UCLA Football: Coach Jim L. Mora is Scheming

Image courtesy of 49ers.com

Scott Robinson

Undoubtedly, if you’re a football fan you’ll be glued to the good ole’ tube today as the NFL Playoffs run their course. In what will be a couple classic Offensive vs. Defensive match-ups, the two of the more dominant defensive teams featured in the playoffs will run the same base: a 3-4 scheme. The San Francisco 49ers (3rd Overall Defense) face the New York Giants (8th Overall Offense) while the Baltimore Ravens (4th Overall Defense) will take on the New England Patriots (2nd Overall Offense). New UCLA Football Coach, Jim L. Mora, while busy closing out 2012’s recruiting class, would probably like to catch a minute or two of his old team, the 49ers. With the Bruins jumping on the 3-4 band-wagon, watching the 49ers (or Ravens) could help imbibe the traits required to run such a scheme.

So why will UCLA be rolling out a 3-4 defense now? Combing through their defensive coaching hires, it’s clear 3-4 is the direction UCLA will be headed. Hints start with Lou Spanos, whose previous stints include acting as the Pittsburgh Steelers’ “Defensive Quality Control” coach (1995-2009) as well as linebackers coach for the Washington Redskins (2009-2011). Of course, the Steelers have been known for their defense for some time—Particularly the fashion of 3-4 which has led them to the Super Bowl on numerous occasions. For the Redskins, Spanos instilled the 3-4 in 2010 and developed this year’s league-leading tackler, London Fletcher. Add to that new UCLA Linebackers coach, Jeff Ulbrich (linebacker for the 49ers from 2000-2009 with extensive 3-4 experience). Clearly, Coach Mora believes the 3-4 is the right change of pace to upgrade last year’s struggling defense.

In what would now be “buy” years based on Easterbrook’s cyclical observations, the 3-4 appears to have been around for ages:

Twenty years ago, the 3-4 was the most common NFL defense -- Super Bowl XXV between the Giants and Bills matched two 3-4 defenses. Roughly by the year 2000, NFL offenses had figured out how to counter the 3-4, and defensive coordinators began to rediscover the 4-3. The disruptive, Super Bowl-winning Baltimore and City of Tampa defenses of this phase were conservative 4-3 schemes. Through the middle 2000s, the 4-3 was the "It Girl" defense. Then coaches and quarterbacks got a good handle on the 4-3, and defenses started reverting to the 3-4. Within a few years, the 3-4 will be understood again and teams will switch to the 4-3 as the hot defense.

So, according to Easterbrook, this generation’s crop of quarterbacks (i.e. Joe Flacco and Alex Smith) should be reading up on yesteryear’s Troy Aikman, Jim Kelly and Dan Marino. In order to really comprehend the defense, perhaps a look at successful quarterbacks who have faced the 3-4 might yield a clue or two for its weaknesses.

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UCLA Basketball: De'End Parker Transferring

Image courtesy of San Francisco City College

Scott Robinson

Junior transfer De’End Parker (6’6 / 215) is reportedly transferring back closer to his mom in Northern California. Parker’s mother, Carmen Johnson, underwent heart surgery earlier this past year reports the LA Times. As per UCLA Men’s Basketball Head Coach, Ben Howland: "She needs someone to help take care of her so I’m hoping we can get that worked out.” Parker is expected to transfer to a Bay Area school allowing him to help his mother in her recovery.

Parker, who spent his undergraduate years at San Francisco City College, is not of the best health himself; De’End suffered a knee injury only two games into this season. With any luck, Parker will receive a medical or “adversity” scholarship insuring two full seasons of eligibility remaining.  

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UCLA Football: Room for Improvement

Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images

Scott Robinson

On the eve of the National Title Game between Alabama and LSU, two SEC powerhouses are set to face-off for their second match of the year. Parallel that to Westwood's turmoil and it makes it difficult not to cringe when thinking about the current state of UCLA football. A decade ago, busting out the UCLA sweatshirt or cap was one adorned with confidence. It was, without question, a respected and known program. Whereas today, wearing a Bruin emblem now sparks questions like: “Tough year, eh?” or “I liked Neuheisel, too bad he couldn’t pull it out.” It gets even tougher when running into a Trojan or Duck [I]jack[/I]—et: “At least it wasn’t a blow-out for the PAC-12 Championship.” And now, a new coach is scrambling to return the respectability attached to the trademarks of Westwood.

