Dan Hurley Leads UConn’s Response to Jim Mora Departure

UConn men’s basketball enters its heavyweight matchup against Illinois at Madison Square Garden with a 5-1 record and all the momentum of a program still chasing history. However, in the pregame press conference of the upcoming matchup, head coach Dan Hurley found himself answering for a different kind of headline.

The news had just broken that UConn football coach Jim Mora was leaving for Colorado State. And Hurley, the coach who preaches loyalty and even turned down the Los Angeles Lakers’ six-year, $70 million offer to remain loyal to UConn, was asked what he had to say about Mora leaving.

Before answering the question, Hurley decided to soften the blow with some appreciation. “Number one, we get the best A.D. in college sports. Look at what Dave (David Benedict) has done in all the different hires that he's made in the various sports that compete at the championship level, soccer, the NCAA tournament, the incredible season that they're having. Hockey. Obviously, can't take much credit for Geno (Auriemma); Geno's been here a minute. But Dave's hired some very successful coaches,” said Hurley.

Now, coming to Mora, the story is a bit different. Mora, after delivering two straight nine-win seasons and taking the Huskies out of the wilderness, is heading west as Colorado State joins the Pac-12. And for a program that, after nearly a decade, got a reason to rejoice, this move stings.

Or as Hurley puts it, “Jim Mora, I learned a lot from watching Coach. Coach is as good as it gets in terms of a leader of an organization, and just changing the way he changed the culture, and the hope that he brought back to the university, the state, and the fan base with football. Now I think going into this hire, obviously, it changes the level of optimism on what UConn football can be. What UConn football has been the last two years has been how much fun you can have when you invest in football in the fall and the winter at UConn.”

Hurley’s loyalty makes his praise even more striking. He stayed when the NBA called. Mora is leaving when the Pac-12 calls. However, the silver lining for UConn is that Mora has left the team better than he found it.

And Hurley was sure to acknowledge that and add, “He elevated everything and brought hope back to a program that was in a pretty dire situation and can't have anything but love for what the guy was able to do here. It's incredible the job he did. So I wish him well. He's an awesome coach. He did a lot for UConn.”

While Hurley was all good words and optimism, the Husky Nation was not as forgiving of Mora or his decision.

How Is The Husky Nation Reacting To Jim Mora Leaving After a 9-Win Season?

The moment the news went public, UConn fans were rather unhappy. One fan summed up the frustration writing, “Kinda embarrassing that UConn is gonna let Colorado State pay more money to Jim Mora… UConn wants to play in P4 football conference but not pay their coach a P4 salary… he is gonna obviously move on.”

Meanwhile, others struggled to understand the move itself. “UConn to CSU seems like closer to a lateral move than an upgrade,” one wrote, puzzled at why a coach riding historic momentum would head to a Mountain West job.

Kinda embarrassing that UConn is gonna let Colorado State pay more money to Jim Mora… UConn wants to play in P4 football conference but not pay their coach a P4 salary… he is gonna obviously move on
— Storrs Boston (@StorrsBoston) November 26, 2025

Another fan pointed to geography more than stature: “Last year, UConn fans swore he’d never leave there for WSU or any G5 west coast school. This should tell you how much he wanted to get back west.” There might be some substance to this.

The West is where Mora’s roots are. He played and began his coaching career in the Pacific Northwest, previously holding a Pac-12 job at UCLA, so the recruiting pipelines, relationships with high school coaches, and regional talent pools are already established. And Colorado State’s move into that orbit offers far better exposure.

And then came the irony. “Didn’t this guy whine about other programs poaching his players at the end of last season?” wrote a fan. The receipts, of course, exist. After UConn’s 9-4 finish last year, Mora blasted other schools for tampering.

In fact, Mora took to X and even wrote, “A simple note to the schools and coaches that have blatantly broken @NCAAFootball rules by tampering with our players… Think hard before you tamper with our players.” Now, in a twist no one missed, he himself has been poached.

Fan frustration isn’t random. It is rooted in the expectations Mora revived. He rebuilt a buried program into a bowl regular, handed UConn its first back-to-back nine-win seasons since 2007, and made football fun again. Losing that momentum is scary. Losing it to a Western program chasing Pac-12 relevance makes it sting even more.

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