Saturday’s post-practice press huddle started off on a different note than usual, with the topic of conversation philanthropy, not football.
UCLA football coach Jim Mora stood alongside his wife, Shannon, to announce the official launch of their charity, the Jim Mora Count on Me Family Foundation, in the Southern California area.
Started in 2005 when Mora was in his second season as the head coach of the Atlanta Falcons, the charity is focused on helping children in need, including those from low socioeconomic backgrounds and those with special needs.
The Count on Me Family Foundation provides grants to partners with local charities and organizations aimed at “increasing community awareness and empowering organizations to help children.”
The Foundation currently has branches in Atlanta and Seattle, Mora’s previous coaching stops, which prompted the coach to joke about the program’s “expansion” that has resulted from his resume changes before explaining its purpose.
“Our hope is that we can be here for a long time and we can affect a whole lot of kids and give them opportunities that we might not otherwise have, help them feel more normal, offer them more hope and really a chance to succeed at life,” Mora said.
Around 50 children from the program’s affiliated local children’s charities were on hand to watch Saturday’s practice. Following UCLA’s workout, several players remained on hand to briefly run drills with the children.
“I asked a couple of our players if they could just stay on the field and work with them,” Mora said. “I don’t think I’ve seen but a couple of them walk off the field, and I think that speaks to the type of team we have and the type of kids we have.”
The charity’s primary fundraising event is a golf tournament, the Jim Mora Celebrity Golf Classic, which will be held at Riviera Country Club on May 20.
Football open house
After announcing how he planned to help the Los Angeles area, Mora indirectly asked the Los Angeles area to help him by filling the Rose Bowl on Saturday afternoon for his second spring game, which he dubbed the “Spring Spectacular.”
Using the spring games of other programs as a point of comparison, Mora reaffirmed the goal of 50,000 fans that he has been promoting on Twitter.
“The goal became 51,001 when I found out that Kentucky had 51,000,” Mora said. “I heard Texas A&M had 45,000, I heard Nebraska had 60 or 61 (thousand), but if we could get 50,000, that would be awesome.”
The game itself will consist of several drills, including pride alley and wide receiver versus defensive back one-on-ones before breaking out into a 60-play live game. The anticipated play total dropped from 100, around last season’s total, to 60 to account for UCLA’s “dwindling numbers,” particularly at offensive line.
“It’s not fair to those guys to have a fresh group going against them and going against them again,” said offensive line coach Adrian Klemm of his short-staffed unit. “It’d be hard to go up against that. Sixty plays is still a lot if you ask me, but that’s me trying to protect my guys.”