Here's why Jim Mora would leave a 9-win UConn for Colorado State
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A College Football Playoff appearance for Colorado State felt farther away than trying to walk to the moon during most of 2025.
Yet there on Dec. 1, inside a spacious room at Canvas Stadium, there was plenty of playoff talk. “Playoffs?!” as the elder Jim Mora once famously shouted into a microphone.
Yes, playoffs. There are lots of reasons why the younger Jim Mora left UConn to take over the Colorado State football program, but an actual path to the CFP is one.
Yes, the talk of competing for national championships in an introductory press conference is a bit of standard rah-rah. And no, CSU does not appear imminently bound for the CFP.
But there is a real path. And Mora didn’t have that at UConn.
UConn competes as an independent. With no conference affiliation, there’s almost zero chance to make the CFP. Notre Dame can, but that’s Notre Dame. Would a 12-0 UConn make it? Even that is no guarantee.
But there is a spot for the best Group of 5 team and the winner of the Pac-12 should be in that mix every season.
“We have the resources to ascend as high as we determine we want to ascend with the commitment we make,” Mora said. “That’s how we determine how far we go.”
The CFP path isn’t the only reason Mora would leave a nine-win UConn for a CSU that went 2-10 in 2025. UConn’s stadium is about 25 miles from campus, making it a difficult destination for students. CSU has been setting record student attendance marks at on-campus Canvas Stadium.
There’s investment, both monetary and otherwise. Mora will be CSU’s highest paid football coach ever and he also will have a $5 million pool to build his staff of assistants.
“We want to bring the best and the brightest here to Colorado State,” Mora said of building his staff.
UConn is all in on basketball as a powerhouse in both men’s and women’s hoops. Mora saw CSU as a place that wants to win big on the gridiron.
“This is a school that is committed to being great at football and that’s something that I wanted to be a part of,” Mora said.
From all the talk at his introductory press conference, an intangible connection might have been his biggest draw in the move. Mora said discussions with athletic director John Weber and CSU leadership “gave me the goose bumps” in their shared vision.
Alignment, partnership and collaboration were all words used by Mora and Weber. Mora frequently praised CSU’s administration team for its shared vision.
It’s hard to put a precise point or measurement on what it means or what impact it has, but Mora clearly felt he would be backed in his goals to build CSU.
“It was their vision. It was the alignment that I felt throughout this program, throughout this university. It was the support that I came to realize through our discussions that we would have here as we built this program in the way we felt was best,” Mora said.
“It was an opportunity for our family to come to an amazing community, a part of the country that I’m familiar with. I like challenges and I like the thought of jumping in head first and trying to build something that can be lasting and special.”
Follow sports reporter Kevin Lytle on X and Instagram @Kevin_Lytle.
This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Here’s why Jim Mora would leave a 9-win UConn for Colorado State
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