It takes timing and investment to change the trajectory of a college football program. UCLA just delivered on both.
A sleeping-giant program known for being a bit sleepy in its decision-making and desire suddenly is wide-awake. By firing Jim Mora when it did, big buyout be damned, and swooping in to hire Chip Kelly days later, UCLA won this year's coaching carousel before it really started to spin.
UCLA sensed an opportunity with Kelly available and Florida closing in and went for it. Such administrative aggressiveness is required in a sport in which the money and stakes are bigger than ever, and in which every program aspiring for national success must ask itself: How bad do we want to win?