Jedd Fisch makes it clear he would like permanent job at UCLA

LOS ANGELES -- Jedd Fisch walked into the UCLA football facility Sunday morning expecting business as usual. Instead, he was dealt what he described as a life-changing experience.

Fisch was called into a meeting with athletic director Dan Guerrero and his associate, Josh Rebholz, and informed that Jim Mora, the man who hired him as the offensive coordinator not even a year ago, had been let go. The meeting was short and to the point: They wanted him to serve as the interim coach this week against Cal and, should the Bruins win, through bowl season. He quickly accepted.

"When you move your family here and do everything we can do to help Coach Mora win as many championships as possible, for changes to happen, it's never good, it's very emotional," Fisch said. "We love Coach Mora, my family loves Coach Mora, my daughters can't get enough of him and it's been a very sad 24 hours."

Mora was given the opportunity to break the news in a brief meeting with the team. He expressed how much he appreciated their time together, told them he was only a phone call away and then walked out. Guerrero was up next and in a somber tone explained to the team that the decision wasn't taken lightly. Then he introduced Fisch as the interim coach.

For the UCLA staff and players, the news that Mora was out came as a shock. There was a belief within the staff that should the team win a bowl game, it could be enough to salvage Mora's job. Under that scenario, the Bruins would have finished with a winning record in five of his six seasons and his buyout of roughly $12 million provided a sizeable hurdle in a potential change.

"I just didn't think it was going to happen at all, due to the fact that I know UCLA had invested some money in him," defensive back Adarius Pickett said. "So I thought they were going to give him a chance and stuff like that, to overcome some adversity that has hit UCLA in the last couple years."

However, the timing of Mora's dismissal makes sense under the assumption that Guerrero's mind was already made up. If he knew Mora wouldn't be back, why delay the inevitable?

Especially if he felt he needed Mora out of the way to begin an all-out pursuit of his top candidate, who many industry sources believe to be former Oregon coach Chip Kelly. Kelly currently works as a college football analyst for ESPN.

Guerrero will not hold a press conference to discuss Mora's firing nor will he provide further comment beyond what was released in a statement to announce the change. Rebholz, donor Casey Wasserman and former UCLA quarterback Troy Aikman will assist Guerrero during the search.

"We have no set timeline to make a hire but will move as expediently and comprehensively as possible," Guerrero said. "We will not comment on the search or candidates until we announce a hire, and I would remind our passionate supporters that speculation, rumors and innuendo are just that."

Fisch has never served as a head coach, but made it clear he would like to be considered as Mora's full-time replacement. It's unclear if the UCLA administration views him as a candidate for the role, but Oregon State has reached out to Fisch about its opening, a source told ESPN.

"I think that anybody would like to be the head football coach at an extremely prominent university," he said, when asked about the UCLA job. "In this case right now, where my mind is, my mind is 100 percent on trying to get our seniors to 6-0 [at home] and to leave Coach Mora's legacy as one that he was able to get five out of his six teams to bowl games."

After spending two years as the quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator at Michigan, Fisch replaced Kennedy Polamalu as the Bruins' offensive coordinator this year. He has also served as an offensive coordinator at Miami and Minnesota and in the NFL (Jacksonville).

Under Fisch's leadership this year, the Bruins rank No. 21 nationally in yards per game (466.0), No. 6 in passing yards per game (341.0) and No. 31 in scoring (34.1 points per game). He will remain the offensive coordinator as the interim coach.

"Oh, he's been awesome," center Scott Quessenberry said. "I mean, you guys have all seen what he's done with the offense and how we've progressed as a team and how he's made us kind of better and what we could have been from the start and I think he's going to bring great passion, great energy to this game and then on into the bowl game going forward.

"And whatever happens from there, I think if they're thinking about coach Fisch as the guy, I think it would be a really wise decision."

UCLA hosts Cal at the Rose Bowl on Friday.