Numbers Don’t Lie

When looking forward to the inaugural season under Coach Jim L. Mora, there are a few major areas of improvement that can easily be gleaned when comparing UCLA to the truly competitive in college football.

And the 2011 stat sheets sure are incriminating:

[Offensive Categories]

87th in Scoring Offense

37th in Rushing Offense

81st in Passing Offense

72nd in Total Offense

[Defensive Categories]

92nd in Scoring Defense

95th in Rushing Defense

65th in Passing Defense

88th in Total Defense

Of course one stat is entirely avoidable with just a little focus: penalties. UCLA ranked 12th in most penalty yards for the 2011 season; that’s up from 35th in 2010 and 45th in 2009. Not exactly the kind of trajectory a team should be proud of.

Perhaps the most telling indictment against the Bruin program is the average attendance for 2011’s six home games at the Rose Bowl: 56,644. The capacity at the Pasadena venue is 92,542. Across town, Southern California’s Memorial Coliseum averaged 74,806 (with a capacity of 93,607). A half-filled stadium does not seem to be an atmosphere conducive to a top-of-the-line program. Looking to one like Oregon, we see their numbers aren’t particularly shattering. UCLA actually was only behind U of O in attendance by a few thousand patrons per game (at 59,344). However, their capacity is listed as 54,000—meaning some are lucky to stand while watching the Ducks. It must be nice to have a packed house.

It would have been one thing if UCLA was truly dominant in one given category—I don’t know, Rushing. But 72nd in Total Offense and 88th in Total Defense is deplorable. Let’s hope UCLA gets their full Mora’s worth with that $12 Million they coughed up.

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UCLA Football: The Tides of Change

Stephen Dunn / Getty Images

Scott Robinson

A storm is brewing behind the scenes of the Kraft Hunger Bowl. Coach Jim L. Mora, who will be present among the San Francisco sidelines come this Saturday, will attempt to shade off the spotlight and assess his newly inherited football squad.

While seemingly frequent in the past ten years, the changing of the guard for UCLA’s coaching staff might actually most resemble a similar transition made 25 years ago. It was then that a coach named Dick Vermeil took the Philadelphia Eagles’ head position and a young, defensive-minded assistant stepped in as UCLA’s face to Bruin football.

A “New Sheriff is in Town”

It was February of 1976 and the new field general, 31-year-old Terry Donahue, came aboard after serving under Vermeil as UCLA’s offensive line coach. This period of transition most definitely mirrors today’s transference to Mora. Like Mora, Donahue’s new team also meddled with culture questions. He even issued similar coach-speak statements calling for better discipline and accountability. In offering his vision for the Bruins, Donahue stated:

We’ll be a representative and competitive team and play hard and enthusiastically.(Spokane Daily Chronicle, 9/3/1976)

The scene of 1976 College Football echoes to today’s sentiments of conference fluidity and landscapes of change. Back then, UCLA was anchored under the flag of the PAC-8, but the influences of television and expansion, eventually forging the BCS era, meandered amongst the nation. In fact, talk of expanding to a PAC-10 (adding Arizona and Arizona State) was considered controversial.

The likes of media disrespect also persisted against the blue and gold back then. Despite winning the 1975 Pac-8 Championship, the Bruins, especially with a coaching change, were not seen to be in a position to repeat. Entering the ’76 season, John Sciarra, UCLA’s Rose Bowl MVP QB, was gone. A young and athletic sophomore was buried in the depth chart (see Theotis Brown). UCLA wasn’t seen to crack the top half of their conference. As today, back then changes were also required.
Similar to Mora’s hire, the nay-sayers were ever-present when assessing the newly hired Donahue and his team:

The Bruins, with troubles at the offensive line and at quarterback, do not figure to be able to cope with the bigger, more veteran teams at USC, Cal and Stanford.(Spokane Daily Chronicle, 9/3/1976)

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UCLA Football: Facilities, Facilities, Facilities...

