What do Sonny Lubick, Harry Hughes and Robert Davis have in common?
They are just a few of the coaches who have graced Colorado State football, producing some of the program’s winningest records. And now, looking to add their name to the list of greats, is CSU’s newest head coach: Jim Mora.
Coming to Fort Collins, Mora has 105 wins as a coach under his belt in the NFL and at the collegiate level, giving the Rams the reassurance they need for a successful future after having a less-than-ideal 2025.
“As young coaches, we all aspire to ascend as a head coach. I’ve never gone any place and thought this will be the next step. I’ve always thought this will be the last step, and I’m very confident saying that this will absolutely be the last step. This place offers everything to me and my family. … We just can’t wait to get here and plant our roots,” –Jim Mora, CSU football head coach
CSU finished its year less than a week ago with one of the worst records in recent history. This led to the midseason firing of Jay Norvell and multiple players leaving or announcing their intent to enter the portal.
But now the ceiling is limitless as Mora made his debut to the Ramily community Monday.
“There is no top,” Mora said. “You just keep going, you keep climbing. And when you reach one peak, you find a way to get to another peak. … There is no finish line, there is no limitation, there is no timeline other than today. … I will never put any limitations on what this football team can be ever if we do the work, which we will.”
Athletic Director John Weber and the voice for men’s basketball, Brian Roth, introduced Mora in a press conference by giving audience members insight into the decision and a quick Q&A, in which anyone could attend to witness the beginning of the next era for CSU football, outlining the future for the Rams.
A large part of why Norvell was brought to CSU in 2021 was culture, but by the end of his tenure, culture wasn’t enough when wins weren’t present alongside it.
So in the program’s “exhaustive nationwide search”, they found a coach who has not only focused on culture, but has flipped programs in the process, more specifically, UConn.
“During this process, coach Mora and I had multiple conversations about his aspirations and the aspirations of Colorado State University, and those aspirations centered around both community and championships,” Weber said. “We mutually share the focus, the drive and the intent to win conference championships and to compete in the college football playoff.”
Historically, UConn has produced great basketball teams for both women’s and men’s. National championships were clinched, NBA stars were created, but football wasn’t nearly on the same level.
So what happened before Mora got his hands on the Huskies?
About fourteen years ago, Paul Pasqualoni was welcomed to the program after losing longtime coach Randy Edsall to Maryland. Yet it was a short stint, and after going 0-4 to start his second season, he was fired. Bob Diaco showed some progress as the next coach with a bowl game, but was still let go a season later after an overall losing record. So the Huskies pivoted back to Edsall, but even he struggled to recreate his former success, suddenly retiring in 2021 after a 0-2 start.
Then — finally — came Mora.
In his first year, he brought the program to a 6-7 season record, coaching the team to their first bowl game since 2015. Then in 2024, the Huskies finished with a 9-4 record and their first bowl win since 2009.
This most recent season, Mora brought them to 9-3, but before the team’s bowl game, it was announced that Mora would be joining the CSU Rams as their 25th head coach.
But CSU has been on Mora’s radar much longer than 2025.
“When the program decided to move on from Jay, I was immediately interested,” Mora said. “It renewed that interest that I had in 2019, and fortunately, you know that interest led to me being able to sit here in front of all of you today as the new head football coach at Colorado State, and like I said, I’m ecstatic about it. I can hardly contain myself. I can’t wait to get going.”
After the 2019 season, with an overall 28-35 record, CSU parted ways with coach Mike Bobo. And for the first time in five years, the coaching job was vacant, and Mora struck. He texted to express interest, but evidently, the job went to Steve Addazio.
But six years later, Mora’s interest in CSU piqued again, and this go around, he could offer the Rams exactly what they needed.
“You may recall that I talked about the need for collaboration in order for us to be successful; what I didn’t mention is that as we embarked on that journey, we sought a program builder, and that’s what we found in coach Mora,” Weber said. “Coach Mora has been there in multiple other places to drive and to push, and that’s exactly what he’s going to do here for us.”
Although Mora’s coaching and playing career has helped shape who he is today, football has coursed through his veins even before he was born.
Mora’s father — also named Jim Mora — was a program flipper long before his son was. From 1986 to 2001, Jim Mora was an NFL coach for the New Orleans Saints and Indianapolis Colts, turning two lackluster programs into those that could go for postseason runs.
Mora followed the legacy into the NFL, where he was a defensive back coach under his father, and less than ten years later, he had his first head coaching job with the Atlanta Falcons. He also coached the Seattle Seahawks before returning to the collegiate level.
“Having those opportunities that my dad’s profession provided me was what shaped me as a coach,” Mora said. “My dad is for sure my biggest supporter, but he’s also brutally honest with me — brutally, brutally honest with me after games. It’s not always a conversation that I look forward to, but it’s one that I need.”
Now, Mora’s ready to overcome the challenges that the Rams faced this past season and take them to championships. And almost 42 years into his coaching career, Mora’s landed at what he hopes to be his final coaching job.
“As young coaches, we all aspire to ascend as a head coach,” Mora said. “I’ve never gone any place and thought this will be the next step. I’ve always thought this will be the last step, and I’m very confident saying that this will absolutely be the last step. This place offers everything to me and my family. … We just can’t wait to get here and plant our roots.”
Reach Sophie Webb at sports@collegian.com or on social media @sophgwebb.
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