Mora’s extended contract raises incentives for academic, on-field efforts
UCLA football coach Jim Mora signed a two-year contract extension in June that upgraded incentives for the Bruins’ academic performance and included bonuses for on-the-field success. (Daily Bruin file photo)
By Hanson Wang
July 6, 2016 3:13 p.m.
Jim Mora recently signed a two-year contract extension, but it didn’t come with a pay raise.
The details of the UCLA football coach’s contract were released last week, and any possible salary increase for Mora is tied to bonuses for the Bruins’ performance in the classroom and on the field. The extension also raised the buyout of Mora’s current contract.
Mora’s talent fee will remain at $3.45 million for 2020 and 2021 – the same amount he’s set to earn in 2016 – but $85,000 is on the table based on UCLA’s Academic Progress Rate.
APR is calculated by assigning one point for staying in school and one point for being academically eligible to each scholarship athlete, dividing a team’s total points by the number of possible points, and then multiplying that amount by 1000. In order to qualify to compete for any NCAA championship, a team’s four-year average APR must at least 930.
According to the contract extension, Mora will receive an additional $10,000 bonus if the Bruins’ APR is equal to or exceeds 940, another $10,000 if it’s equal to or greater than 950 and again if it’s equal to or greater than 960. The bonuses also include additional $15,000 if the APR is equal to or greater than 970, and again if it’s equal to or higher than 980 and $25,000 if it’s equal to or higher than 990.
Ever since Mora first arrived in Westwood in late 2011, UCLA’s APR has consistently been above 970. Before 2012, however, the Bruins’ APR never reached 970, bottoming out at 915 in 2004, the first year the NCAA adopted the APR.
Mora can also receive a $25,000 bonus if UCLA finishes in the top 10 of the final Associated Press poll and $50,000 for a top-five ranking at the end of the season.
Mora’s buyout – if he decides to leave the Bruins for another coaching job – increased from $1.375 million to $2 million before January 16, 2017 and from $1 million to $1.7 million before January 16, 2018. In 2019, his buyout will be $1.375 million and in 2020 it will be $1 million.
In four seasons at UCLA, Mora is 37-16, which ties the school record for most wins in any four-year period.
The Bruins begin the 2016 season against Texas A&M Sept. 3.
