more college coaching hires

Texas A&M has selected Kevin Sumlin as its new football coach, school officials announced Saturday.

Sumlin posted a 12-1 record this season at Houston and a 35-17 record in four seasons at the school. He replaces Mike Sherman, who was fired after a 6-6 season and a 25-25 record in four seasons in College Station.

A&M athletic director Bill Byrne said school officials finalized a deal Saturday morning with Sumlin, a former A&M assistant coach under R.C. Slocum. Terms were not announced, and Sumlin will address the media for the first time as A&M's coach during a Monday news conference in College Station.

Sumlin was A&M's play-caller in 2002 when the Aggies defeated No. 1 Oklahoma 30-26 at Kyle Field with freshman quarterback Reggie McNeal leading the offense.

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UCLA announced Saturday morning that Jim Mora Jr. will be its next head coach.

Mora, 50, has spent the last two years as an analyst at the NFL Network and has spent the bulk of his coaching career in the NFL, including working as the head coach for the Seattle Seahawks and the Atlanta Falcons. This will be his first college head coaching job.

The Los Angeles Times notes he hasn't worked at the collegiate level since 1984, when he was a graduate assistant at the University of Washington after playing for the Huskies.

Mora will take over for Rick Neuheisel, who was fired Nov. 28 after going 21-29 (6-7 this season) in four years. Offensive coordinator Mike Johnson will serve as the interim coach for the Bruins when they face Illinois at the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl in San Francisco on Dec. 31.

Mora went 26-22 with the Falcons from 2004-06, coaching in one NFC Championship Game in 2004, and 5-11 with the Seahawks in 2009, putting his NFL head coaching record at 31-33. Before getting the Atlanta job, he held assistant positions with the San Diego Chargers, the San Francisco 49ers and the New Orleans Saints under his father Jim E. Mora.