LOS ANGELES-Sometimes no news is good news. That would not be the case for Jim Mora and the UCLA football team. This time of year should be about Mora, the head football coach for the Bruins, fielding questions on quarterback Josh Rosen’s star trajectory, the impact of losing two-way star Myles Jack to the NFL, and what up for the 2016 season.
Mora took on some of those questions on the second day of the annual Pac-12 Conference Media Days event. He also answered some hard-to-dismiss questions as well. The annual event which is used to promote the conference’ s preview of the college football season, is a light-weighted affair where coaches and selected players from each team gets to go in front of the media to convey their expectations for their respective teams.
For Mora and the Bruins, the expectations are already somewhat high considering the fact that UCLA was selected by the media to win the Pac-12 Conference South Division, a notch over rival USC. Last year, it was the Trojans who were swimming in preseason adulation as the the team to beat in the Pac-12 South.
The Bruins are now the team to watch out for. At least for this season they are. The return of Rosen and the play of linebacker Jayon Brown are two reasons why the Bruins should be a remarkably improved squad.
UCLA posted an 8-5 overall mark and a disappointing 5-4 Pac-12 record, while losing key starters from last season, including Jack, running back Paul Perkins, wide receiver Jordan Payton, and defensive tackle Kenny Clark to the NFL. The Bruins being picked to win their division caught Mora somewhat off guard.
“Well, first of all, it surprised me,” Mora said. “I thought that USC, Utah, Arizona State, Arizona, Colorado, I thought those teams would probably be picked ahead of us, just based on the way we finished last year in a rather disappointing fashion.
“I would hope that our internal expectations, the standards that we’re trying to hold ourselves to would weigh more on us than the external expectations. But in today’s digital world, our players will be aware of that. Hopefully we can minimize the effects on it and just stay focused on what we need to do, the process that we need to take in order to hopefully make our way to the championship.”
It’s too bad that the upcoming 2016 college football season and the Bruins’ Sept. 3 date with Texas A & M was not just the only thing on Mora’s mind as he spoke to the media. He sat on a bubble, trying to answer accurately about the hot-button situation swirling around his defensive coordinator, Tom Bradley.
Bradley is under the media watch list after recent unveiled documents surrounding former Penn State assistant coach Jerry Sandusky’s sexual abuse of boys. Sandusky was sentenced to serve at least 30 years in prison. His criminal case also left Joe Paterno’s legacy in tatters. Bradley was a part of that Penn State coaching staff.
Those unsealed deposition documents makes claim that Bradley allegedly had been aware of Sandusky’s ways toward minor boys for decades. Bradley has reportedly denied these allegations through his attorney. Mora talked for an extent about the new revelation, saying his staff vetted Bradley thoroughly.
“Well, first of all, any time that you’re dealing with sexual abuse and you’re dealing with young people specifically, the first thing that you have to think about is the victims, and our hearts go out to the victim,” Mora said. “As a father of four young children, I can’t imagine the horror of being in that position, and I can’t think of anything that could be more horrifying as a parent or as a victim.
Our first thoughts is towards that.
“Tom is a man of integrity that was heavily vetted, not just by UCLA but by others, as well. We went through a lengthy process in determining whether or not we wanted to make that hire. From our chancellor on down, everybody was involved in the decision and took it very, very seriously, knowing what the accusations had been at Penn State, not with regards to Tom but just in general. So yeah, that was part of the vetting process. We were privy to as much information as was available at that time.”
As of right now, Mora and UCLA are standing by Bradley’s side.
“Tom made a statement through his lawyer, through his attorney, his agent, Brett Senior,” said Mora. “I think it was very specific. I think this is a situation that has obviously been delved into at great depth, and I think Tom will stand by his statement. I’ll stand by his statement, and we’ll all stand by Tom and what he didn’t do and what he didn’t know.”
Dennis has covered and written about politics, crime, race, sports, and entertainment. Dennis currently covers the NFL, MLB, NBA, NCAA, and Olympic sports. Dennis is the editor of News4usonline.com and serves as the publisher of the Compton Bulletin newspaper. He earned a journalism degree from Howard University. Email Dennis at dfreeman@news4usonline.com