As a result of what we’ll call the 80% Termination Provision inserted into the 2013 extension (and reaffirmed in the 2016 extension),
UCLA would owe Jim Mora $14.76 million should it fire him after the 2016 football season.
To emphasize the absolutely shocking nature of that number, the much-discussed buyout clause for UCLA head basketball coach Steve Alford that has caused incredible amounts of Bruin fan ire has
never exceeded $10.4 million.
It goes without saying now that UCLA simply cannot fire Mora until closer to the end of the decade, even if it wanted to. The 2013 extension clause might have been understandable, given that Mora was plausibly in demand and the Bruins wanted to keep the man who had righted the ship on long-term.
But it is the 2016 extension that should have UCLA fans absolutely irate, as Mora’s suitability for the UCLA head football job was in much more doubt at that point, yet even in light of the poor 2015 season and more importantly, the insanity of prohibitive buyouts having been made crystal clear by the ongoing Alford contract debacle, Guerrero raised Mora’s buyout by nearly 75% and put the UCLA athletic department’s financial future in severe jeopardy with two contentious coaching contracts currently hanging around the department’s proverbial neck like anchors.
Worst of all, Mora has no such contractual obligations weighing him down at UCLA. The buyout in his contract is not a “mirror” clause, like it is in Alford’s contract in which Alford would owe UCLA the exact same amount if he walked away as it would owe him if he’s fired.
According to Section 4 of the 2016 extension, Mora would owe a maximum of $2 million in the event he was hired away to another school or NFL team. So UCLA made an absolute sucker’s bet on Mora’s latest extension: if Mora is really good, then it doesn’t cost a ton to pry him away from UCLA; but if he’s awful, then UCLA would have to either break the bank to cut him loose or sacrifice multiple years of the football program thanks to their negotiating mistakes. There was only one winner to emerge from the July 2016 extension and it was the guy whose dad made the word “PLAYOFFS” infamous.
