UCLA was manhandled by Oregon in the first half of Saturday afternoon’s Pac-12 matchup, and the team’s coaching staff was not happy about it.
Head coach Jim Mora dealt with the adversity by taking it in stride and keeping his cool, for the most part. But defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich took a more aggressive approach and threw a hissy fit midway through the second quarter of the game, with the Bruins trailing at the time, 15-3.
Ulbrich got in Mora’s face on the sideline and proceeded to yell and point at him. He even took his headset off and handed Mora the defensive play card. Mora attempted to shrug it off and walk away from him, but Ulbrich followed and kept on yelling.
Then, finally, Mora took matters into his own hands. He looked into Ulbrich’s eyes, put his hands on the defensive coordinator’s beard, and probably said something along the lines of: “Bro, I can feel you. I can heal you. This too shall pass.”
And it worked. Ulbrich pointed one last time for good measure and then began to walk away
Mora took the high road when asked about it after the game.
Jim Mora says you don’t know football if you make a big deal about what happened between him and DC Ulbrich. Just fierce competitors.
— Kristine Leahy (@KristineLeahy) October 11, 2014
This is Ulbrich’s first season serving as the team’s defensive coordinator. But if things don’t improve for the Bruins on the defensive side of the ball in the future, it may be his last.