After its most successful season in over a decade, the Husky football program is moving in the right direction. What’s next for the program?
UConn announced a new contract for head football coach Jim Mora on Saturday the minute the Huskies were set to kick off against North Carolina in the Fenway Bowl. The extension runs through the 2028 season and is valued at $10.1 million over four years.
After a dominant bowl win over the ACC opponent to cap off a 9-4 season, the Husky football program has proven a lot of doubters wrong. Despite losing a lot of starpower to the portal and graduation this offseason, they’ll be taking a lot of momentum into the 2025 season. The roster will change plenty between now and August 30th, when the Huskies kick-off next season against CCSU at the Rent.
It has not been a direct, linear path to this breakthrough success of a season, reaching nine wins for the first time since 2007 and winning a bowl game for the first time since the 2009 season. After a horrific tenure under Randy Edsall, last season’s 3-9 campaign did not do much to rid the negative aura surrounding Husky football.
Mora holds an 18-20 record thus far at the helm, but has demonstrated that it’s not impossible for UConn football to succeed in its current structure as an independent program.
Going 6-6 in his first season offered proof that some solid leadership was in place, even though 2023 saw a big step back. That turned out to be more about the growing pains of the NIL era than anything going on with program leadership, as UConn roared back with a reloaded roster in 2024. They’ve had some portal wins over the last month but will be looking for more in the next May period.
The big issue concerning the long-term health of the program is getting into a conference. Independence is not a viable long-term option, though it has served UConn well. This 9-4 season surely catches the attention of senior leadership in the Big 12 and ACC, who have kicked the tires on UConn multiple times only to go in a different direction. These two leagues have not exactly been showering themselves in glory in the new college football power dynamics, but they would still represent an upgrade over independence without sacrificing a ton on the basketball front.
Keep in mind that very soon the athletic department needs to find a revenue-sharing budget for the players and currently does not have an extra $20 million lying around. Joining the Big 12 or ACC would be an immediate salve to that problem and also allow the Husky athletic department, which is already thriving, to make significant upgrades across the board.
Would it make sense for UConn football to consider a football-only bridge membership in C-USA or the Sun Belt? Probably not. The last UConn flirtation with the Big 12 revealed plans for some sort of provisionary membership that would help the program ramp up to full-time status by 2030. Something that like that would be preferred to a mid-major membership.
Still, while the powers that be figure out the future structure of college athletics, UConn football is in good shape. Mora’s contract is extended, recruiting should improve, and the program is on the rise. The situation isn’t perfect, but the trajectory is much better than it’s been in any year since 2013, which is a huge accomplishment for UConn’s athletic leadership.