Nov. 11 (UPI) -- Former UCLA and NFL head coach Jim Mora was hired to lead UConn's football program, the school announced Thursday.
Mora and UConn reached an agreement on a five-year contract that will pay him $1.5 million in the first season. The former Bruins coach could earn an additional $200,000 in annual performance incentives.
The 59-year-old Mora will begin his duties as head coach of the Huskies on Nov. 28, after serving as an assistant coach for the remainder of the 2021 season -- which will allow him to start handling recruiting responsibilities.
"I am excited to have the opportunity to become the head football coach at the University of Connecticut," Mora said in a statement. "UConn possesses a nationally-recognized academic and athletics brand and I am thrilled to become a member of the community that makes up UConn Nation.
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"This program is loaded with potential, and I look forward to getting to know the student-athletes on the team and am eager to get to work!"
Mora last coached in 2017, his final year at UCLA. He posted a 46-30 record with the Bruins before being fired in November 2017.
ESPN hired Mora as a college football analyst in 2018 after his six seasons at UCLA.
"Jim is a proven winner, a man of integrity, and he possesses the experience and the energy to lead our football program back to success," UConn athletic director David Benedict said in a news release. "Jim is excited and undaunted by this challenge, and we both know that this program has great potential.
"I'm certain that, under Coach Mora's leadership, UConn football will once again realize that potential."
UConn announced in September that Randy Edsall would step down as head coach of the Huskies. Edsall went 6-32 during his second stint at the school after guiding the program to two Big East championships and a Fiesta Bowl appearance in his first run from 1999 to 2010.
Mora spent the first 25 years of his coaching career in the NFL, including head-coaching stints with the Atlanta Falcons (2004-06) and Seattle Seahawks (2009).
