Desiree wanted to hire Jim Mora last November. But the dumb acting UNLV President didn’t let her. They want the Fertittas to pay off the rest of the facility. They also didn’t want to have to buy Sanchez out. What would you guys think about hiring Mora in December after Sanchez flops again and has a 5th losing season in a row. Next years schedule only looks like 3 or 4 wins at best...
Jim Mora
- Thread starter UNLV Rebel1
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Hopefully no one hires Mora before December. He would definitely take UNLV to the next level. He was a head coach in the NFL and at UCLA! He would be 1000 times better than this nonsense right now. Getting blown out by SJSU and UNM. Even losing to friggin Howard! Please...
As far as I know, that’s not where the money was coming from, though the money for it was there.
Still, there are a lot of factors to consider. Not as simple as hiring and firing.
Hopefully we can hire him in December. I would be fine with Mora going into the new stadium. Enough of this high school bs!
Let’s see what he can do. If he can get to bowl game eligibility with a schedule that’s tougher than it’s been, that’s growth.
A UCLA booster.
Not sure if the connection was tied to Desiree or Mora or both.
Desiree wants P5 job.
Needs a hire on resume.
Mora was in fact on campus around time of SJSU loss.
Money was only for Sanchez buyout and Mora. Not beyond that (facility etc).
Acting President had final say.
Not sure how much uncertainty with Menzies future played into it.
Fertitta's ensured the completion of facility.
I'm sure there are other layers to it, but that's the gist of it.
That ship may have sailed.
I was told the acting President had the final say. Too bad she screwed it up!
Hopefully we can hire someone good after we get around 3 or 4 wins this fall...
Maybe, maybe not.
We'll know after this season.
If Sanchez turns it around this year and gets to a bowl it might have been the right call.
If he stumbles again....They will need to make a splash hire heading into the new stadium.
My biggest concern should Sanchez not make a bowl is that there isn't a real contingency plan. That their banking on the new stadium being enough to draw some folks out. That would be a mistake, as that new car smell wears off pretty quick.
I hope there is other booster money in place we don't know about.
We'll never know really.
I look at it like this..
From purely an attendance/revenue perspective...(This could apply to basketball as well).
UNLV is at 5k season ticket holders (give or take a couple 100 either way).
That number has remained relatively static during Sanchez' tenure. (Again give or take a couple hundred)
Throw out bump from new stadium.
What would generate more interest/attract more potential new season ticket holders:
Sanchez wins 6-7 games and goes bowling?
Or
A hire like Jim Mora?
Hauck won 7 and went to a bowl. It barely moved the needle.
Winning will cure a lot of ills, but there is a lot of ground to make up.
Sanchez would probably need 2-3 winning seasons to bump that season ticket holder count up to 7-10k.
As for it being the right call even if he stumbles. Maybe. If there is a contingency plan in place to be able to attract a bigger/more qualified name. Sure.
If there isn't and they are relying on the stadium to fix everything then maybe not.
Sanchez needs a big splash next season to help attendance, and sneaking in with a 6-6 or 7-5 record may not do that alone. If he can pull off a big turn around and win 8 or more games that would probably be more than enough that they wouldn't even consider replacing him. The other unknown is how much of a big splash will the new stadium make on its own regarding attendance?
Attendance from visiting teams alone should push the numbers up by at least 5K (UNLV plays Cal, LA Tech, and Arizona State at home in the new stadium and also plays CSU, FSU, Wyoming and unr at home) per game or more, if locals are interested in seeing the new stadium, I could see UNLV easily reaching over 30K per game. Without question the home schedule is the best that UNLV has played in regards to name teams in their history.
The one big thing that will be on the side of UNLV is the $3 million a year they start getting in 2020 due to the events that will transfer from Sam Boyd to the new stadium, this money would allow for the hiring of a big name coach if that becomes a necessity.
Attendance from visiting teams alone should push the numbers up by at least 5K (UNLV plays Cal, LA Tech, and Arizona State at home in the new stadium and also plays CSU, FSU, Wyoming and unr at home) per game or more, if locals are interested in seeing the new stadium, I could see UNLV easily reaching over 30K per game. Without question the home schedule is the best that UNLV has played in regards to name teams in their history.
