Before agreeing to become the head coach at Colorado State, Mora didn't have the opportunity to talk to his Huskies team because of the holiday break.
Jim Mora will be introduced as the new football coach at Colorado State late Monday afternoon in Fort Collins, Colo., then head back east.
His destination: Storrs, Conn., where he told the Hartford Courant he will address his former Huskies team in a face-to-face conversation.
Mora, 64, said Monday in his introductory news conference in Fort Collins, Colo., that he owes his players a proper farewell.
The 'right way'
He had communicated with them electronically, however, to keep players and his boss, athletic director David Benedict, informed of the Colorado State process.
“I sent a group message (to players) via ‘Teamworks,’ the only way to communicate with them all when scattered across country, the moment the deal was done,” Mora said, via text, to the Hartford Courant. “The AD at UConn was kept in the loop the entire time. … Frankly, I did it exactly the right way, all above board, with honesty and integrity and all with the interest of the UConn players in mind.”
Mora led the Huskies to a bowl game in three of his four seasons at the helm of the team. The Huskies, who were 9-3 this season, will find out their bowl opponent over the upcoming weekend. Offensive coordinator Gordon Sammis has been named interim coach and will lead UConn in the bowl game.
Mora said goodbye to Huskies fans in a social media post on Friday, thanking them for four “fabulous years.”
“You embraced me and my family with warmth and care, and we will never forget the experiences we shared with all of you,” he wrote. “We are proud of what was accomplished and we will always cheer on the Huskies.”
For the most part, fans’ responses were thoughtful and appreciative of Mora’s time in Storrs. A few were critical that he wouldn’t be around to coach the team in its bowl game, while a smattering were, well, nasty.
In a bittersweet moment for the UConn fans who wished Mora well online, the coach and his wife, Kathy, posted a video on social media as they arrived in Fort Collins.
“We are home, excited to be in Ram County! @CSUFootball,” he wrote as a caption to the video.
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