One major bit of the fallout after Steve Sarkesian was announced as the new head coach at Southern Cal has been the created vacancy at Washington and the possibility that UW alum Jim Mora could leave UCLA to take over in Seattle. It might actually be that Mora's desirability to the folks up there has overshadowed Sark actually getting hired at SC.
Throughout the day, some media outlets covering the Huskies have been spreading rumors that Coach Mora was in Seattle, presumably talking with the UW administration about the opening. Problem is, much of the UCLA Football staff - including Mora - left for Northern California this morning, embarking on a multi-day recruiting trip. While media outlets close to UCLA have confirmed that Coach Mora has been recruiting in the Bay Area today - as have the recruits being visited - that has not been enough to silence the rumor mongers.
Joe Davidson of the Sacramento Bee - the high school sports reporter best known to us for his coverage of the Eddie Vanderdoes/Notre Dame saga - has been tweeting about Mora's wherabouts, specifically his physical presence in NorCal today and scheduled recruiting visits tomorrow.
Jim Mora cannot clone himself. He was in the Bay Area tonight for in-home recruiting trips & is headed to Sac tomorrow. Wasn't in Seattle
— Joe Davidson (@SacBee_JoeD) December 3, 2013
Jim Mora also had a home visit w national RB recruit Joe Mixon of Bay Area earlier. Maybe he has a leer jet & caught a draft to Seattle
— Joe Davidson (@SacBee_JoeD) December 3, 2013
Personally, I am more likely to trust a local reporter who is well dialed into the regional prep sports and recruiting scene than some random folks located several hundred miles away. But his conclusive statements were not enough for some of the UW fans following along, insisting that their athletic director was in close contact with Mora even if the initial reports that he was in the pacific northwest were false. Which led to this comment from Joe:
If Jim Mora was in fact in Seattle today and also in Bay Area earlier today and tonight...that's new meaning to cruise control.Or leer jet
— Joe Davidson (@SacBee_JoeD) December 3, 2013
Of course it is possible that the UW athletic director has been on the phone with Coach Mora or his agent today, maybe he even caught a flight to Oakland or Sacramento tonight in hopes of scoring an in-person meeting late tonight or tomorrow morning. Heck, maybe the early reports are partially correct as Coach Mora sent a Tupac-at-Cochella style hologram of himself up to the Montlake to open negotiations.
But it remains that as of right now, Jim Mora is the Head Coach at UCLA, and along with most of his coaching staff is somewhere between San Francisco and Sacramento right now, recruiting his butt off for the Bruins. How do we know this?
2 recruits said so tonite - "@KevinNishimoto: @Softykjr how do you know Mora is in town? @SacBee_JoeD says he is in NorCal recruiting."
— Joe Davidson (@SacBee_JoeD) December 3, 2013
Good night, and GO BRUINS!