University of Connecticut football coach Jim Mora is expected to accept the vacant head coaching position at Colorado State, according to an early-morning report Wednesday from ESPN.

Pete Thamel says the deal is expected to come together soon, though there are no reports of contract terms at this time. There are also no reports as to when Mora would officially take over the Rams, meaning it's unclear if he will coach UConn in its looming bowl game. That bowl game has not been announced yet.

Let's examine things a little further:

About Mora at UConn 

Mora spent four seasons in Storrs, earning a 27-23 record overall. He had back-to-back 9-win seasons and led the Huskies to three bowl games, including this year.

This years team never lost in regulation, suffering only three overtime losses.

About Mora's coaching career

The son of former NFL head coach Jim Mora, the younger Mora has had an extensive coaching career across both the pro and college levels.

He spent parts of three seasons (2004-06) as the head coach of the Atlanta Falcons, going 26-22 in that time with quarterback Michael Vick at the helm. He helped Atlanta get to the playoffs in the 2004 season, and Vick finished second in the MVP voting, running for 902 yards and passing for 2,313.

He then also spent one season (2009) as the head coach of the Seattle Seahawks, going 5-11.

Staying in the NFL, he also had extensive coaching experience with the San Francisco 49ers, serving as a defensive coach from 1997-03.

After leaving the Seahawks, he resurfaced in the college game, eventually becoming head coach of the UCLA Bruins from 2012-17. With the Bruins, he was 46-30. He had the program ranked at the end of two seasons and went to four bowl games, including wins in the Sun and Alamo Bowls.

About Colorado State

The Rams have had only one winning season (2024) since 2018, and they went 2-9 this season. They have not won a bowl game since the New Mexico Bowl in 2013.

ESPN notes that CSU is set to join the new Pac-12 Conference and they have put a lot of resources into football, perhaps making it an attractive situation for Mora.

In 2017, Colorado State opened a new stadium, which cost more than $200 million. The school has ambitions to be relevant at the highest levels of college athletics, as Weber has said Colorado State's goals are to compete for the College Football Playoff.

Why would Mora leave Storrs?

Only he knows his motivation, truthfully. Is it money? We won't know until the contract terms come out. Is it a chance to play in a conference? Does he think the Huskies will take a step back because of the impending graduations of quarterback Joe Fagnano, receiver Skyler Bell and running back Cam Edwards? Again, only he knows.

As was noted by UConn Roundtable just last week, Mora signed a contract extension in 2024 that was set to take him through the end of the 2028 season. It was valued at just over $10 million. 

He had been linked to job openings at Cal and Stanford recently, but Colorado State was not a school that had been mentioned previously.

We will have more on this story as it develops.

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