The one big thing that will be on the side of UNLV is the $3 million a year they start getting in 2020 due to the events that will transfer from Sam Boyd to the new stadium, this money would allow for the hiring of a big name coach if that becomes a necessity.
Attendance uptick from schedule/new stadium will be there for sure.
What they need though is a bounce in season ticket holders. Money in hand is always better.
I think you're right there will be an initial bump from the 'wow' factor of the new stadium.
How much? Hard to say really.
The new car smell wears off eventually so it still comes down to winning.
30k avg for the season would be pretty good.
I can easily see the Cal game getting 40K+ as the first game in the new stadium. I can also see the Ariz. St. game having a big turnout from their team. The big question is what kind of crowds show up for the other teams, and how many locals show up either for UNLV or just to see the new stadium. 2019 is a very important season to build towards the new stadium, but 2020 is a huge chance for UNLV to make an impact on a national level.
My other concern is what happens with the parking situation. The harder they make it, the less locals will show up.
Tailgate...
That's one of my biggest concerns.
I know a lot of people hate Sam Boyd, but the Star Nursery Fields for Tailgating were great.
Sam Boyd was no worse than the majority of the other Stadiums in the MWC.
No thanks. Mora has been fired 3 times. All three times were for under performing players and poor coaching. With USC on the rocks and over $100 M put into the UCLA football facilities, he should have dominated in recruiting at UCLA but he didn't. Think about it. The guy who was suddenly with the best program in LA with USC on the ropes, being in the absolute best local recruiting pool in the nation and all of those upgrades never landed a Top 5 class nationally and averaged 20th in the nation until he was fired. Now you want to hire him to "build" UNLV?
Rather dump the program than let him bury it while paying him millions to do so.
It's a dead issue.
That ship has sailed.
UNLV stuck with Sanchez for better or worse. We'll know after this season if it was the right decision or not.
If he succeeds it was the right call.
If he fails it doesn't mean Mora would have been the right call either.
But they had an opportunity to go a different route with little cost to the University.
If Sanchez does fail they better have a contingency plan ready. And that includes the money raised to go out and hire a new coach. That money was tied only to the hiring of Mora nobody else.
I would call the Houston area, the Dallas area, and south Florida the best 3 recruiting pools in the country in no particular order. SoCal is really good.
In general I'm not a fan of hiring a "failure", rather someone who is on the way up.
But with football, a recognizable name doesn't hurt, especially one who recruited and developed a first round draft pick and is coming off a big time job like UCLA. I may be a hypocrite, because I hate the idea of coach Fran here, but living in Texas I heard all the stories of how he ruined A&M. Maybe you an hear similar stories about Mora. But Mora does intrigue me for whatever reason. Has NFL experience too.
DRF has some tight contacts at UCLA, is tight with Mora. This was before her even coming to UNLV. So it makes sense on that level. With Dan G leaving soon, you’ll see a mad push by her to get that UCLA job.
I'll stick to my prior position.
The Dallas area doesn't come close to what So.Cal has year in and year out and they have 5 Power 5 Texas schools coming after them, including TCU right next door plus the Sooners who are closer than the whorns in mileage and then there is LSU next door.
Houston is great but they also have 5 power 5 programs coming after them but the closest power 5 program are the Aggies who are over 95 miles away. I'd rather be in the thick of things like USC and UCLA.
S. Florida is better but Miami is right in it with two powerhouses just to the north within the state of Florida. Then there are Bama, Clemmy and Georgia just a very short flight away on Saban's, Dabo's and Smart's private jets.
I'll stick to my original position. With only 2 Power 5 programs in So. Cal and the rest of the really big boys way back east, I'll take the Top 25 recruits in So. Cal over anywhere else and build a dynasty. Over the last 10 years they have averaged three 5 Star recruits and over forty-five 4 Stars per year. Land the Top 25 prospects in So. Cal every year and you have one of the top 3 recruiting classes year in and year out.
