re: Jim Morra on my flight from L.A. to NOLA

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I can't believe that UCLA doesn't have a jet or some booster wouldn't offer one for his use. I heard he doesn't make much money either. Just something I heard and I don't know if it is true.

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He's flying commercial from LA to meet the 6 or so assistants who were at the coaching convention in Indy. The assistants have the private jet and they're all flying back together on it late Thursday night to be back in time to host this weekend's official visitors after their whirlwind tour through Louisiana today.

Mora will be making about $3.2 a year average with the new deal he negotiated last month. He was making about $2.4m before, I believe, but he really doesn't need or care about the money because he pocketed a huge payoff from Paul Allen when the Seahawks unceremoniously cut him loose one year into his tenure as Seattle's coach. Mora instead used his negotiating leverage when Washington and Texas came after him to get all our assistants big pay-bumps, so we have the 2nd highest paid staff in the Pac-12 behind Southern Cal. Still small potatoes compared to the SEC coaching salaries, I know, but we're slowly catching up out West.

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Good, I've always had an affinity for UCLA, but please, catch up with RECRUITS from out west!!

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Haha blame the West recruiting class for being down this year. And the small pocket of elite kids we do have out here for 2014, like Adoree and Juju Smith, are Southern Cal homers who still have some fanciful notion of playing for their "dream" school stuck in their heads even as that ship sinks and capsizes right before their eyes. So we gotta find future Bruins somewhere!

Next year, I doubt you hear more than a small peep out of UCLA in the South, as 2015 is one of the best and deepest recruiting classes in the West in the last 20 years, so there won't be much need to venture out of our backyard. Bet we'll be hearing more about LSU recruiting California next year and the complaints being in reverse in the run up to Signing Day 2015 haha.

I haven't seen Mrs. Mora in years, but back around 1990, the resemblance between Connie and Jimmy was uncanny.