UCLA's Spaulding Field. Photo courtesy of Sprinturf.com

Scott Robinson

Just days after the ex-UCLA coach’s hot seat was pulled out from under from him, Rick Neuheisel sat in with CBS’s Inside College Football. In the spotlight, Neuheisel was reminded of a few words he had shared in retrospect of his years in Westwood:

[UCLA] needs to learn to finance its expectations.

In hindsight, athletic facilities are an easy target for blame for UCLA’s lowly seasons under Coach Rick. Neuheisel’s replacement, Jim L. Mora, begs to differ. While recognizing the fact facilities can always be upgraded, Mora stated on KLAC 570’s Loose Cannons the following:

A field’s a field. Grass is grass. If you’re a good football team and a good football coach we should be able to go down to some park in LA and practice and be ready to play on Saturday.

I think UCLA has a practice field, right? Albeit, rubber.
It must be rough playing football for UCLA. Ranked 13th in the 2011 ARWU, or “Shanghai Rankings," UCLA is one of the most internationally recognizable universities. Its campus sits in the very heart of Los Angeles. With a 400+ acre plot of highly-coveted downtown property, a $1.8 billion endowment, 40,000 students and 30,000 staff, UCLA certainly is no city college. Since 1998, UCLA has received the highest number of undergraduate applications, on an annual basis, for freshmen in all of the country.

UCLA’s setting is hard to match. First off, Los Angeles County averages 330 days of sunshine. Secondly, the campus is flanked, within ten miles of each direction, by two of the largest tourist attractions in Southern California: 3rd Street Promenade, with its sun-laden Santa Monica beach, and the bustling Hollywood showcase of the Sunset Strip. Unlike Watts, Westwood’s environment does not require iron-wrought fences circumscribing its campus…

And yes, the Bruins have competitive athletic facilities. UCLA's Acosta Center, remodeled in 2006, is comprised of 24,000 square feet for use by student-athletes. Additionally, the team’s home venue of Pasadena’s Rose Bowl, the unparalleled “Grand-daddy-of-them-all,” is currently undergoing millions of dollars of upgrades. Futhermore, Pauley Pavilion (home to Bruin basketball, volleyball and varying intramural sports) is also currently being rebuilt with massive renovations readying for next year’s 2012 season.

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UCLA Football: Over the Wall and Off the Field

Stephen Dunn, Getty Images

Scott Robinson

T.S. Eliot once said,

A tradition without intelligence is not worth having.

Well you have to wonder what a 6-7 football team is thinking, especially after just losing their coach, when they ditch practice in a renewed sense of “team spirit.” I’d be willing to bet newly instilled coach Jim L. Mora’s objectives of team discipline will not be one to let such a fruitless tradition survive. But what does Mora have to say about “Over the Wall?”

From Jon Gold:

“…I can tell you that my general feeling is that if they want to skip out of practice and jump over a wall, then they might as well just keep going… It's completely unacceptable and it will not be part of the program going forward. It's a [privilege] not a [right] to play football for the UCLA Bruins”

A just response. Clear. Direct. Diligent. Welcome to the new face of UCLA Football: “Mora, grit.” I would venture to say that Mora understands that the kids at Western Kentucky would be salivating at a chance to practice for one more game. Mora gets it:


UCLA’s football players might not, not just yet.

Any team without the understanding that practice can only be to their benefit will learn sooner or later that great programs are built on the foundations of the practice field, not on game-day. Regardless if ditching practice is justified as within the vein of “team bonding,” a good coach will always tell you the best players are those who want to play, those that need to play. A player who strives to always get better and has that innate hunger is what moves the “needle” for any squad. It might be a question of motivation—but does this roster have any? Hopefully Mora’s response will catalyze the changes required to relay what is otherwise a captain-state-the-obvious statement: practice is an opportunity.

