Full Mora/Guerrero press conference transcription Pt. 2
JLM on the biggest challenges to the job:
"I believe there are going to be a number of differences and a number of challenges. It will start with recruiting. I'm not naive enough to think I can walk in day one and be excellent recruiter. But I feel like if I surround myself with good people, people who have done it, people who've had success in it, and chuck my personality and passion into that process and get in front of these kids and parents and relatives and show them all that UCLA has to offer and I have to offer and my coaching staff has to offer, we can convince some darn good football players to come to UCLA and be great student-athletes for our program."
JLM on adapting to unique offenses:
"The other challenge will certainly be adapting to some of the unique offenses we have seen in college football that are different than you see in pro football. You see things out of Oregon and some other teams that you don't see in pro football. I'm excited about having the opportunity to learn how to defend those offenses. I've coached defensive football my entire life, I've coached on some outstanding defensive staffs, and I look forward to the challenge. I look forward to the newness of it."
JLM on adapting to practice time:
"The third challenge is adapting to the 20-hour rule that you are mandated by the NCAA during the season and spring practice. In the National Football League, you have all day with your guys. I think that will be a change. But they're all changes I'm extremely excited about pursuing. I've given this a lot of thought. This isn't something that just popped up. This has been a goal of mine since I left the Seattle Seahawks. I've had a passion and a real strong desire to get back into coaching football and coaching at the collegiate level. I've had opprortunities to go back to the NFL over the past year and turned them down in hopes that one day I'd have the opportunity to coach at a college football program like UCLA's."
JLM on closing the gap to Oregon/USC:
"I don't know the answer to that. I can't give you a genuine answer right now. We're going to close it as fast as we can. We're going to run as fast as we can torward them and we're going to work as hard as we can to close that gap. Our goal is to close it right now. That's our goal. our goal is To close it right now."
WOW!! Hope the reality meets and beats the hype.
GO BRUINS
@Nicholas:
Sorry dude, prepare for a long(er) winter in UCLA football.
Learn on the job? Great! 5 more years of taking a slingshot to a gunfight
I hope we didn't blow any big cash on this. This kind of hire is not what we should be spending Pac-12 TV money on. Not excited about this hire, but at this point it is what it is. I hope he can turn it around, but I also wouldn't be surprised if he's gone in four years too.
Well, at least he sounds grounded in reality. He knows what he knows and knows what he doesnt know. What he doesnt know, he plans on finding others who will fill those gaps.
He isnt promising us the world right off the bat because we know that isnt going to happen. Lets just hope he works out for the best. I also hope he can find us an innovative OC because I've grown really tired of watching plain vanilla play calling week after week. Keeping my fingers crossed.
Not to let my discontent dominate my post, but he seems like a good guy. It's nice to be able to get a fresh start. Now its time to start seeing some results.
Here's to a new era in Westwood! Go Bruins!
Nestor and others at Bruinsnation are already whining.
In my opinion, Jim Mora is a great coach.
I preferred a coach with extensive NFL experience. This way, he can instantly see which players when recruiting are not NFL quality players. We want as many NFL quality players at UCLA as we can get.
Good job, Guerrero.
I look forward to the next year with UCLA.
Go Bruins!
Wow. Disappointing first impression. I wish him and UCLA the best, but I'm doubtful that a less than stellar record in the NFL is the "NFL experience" UCLA needs to attract top talent and awaken the "Sleeping Giant. " I really hope I'm wrong, but looking at Mora's track record and Dan Guerrero's football track record I'm guessing that both will have to be jobless before UCLA Football returns to respectability. Please prove me wrong. I don't want to be right on this one!!