Jim Mora continues to keep busy on his first official day as UCLA’s football coach.
He continued to fill out his staff Monday by hiring Eric Yarber as wide receivers coach and Sal Alosi as the team’s coordinator of strength and conditioning. Additionally, Angus McClure, a holdover from former coach Rick Neuheisel’s staff will coach the defensive line and serve as the recruiting coordinator.
That leaves Inoke Breckterfield, Neuheisel’s defensive line coach, without a position on the coaching staff. He will take on a “football operations role” although the school announced on Dec. 15 that Breckterfield would retain his defensive line position.
“These coaches are all important elements to us moving our program forward,” Mora said in a statement. “We welcome them, as coaches and teachers on and off the field, to the UCLA football family.”
Yarber has bounced around from college coaching to the National Football League. Most recently, he was the wide receivers coach with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this season. He coached with Mora on the San Francisco 49ers staff from 2007-2009 and coached the University of Washington’s wide receivers in 2005 and 2006.
Alosi graduated from Hofstra and served as the strength and conditioning coach there. He also coached the NFL’s New York Jets’ special teams from 2002-2005 and again from 2007-2010.
Alosi’s name may be familiar to sports fans as he was the focal point of the “Tripgate” controversy that occurred during a Dec. 12, 2010, game between the Jets and Miami Dolphins. Alosi allegedly told a handful of Jets players to set up a human wall that resulted in Alosi tripping Miami’s Nolan Carroll. Alosi was fined $25,000 and fired by the Jets shortly thereafter.
Mora has still yet to hire a defensive coordinator, a position that is expected to be filled by the end of the week.