. Sons who aren’t good enough to carry their fathers’ names.
Hell even a blind squirell can find a nut. A playoff win over an 8-8 St Louis team…. Tebow had a playoff win this year. Does that mean John Fox is the greatest coach of all time?
Mike Smith is twice the NFL coach Mora was….which isn’t saying much.