As for Mora's NFL experience, which is comprised of two failures, I consider it a detriment rather than a benefit. The graveyard of HCs coming from the NFL and going to college to be a HC is pretty full already. We could do without adding another tombstone to that graveyard.
Really? Died? Hyperbole much?
Jim Mora wouldn't have killed the program. I wouldn't have been crazy about him as a hire, but he wouldn't have killed the program.
What will kill the program ultimately is lack of excitement and interest.
Golden Knights are here.
Raiders are coming.
There is still UNLV basketball to contend with. Even more so if Menzies is fired, and name hire is made to replace him. This is a basketball town.
Why those things matter is people only have so much disposable income.
It is imperative that UNLV football starts to win soon and get people out to games. If not they better hope they have created a strong enough case for P5 acceptance. Otherwise the program will die.
Like him or not. Think he could win here or not. A guy like Mora has name value. Sure if you break him down, there is a fair amount not to like. But he would pique some peoples interest based solely on name value. To people that don't know what went on behind the scenes, it would look like UNLV was going 'all in' on a former NFL and P5 coach.
Perception is 99% of reality for most.
The same could be said of High School coaches making the jump directly to college.
You are saying I'm wrong about recruiting hotbeds by telling me how good of recruiting hotbeds they are? What?
The fact that so many power schools recruit these areas makes it bad?
TCU became a top 5 school off the backs of Texas leftover recruits. The guys that are left after it has been picked over 30 times have come to UNLV and been some of our best players. Football is a way of life here more than any other place, and Florida is a close second. The Depth here is unreal.
Also College station being an Hour away and Austin being 2.5 hours away makes zero impact on recruits. A&M and UT still own the city, though the rest of the $EC/big 12 (mostly OU)are making it difficult for them.
Socal is a big football market, 4th on the list for me. But it's not like the rest of the Pac 12 doesn't rely heavy on it either.
I agree that the Houston area is better than the Dallas area, but it's pretty close.
Speaking of building a Dynasty off SoCal recruits. Ughh...isn't that what USC has been trying to do for the past 15 years? Haven't quite been the same have they? They've had their pick of the area haven't quite done much with it. So maybe try again?
UCLA basketball isn't considered the great job it once was.
UCLA football has always played second fiddle to USC.
It would take years of USC being down for that to flip.
And not just the Pac 12 look at all the SoCal kids on other P5 school rosters.
Throw in solid group of five schools like Fresno and SDSU, the talent gets scooped up and thinned out pretty quick.
Destroyed the program how?
I wouldn't have been a huge fan of the hire but him possibly destroying the program is ridiculous.
Stadium isn't going anywhere.
Facility isn't going anywhere (although had he been hired, it probably isn't completed to current specs. UNLV would have been left scrounging around to get it done since the Fertitta well would have dried up.)
Nope. Not saying you are wrong; just that it didn't apply to my point. You expanded my point beyond the context. I said it was the best "local" recruiting pool in the nation with USC on the rocks at the time Mora took over. Instead of dominating So. Cal recruiting like Pete Carroll did to build his dynasty at USC, Mora routinely failed to do the same and lost the best players to Oregon, TN, Michigan, tOSU, Bama, WA, etc. Heck, in 2015 LA had six prospects who were 5 Stars. He did get 2 of them but TN & Bama took one and USC got two of them. In that incredible So. Cal class, UCLA only signed 3 of the Top 25 prospects in CA. With all of those advantages, he was horrible at UCLA and got fired from his 3rd HC gig.
I'll stick to my initial opinion.
Not really the same because those coaches aren't paid salaries in excess of a million dollars.
He was fired from Falcons gig partly because Michael Vick became enamored with himself and didn't put in the work in the film room. There was an interview with both of them where Vick even apologized for it. His decline in play impacted the Falcons.
He was dreadful in Seattle.
Started well but faded quickly at UCLA.
He was still 46-30 at UCLA. And 2-2 in bowl games.
Would he have been an upgrade over Sanchez. I have no idea. Purely speculation to say one way or another.
But I don't think resumes would be my starting point for an argument if I was making a case in an either or scenario.
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