Jim Mora admitted he had some apprehension early last week after the Seahawks finished the season 5-11, but by midweek, after being told to go through with a press conference as planned on Wednesday, he felt like his future with the Seattle Seahawks was safe.
Then on Friday, Seahawks CEO Tod Leiweke walked into Mora’s office and told him he was fired after one season.
“I didn’t figure I’d be put out to do a press conference on Wednesday if things were going to change,” Mora said Monday in a lengthy interview on 950-KJR. “That usually doesn’t happen in this business, they fire you on Monday or Tuesday and they move on… Shocked. I was blown away.”
Mora said in the interview with Dave Mahler and Hugh Millen, his roommate at the University of Washington, that he fully expected he would be back and able to eventually get things right with the Seahawks.
“I was very stunned, to say the least … I was really shocked,” He said. “I’ve never seen this happen like this before where a guy gets one year, takes over a 4-12 football team, goes 5-11, has some of the situations we’ve had, and get’s fired. So I was very stunned. I don’t know that it’s even hit me yet…”
“What makes it tough for me is to feel like I didn’t get the opportunity to complete the task that I was hired to complete, knowing full well that I would have completed it. I’ve never failed in my life and I wouldn’t have failed here, so that’s what makes it so difficult.”
Despite his surprise and disappointment, Mora avoided taking shots at the organization that fired him, saying he considers Leiweke a close friend and “wonderful person.” Mora even showed he has maintained a sense of humor through all of this when Mahler thanked him for coming on the show.
“Well I didn’t have a lot going on today,” he said.
Mora isn’t sure what was next for him, though he won’t be in any financial trouble if he decides not to work right away since he was fired with three years left on his contract. He said he would weigh all his options in the future from NFL coaching jobs to college jobs to possible broadcasting opportunities. The Interlake High School and UW grad said he hopes to continue calling the Seattle area home.
“The future is going to be great,” he said. “I’m going to enjoy time with my family and I’m going to look at all of my options. I didn’t want to be thinking in those terms, but that’s sometimes how life goes, so that’s what I’m going to do.”
Mora kept that positive attitude for most of the interview, saying he was more worried about family, friends and his assistant coaches than himself.
“It’s affected a lot of people,” he said. “This is a tough business, and life isn’t always fair, but life is good and I’m going to try to look at it like that. My concern is more for the people around me than for myself … I’ll be OK.”
Mora said his post-firing weekend was enjoyable, noting that he had members of his coaching staff to his house Friday, then spent the rest of the weekend attending his children’s sporting events and a birthday party for two of his sons.
At the bowling alley, his 11-year-old son, Ryder, asked his father why he wasn’t wearing a hat, something he usually does in public to avoid drawing attention to himself while out with his family.
“I’m not going to hide,” Mora told his son. “I’m proud. I’m proud of the job that I do and I’m proud of the way I’ve handled things, and I’m not going to hide.”
Mora reserved the only criticism for his former bosses when asked about the team’s decision to interview new head coach Pete Carroll early in the week before the Wednesday press conference and Friday firing.
“If you conduct your life in an honest way and you have morals and integrity, you’re going to be fine,” Mora said. “And if you are sneaky and suspicious and self-serving, then it’ll get you eventually. It might not be immediately, but in the end we all pay.”
Herald Writer John Boyle: jboyle@heraldnet.com. For more Seahawks coverage, check out the Seahawks blog at heraldnet.com/seahawksblog
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