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Coach Mora: Over the Wall "Tradition" is "Completely Unacceptable" & Not Part of UCLA

Coach Mora: Over the wall is "‎completely unacceptable and it will not be part of the program going forward." (Photo by Stephen Dunn/Getty Images)
Coach Mora: Over the wall is "‎completely unacceptable and it will not be part of the program going forward." (Photo by Stephen Dunn/Getty Images)
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New UCLA football coach Jim Mora has just issued a great statement destroying the over the wall BS associated with our program (via Jon Gold):

‎"It's completely unacceptable and it will not be part of the program going forward. It's a right not a privilege to play football for the UCLA Bruins. With the commitment you make when you sign on to play here, comes a commit to do whats asked of you buy your coaches on a daily basis. I can just tell you, in no uncertain terms, that that tradition will no longer be a part of tradition going forward. Dan Guerrero and I have spoken about it, and we both agree that the culture of UCLA football needs to change as part of the interview process. We're going to do all we can to make sure we change it."

Good stuff. I am assuming Mora probably said that "it's not a right, but a privilege." He added:

"I'm not about making threats, and I'll keep that between the players and myself, but I can tell you that my general feeling is that if they feel they want to skip out of practice and jump over a wall, then they might as well just keep going. They're not a part of what I want to be a part of.

This is a welcome statement from Coach Mora. One has to wonder why we didn't see this kind of decisive pronouncements and action from the previous coach regime.

Still while this is a welcome move, for the short term Coach Mike Johnson can follow Mora's welcome lead by suspending all the seniors who were the key organizers of this silly stunt yesterday. As Coach Mora said since they decided to jump over all the wall they may as well keep going.

There is no reason for the seniors who organized the over the wall nonsense to return to action against Illinois. Their actions made it clear that they don't really care about this game. May as well hasten their departure and set the tone for a new era of accountability at UCLA.

GO BRUINS.