Jim Mora wants to leave a ‘legacy’ with UCLA football

On Thursday morning, UCLA announced that Jim Mora and his family had given a significant donation to the Bruins’ new football facility, one that stood as the most ever by a sitting head coach.

Later that afternoon, the fourth-year coach talked about why he and his family decided to invest their own money into the program, and what it signaled about his commitment to UCLA.

“I would hope that it would put out any of those silly rumors that our opponents are using against us that I’m leaving,” he said. “I don’t know what more I can do to prove that I’m not leaving.”

“I didn’t go to my alma mater. I didn’t go to Texas. I haven’t taken an NFL job. And I just gave a little bit of cash to help build this building.”

He then looked into a camera and began giving a recruiting pitch before stopping himself — worried he would be violating an NCAA rule.

“One thing that’s always been important to me in thinking about my career is leaving some sort of legacy somehow,” continued Mora, who only lasted four combined seasons with the Atlanta Falcons and Seattle Seahawks. “I’ve never been able to stay anywhere long enough to do that. And I’m hopeful that this can be the place that I do that.”