With Mora’s hire comes a fresh opportunity to separate those who have that want, that need, and with some luck that will deliver the best coaching product we’ve seen in Westwood in over ten years.

The Little Details

So what sort of traditions should these players be looking to embody? As a history major, I am akin to reviewing the past. With this in mind, I look back to UCLA’s most successful coach in history: Ten-time Men’s Basketball National Champion, Coach John Wooden.

From They Call Me Coach (105; Wooden, Tobin):

“Over the years I have become convinced that every detail is important and that success usually accompanies attention to little details. It is this, in my judgment, that makes for the difference between champion and near champion.”

New Head Coach Jim L. Mora Brandishes Renewed Toughness, Discipline

Entering the week of practice before the Kraft Hunger Bowl on December 31^st, Jim L. Mora has been on the job as UCLA’s new head coach barely over a week.  While current OC Mike Johnson preps the team for Illinois (likely his last game for the Blue and Gold) Mora took the helm of the flailing Bruin football program and announced a simple objective: “to make Bruin fans proud of their football team.” 

Forget “Relentless Optimism” or the loudspeaker “fireside chats” following games at the Rose Bowl—Mora says his 25 years of NFL coaching experience along with his understudy of coaching greats, including his father, Jim E. Mora and Bill Walsh, have instilled in him traits resembling his mentors.  “We want toughness. We want discipline on our football team.”  But from behind the talk, it appears Mora is a man of action.

Since the December 13^th press conference, Mora has assembled a recruiting juggernaut of coaches: Adrian Klemm (SMU), Steve Broussard (ASU), Demetrice Martin (U of W), Inoke Brekterfield (retained), and Marques Tuiasosopo (retained).  Klemm was recently named Conference USA Recruiter of the Year.  A three time NFL Champ, Coach Klemm brings a recruiting vigor with ties in Southern California—He’s originally from Santa Monica.  Steve Broussard, a WSU grad, also brings a pro career repertoire paired with coaching experience on the collegiate level as both a Wide Receivers and Running Backs coach at ASU and WSU, respectively.  Demetrice Martin is a Pasadena Muir High School Grad, considered by some as one of U of W’s best recruiters.  Corralling the Hawaiian zone, Inoke Brekterfield should help maintain the transition along with Coach Marques Tuiasosopo who will also stay on as Quarterbacks Coach.

Calling UCLA “a sleeping giant” of a program, Mora clearly has not taken to the comforts of a bed since his hire: First order of business, 7:00 AM day one of coaching tenure and he passed the recruiting eligibility exam. Second, Mora filed and received approval for the secondary coaching staff waiver—allowing his new staff to press the ears of recruits.  Rounding up the replacements for a forgettable offense, Mora then sought out offensive guru Noel Mazzone from ASU.

On the recruiting trail, Mora lined up conversations with a number of wavering verbals the same evening of his press conference.  Settling OG Lacy Westbrook, MLB Aaron Porter and a number of UCLA’s best of the 2011 class was just the beginning.  Over the weekend, Mora was up to Sacramento scouting talent.  Along with a few of his new staff, Mora was spotted on the sidelines of the CIF Title game.  Mora’s efforts have already netted a highly regarded recruit in CB Marcus Rios—reeled in over the weekend.  On Monday, Mora snatched up OLB Kenny Orjioke and S Taylor Lagace.  Did I mention he also held some visits on-campus Saturday?

Match that with the media blitz, one might ask if Mora sleeps?  Since last week, Mora has made his rounds on radio, speaking with Dave “Softy” Mahler on 950 KJR, Colin Cowherd of ESPN Radio, Petros & Money, XM Sirius College Radio and Tim Brando.

But what sort of mantra does Mora plan to instill on his new program?  From the horse’s mouth:

“I have a saying that I like, and that’s ‘Count on me.’  You have to earn the right, first of all, through your actions, to say to somebody, ‘Hey, you can count on me,’ and have any merit.” 

Here’s hoping next year’s team will bring that Mora-mentality to fruition.  If Mora’s recent actions since jumping aboard are any indication, the Bruins might be back in the spotlight sooner than later.