Rick Neuheisel had his newspaper ad declaring the monopoly in Los Angeles was over.
New UCLA coach Jim Mora had his “Southern Cal” moment, and now, a more indirect quote about campus safety that could be taken one of two ways.
Appearing on the Roger Lodge radio show, Mora said he makes it a point to tell parents of prospective athletes about the school’s safety, adding “We don’t have murders a block from our campus.”
Harmless enough I guess, until you consider two graduate Chinese students were tragically murdered near the USC campus in April. After Thursday’s practice, Mora elaborated to the LA Times:“I just said our campus is safe,” Mora said. “I didn’t say anything about anyone else’s campus. I just said it about our campus. I didn’t mention another campus. We don’t have anybody getting murdered a block off of our campus.
“If anybody... is offended by the statement, then that’s their insecurity, not mine.”
When informed of the murders near USC, Mora said “They were? I don’t read the paper, I don’t watch the news. So I don’t know that stuff.”
Whatever you say, bro.
Updated 10:51 p.m. ET: After the brouhaha that erupted from Mora’s comments, the coach issued the following statement:
“After learning of the details of the shootings downtown earlier this year, I can understand how my comments on the radio yesterday can be interpeted as insensitive to the victims and their families. I truly regret and I’m sorry if my words caused any pain.”