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Bleacher Report recently released a list of the 25 best coaches in college football and UCLA’s head coach Jim Mora was high on that list. The soon-to-be fourth year coach was selected as the 11th best coach in Division I football. With a 29-11 record in his three years in Westwood, Mora has been able to turn around a UCLA football program that was in dire need of change.
When Mora was hired, there were questions about him running a college football program since he has only coached in the NFL, though at the time it seemed like any change would be good. The Bruins had been mediocre (at best) with the previous two coaching regimes under Rick Neuheisel and Karl Dorrell. Not only has Mora turned the program around, but he now has them competing for the Pac-12 title on a yearly basis and made the Bruins a national presence.
Not a bad spot to be in with only three years of college coaching under his belt.
As for the other highly ranked coaches, here is the Top 10:
UCLA Bruins
1. Urban Meyer (Ohio State)
2. Nick Saban (Alabama)
3. Mark Dantonio (Michigan St.)
4. Art Briles (Baylor)
5. Jimbo Fisher (Florida State)
6. Dabo Swinney (Clemson)
7. Gary Patterson (TCU)
8. Gary Pinkel (Missouri)
9. Brian Kelly (Notre Dame)
10. Gus Malzhn (Auburn)
As you can see, Jim Mora is in good company and him being ranked so high is a testament to the work he has put in at UCLA. Mora is also the highest ranked coach in the Pac-12, which seems to be a given. But for comparison, here is the rest of the Pac-12,
12. Todd Graham (Arizona St.)
13. Rich Rodriguez (Arizona)
14. Mark Helfrich (Oregon)
20. Chris Petersen (Washington)
Despite this list gets a bit crammed right before the Top 10 with Pac-12 coaches you can see why the conference has been so successful lately. Although there are some notable names that did not make the list, namely Stanford‘s David Shaw and USC‘s Steve Sarkisian. Though it is no surprise why Sarkisian is not on here, it is a bit of a surprise that Shaw did not make the list. True, Stanford was down last year, but he did win the Pac-12 in back-to-back seasons before that.
Still, this is about Mora and it is finally great to see that the he is getting the national respect for his work that Bruin fans have known about since Day 1.
Go Mora! Go Bruins!
Aug 30, 2014; Charlottesville, VA, USA; UCLA Bruins head coach Jim Mora gestures on the field prior to the Bruins