With the lingering issue of Jim Mora’s job status as UCLA Football head coach swiftly and boldly resolved on Sunday with the shocking news of Mora’s firing and buyout, we now move onto the next step that will determine the path the Bruin football program will follow for the foreseeable future: the hiring of the next UCLA head football coach.
Hiring coaches has not been a forte for UCLA under Athletic Director Dan Guerrero. The typical UCLA Football coaching search has gone like this: identify the hottest coach on the market (Chris Petersen, Brad Stevens, et al); leak that he is the main target and go after him; heat up the fanbase with well-placed rumor drops that the negotiation process is going well and that UCLA has a real chance to land its guy; and finally, when the top target eventually says no, make it clear that the search had no Plan B by engaging in a mad scramble to find the first sucker willing to say he wants the job and throw the kitchen sink at that guy (Rick Neuheisel, Jim Mora, Steve Alford, et al).
All that being said, it’s Coaching Search Season and UCLA is in the middle of that circus once more, so it’s time to identify the main possibilities to be signed to lead Bruin football from 2018 on.
Related Story: UCLA Football: Twitter reacts to Jim Mora's firing from UCLA
Because he is option 1-10 at the moment, it seems appropriate to focus on one guy in this article since the job is his if he wants it. We will discuss other coaching candidates in articles to arrive shortly for your reading pleasure.