[Bruce Wang]

http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/college-f...cla-bruins

Mora addressing the Bruins' weakness in the secondary.  I surmise that U$C's woes will help UCLA more than anybody else.  Thus over the intermediate term, I'm more worried about UCLA than any of Stanford's other opponents.

[Bruce Wang]

http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/college-f...cla-bruins

Mora addressing the Bruins' weakness in the secondary.  I surmise that U$C's woes will help UCLA more than anybody else.  Thus over the intermediate term, I'm more worried about UCLA than any of Stanford's other opponents.

[yvonne]

UCLA's getting a monster class, similar to our class last year. No five-stars, but plenty of four stars.

[yvonne]

UCLA's getting a monster class, similar to our class last year. No five-stars, but plenty of four stars.

[socalstanfan1]

Mora is putting together an impressive class.  And unlike his predecessor, who often managed to get his 4 stars to produce like 2 stars, Mora seems to actually get the most from his players.  UCLA will be scary, indeed.

Maybe there is a faint silver lining to this development, though.  UCLA is a major competitor for us in southern california.  While they cannot boast the same quality of education, they have a generally strong reputation.  Still, they can drop down a bit and grab great athletes who wouldn't qualify for Stanford.  The more they fill their recruiting classes with guys we are not recruiting anyway, the less likely they are to poach players who otherwise might head for Stanford.  Maybe that silver lining is somewhat faint, but I think it's there

I sense a bit of the Harbaugh in Mora.  Charismatic, a bit edgy, NFL pedigree.  I'm wondering how soon he will hear the siren call of the NFL calling him back.  I'm guessing 3 more years. 

[socalstanfan1]

Mora is putting together an impressive class.  And unlike his predecessor, who often managed to get his 4 stars to produce like 2 stars, Mora seems to actually get the most from his players.  UCLA will be scary, indeed.

Maybe there is a faint silver lining to this development, though.  UCLA is a major competitor for us in southern california.  While they cannot boast the same quality of education, they have a generally strong reputation.  Still, they can drop down a bit and grab great athletes who wouldn't qualify for Stanford.  The more they fill their recruiting classes with guys we are not recruiting anyway, the less likely they are to poach players who otherwise might head for Stanford.  Maybe that silver lining is somewhat faint, but I think it's there

I sense a bit of the Harbaugh in Mora.  Charismatic, a bit edgy, NFL pedigree.  I'm wondering how soon he will hear the siren call of the NFL calling him back.  I'm guessing 3 more years. 

[washingtonismoney]

Yeah, it's impressive. Mora's recruiting looked somewhat disappointing early in the year, and from a raw talent perspective it appeared that he wouldn't be able to replace the outgoing Neuheisel players. It's clear, from the way he's closing, that that won't be the case with this class.

Supposedly he already flirted with the Chargers. If you want him to leave, that might be a bad and a good thing. Good, in the sense he's still interested. Bad, in the sense that the Chargers would offer an opportunity to switch jobs while not totally uprooting his family.

Anyway, Mora's approaching recruiting in a similar way as Harbaugh did in 2010 -- he's been casting guys overboard when he's gotten the chance to recruit someone better. Long-term, probably not the smartest approach.

[washingtonismoney]

Yeah, it's impressive. Mora's recruiting looked somewhat disappointing early in the year, and from a raw talent perspective it appeared that he wouldn't be able to replace the outgoing Neuheisel players. It's clear, from the way he's closing, that that won't be the case with this class.

Supposedly he already flirted with the Chargers. If you want him to leave, that might be a bad and a good thing. Good, in the sense he's still interested. Bad, in the sense that the Chargers would offer an opportunity to switch jobs while not totally uprooting his family.

Anyway, Mora's approaching recruiting in a similar way as Harbaugh did in 2010 -- he's been casting guys overboard when he's gotten the chance to recruit someone better. Long-term, probably not the smartest approach.

[socalstanfan1]

It will be interesting to see how long Mora stays at UCLA.  Harbaugh moved on to the NFL after just a few seasons at Stanford, but Harbaugh had no coaching track record to speak of at the professional level.  Mora's resume is a bit more like Pete Carrolls: some success as a coordinator, followed by mediocre performances as a Head Coach.  I'm not sure if that influenced Carroll to spend more time at USC or not; maybe he figured staying longer and having more success would improve his bargaining power.  SD expressed some interest in Mora after one surprisingly successful year at UCLA, but might an NFL team offer a much more enticing contract if Mora leads a UCLA renaissance, gets them into some BCS games, and eases some concerns about his ability to handle the head coaching position?  Probably.  Of course its a risk for Mora: if UCLA doesn't continue to perform...

[socalstanfan1]

It will be interesting to see how long Mora stays at UCLA.  Harbaugh moved on to the NFL after just a few seasons at Stanford, but Harbaugh had no coaching track record to speak of at the professional level.  Mora's resume is a bit more like Pete Carrolls: some success as a coordinator, followed by mediocre performances as a Head Coach.  I'm not sure if that influenced Carroll to spend more time at USC or not; maybe he figured staying longer and having more success would improve his bargaining power.  SD expressed some interest in Mora after one surprisingly successful year at UCLA, but might an NFL team offer a much more enticing contract if Mora leads a UCLA renaissance, gets them into some BCS games, and eases some concerns about his ability to handle the head coaching position?  Probably.  Of course its a risk for Mora: if UCLA doesn't continue to perform...