Jim E. Mora

James Ernest Mora (born May 24, 1935) is an American former football coach who served as a head coach in the National Football League (NFL) for 15 seasons.

Born in Glendale, California, Mora became an Eagle Scout in 1950 and was presented the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award as an adult by the Boy Scouts of America.

Mora was a tight end at Occidental College, a member of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity, and graduated in 1957.

Mora became an assistant coach at his alma mater in 1960.

He moved up to head coach of Occidental in 1964 and led the team for three seasons, compiling an 18–9 record.

Mora received a master's degree in education in 1967 and left Occidental to serve as an assistant coach at Stanford under John Ralston for the 1967 season.

He then spent five seasons at Colorado under Eddie Crowder coaching defensive ends, outside linebackers, and defensive backs, one at UCLA under Dick Vermeil, and three at Washington under Don James.

He moved across town to the professional ranks in 1978 as the defensive line coach for the NFL's Seattle Seahawks under head coach Jack Patera.

The Saints had won only 90 games in their first nineteen seasons, never tallied a winning record, and only twice had reached .500, in 1979 (the only time they finished higher than 3rd in their division) and 1983.

After four seasons, Mora moved to the New England Patriots in 1982 under head coach Ron Meyer.

The United States Football League came into existence 1983 and Mora became head coach of the Philadelphia Stars (who moved to Baltimore in 1985).

During his tenure the team compiled a 48–13–1 (.780) record, appeared in all three USFL championship games and won two of them.

Mora was named Coach of the Year in 1984 and is considered by many observers to be the best coach in the short history of the USFL.

In late 1984, founding owner John Mecom threatened to sell the team to a group of investors who planned to move the franchise to Jacksonville, Florida if he could not find an owner or group of owners who would buy the team and keep them in New Orleans.

Six months after the Stars won the 1985 USFL title, Mora was named head coach of the NFL's New Orleans Saints.

The USFL was later forced out of business after winning a token award of $3 in an antitrust suit against the NFL.

Mora was hired by new Saints general manager Jim Finks to turn around what had long been reckoned as the most inept franchise in the NFL.

Mecom sold the Saints to Tom Benson in May 1985 for $70 million.

Benson, who grew up in the city's Ninth Ward, pledged to keep the team in New Orleans.

The Saints limped along to a 5–11 record in 1985, and coach Bum Phillips resigned with four games remaining.

He was the head coach of the New Orleans Saints from 1986 to 1996 and the Indianapolis Colts from 1998 to 2001.

Mora was also the head coach of the Philadelphia/Baltimore Stars of the first iteration of the United States Football League (USFL) during its three years of existence and led the team to all three championship games, winning two.

As an NFL head coach, Mora was known for turning the Saints and Colts, two consistently losing franchises, into perennial postseason contenders.

Benson hired Finks in January 1986 and charged the former Vikings and Bears executive with the task of hiring the new coach.

Mora spent his first off-season remaking the Saints roster.

He convinced several players from the USFL, including some from his Stars, to come to New Orleans.

The imports included linebackers Sam Mills and Vaughan Johnson, who went on to form the inside tandem of the legendary "Dome Patrol" linebacking corps with veteran Rickey Jackson and draftee Pat Swilling on the outside.

Mora inherited quarterback Bobby Hebert and receiver Eric Martin from Phillips, and drafted running back Reuben Mayes and tackle Jim Dombrowski.

He became the first coach to lead the Saints to a winning record and playoff berth in 1987, their 21st season, earning him NFL Coach of the Year honors.

However, his reputation was affected by going winless in the NFL postseason, in addition to impassioned postgame tirades and press conferences.

Mora finished his career with a winning percentage of .527, the highest of NFL coaches without a playoff win.

He is the father of former NFL and collegiate coach Jim L. Mora.

After a 7–9 record his first season, Mora led the Saints to a 12–3 record in 1987.

In week 6 of the 1987 season the Saints lost a 24–22 game to the San Francisco 49ers, missing a last-second field goal.

After the game Mora launched what became known as his "Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda" speech.

In his postgame press conference, Mora angrily said the following:

"'They're better than we are; we're not good enough. We shouldn't be thinking about beating these 49ers; we shouldn't be talking about it, 'cause the Saints ain't good enough. And you guys shouldn't write about us being a playoff team and all that bullstuff—that's malarkey. We ain't good enough to beat those guys and it was proven out there today. It's that simple. We're not good enough yet. We've got a long way to go; we've got a lot of work to do; we're close, and close don't mean shit. And you can put that on TV for me. I'm tired of coming close, and we're gonna work our asses off until we ain't close anymore, and it may take some time; we're gonna get it done; we aren't in there—we aren't good enough. They're better than us—black and white, simple, fact!

'Could've, would've, should've' is the difference in what I'm talking about!

His college roommate was Jack Kemp, an all star quarterback with the Buffalo Bills, U.S congressman from New York for 18 years and presidential candidate in 1988.

Another teammate was Ron Botchan, who went on to become a successful NFL game official.