Huskies Report

UConn's Jim Mora Departs for New Job

UConn Huskies football braces for a seismic coaching shake-up as its program builder departs for a new challenge.
Shivani Menon|
Nov 1, 2025; East Hartford, Connecticut, USA; UConn Huskies head coach Jim Mora before the start of the game against the UAB Blazers at Pratt & Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-Imagn Images
Nov 1, 2025; East Hartford, Connecticut, USA; UConn Huskies head coach Jim Mora before the start of the game against the UAB Blazers at Pratt & Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-Imagn Images | David Butler II-Imagn Images

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Jim Mora walked UConn Huskies football out of the wilderness and gave the Husky Nation something to look forward to. And now, rather stunningly, Mora might be walking away. Two straight, nine-win seasons at a place that hadn’t reached that bar since 2007 is the kind of turnaround that launches a new era, not ends one.

As per a recent report from ESPN, Colorado State is expected to hire the Huskies’ head coach. He is on the brink of a move that feels surreal and strangely inevitable. The inevitability perhaps comes from the numbers.

Mora managed to take UConn to three bowl seasons in four years, a feat for a program that had managed only one in the previous eleven years. The 2025 run alone saw a 2-1 record against ACC schools, with UConn winning over Duke and Boston College.

They’ve had zero regulation losses, and a quarterback in Joe Fagnano who finished the regular season with 28 touchdowns to just a single interception. Mora restored UConn football and reintroduced the Huskies to the national conversation.

That’s why this looming departure feels so jarring. It comes at the precise moment UConn finally felt stable again. However, Colorado State isn’t operating like a typical Group of Five program at the moment.

The Rams are heading into the Pac-12 with ambitions, a new athletic director, John Weber, who talks openly about chasing the College Football Playoff, and the financial muscle to act on that ambition. They haven’t won consistently since 2017 and have gone through four coaches in six years.

They just fired Jay Norvell mid-season and are looking for someone who can quickly push them to relevance. The most successful stretch of UConn football in nearly a decade is now at risk of becoming someone else’s foundation. Colorado State wants Mora. ESPN says it’s close. And UConn may be bracing for the end of a transformational era.

What Did UConn Have to Say About Losing Their Coach?

Soon after, the report from ESPN broke, and UConn Football took to X to discuss the situation with Mora. UConn’s athletic director, David Benedict, released a statement explaining the situation.

“Jim Mora informed me late last night that he has accepted the head coaching position at Colorado State,” wrote Benedict. “Coach Mora brought energy and a winning culture back to UConn Football and put our program back on the national stage. We thank Jim for his dedication to our student-athletes and wish him, his wife Kathy, and his family the best at Colorado State. We now turn our attention to finding the right leader to build on the foundation that has been established and continue moving UConn Football forward.”

Until UConn finds its new head coach, offensive coordinator Gordon Sammis will be the interim HC. Sammis enters his fourth season on staff in 2025 and his second as offensive coordinator. He has been integral to UConn’s offensive resurgence. His debut year running the offense in 2024 produced one of the most explosive seasons in school history, with 415 points, 5,169 total yards, and a rushing attack that ranked 21st nationally at 199.2 yards per game.

Why Is Colorado State Trying to Poach Jim Mora?

To understand why Colorado State is pushing so hard, one must go back to 2021, when Mora took over the UConn program. The Huskies were coming off a 1-11 disaster, hadn’t cracked more than three wins since 2015, and were still adjusting to life as an Independent.

Mora didn’t blink. He won six games in Year 1, earned a bowl bid, and gave fans something that fans in Storrs hadn’t felt in years: momentum. That momentum turned into legitimacy, then into identity, and eventually into a back-to-back nine-win season.

Before joining Storrs, he spent nearly two decades in the NFL, becoming a head coach in both Atlanta and Seattle, taking the Falcons to an NFC Championship Game, and producing Pro Bowl talent at nearly every stop.

Then came his stint at UCLA, where he spent six seasons, with two double-digit-win years, two AP Top 25 finishes, a Pac-12 South title, and 30 NFL Draft picks developed under his watch. He’s coached at the highest levels, built winners in multiple places, and carries a 73-53 collegiate record that athletic directors over.

Colorado State sees all that and sees its chance. The Rams opened a $200 million stadium in 2017 and have been trying to match their facilities with on-field results ever since. With Mora, they believe they can skip years of trial and error and land a proven program builder who has already resurrected one struggling brand.

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Shivani Menon
SHIVANI MENON

Shivani Menon is a sports journalist with a background in Mass Communication and a passion for storytelling. She has written for EssentiallySports, College Sports Network, and PFSN, covering Olympic sports like track and field, gymnastics, and alpine skiing, as well as college football, basketball, March Madness, and the NBL Draft. When she's not reporting, she's either on the road chasing sunsets or getting lost in the rhythms of electronic soundscapes.

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