College Football coaching salaries 2017: Worth it, not worth it

Not worth it: Jim Mora 

Mora’s tenure at UCLA started off promisingly enough, but the Bruins were steadily trending in the wrong direction and decided to fork over a massive buyout to make a coaching change.

The son of a longtime NFL head coach, Mora began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at alma mater Washington back in 1984 before jumping to the NFL one year later, spending most of his time as a defensive backs coach. Mora got his first head job with the Atlanta Falcons in 2004, compiling a 26-22 record before being dismissed.

After spending the one season as head coach of the Seattle Seahawks prior to Pete Carroll’s’ arrival, Mora returned to the college ranks for the first time in nearly three decades with UCLA in 2012. The Bruins were mired in mediocrity at the time, but Mora put together a strong 9-5 debut campaign before leading the team to consecutive 10-win seasons for the first time since the mid-1990s.

Since then, the Bruins have gone only 17-19 despite having one of the nation’s most highly-touted quarterbacks in Josh Rosen under center. UCLA could miss a bowl for the second straight year at 5-6 and has been atrocious on the defensive end, a major surprise given Mora’s background, prompting a change following last week’s loss to archrival USC.

For a price tag of $3.5 million to rank 25th in the country, Mora wasn’t nearly worth it despite the earlier success. Paying a buyout of $12 million certainly stings, but the Bruins had reached their ceiling under Mora.