A NEW ORDER IN NEW ORLEANS : With Mora as Coach, the Party’s Over--but the Winning May Have Finally Started

The sportscaster had just completed his portion of the evening news with a clip of New Orleans Saints Coach Jim Mora chuckling about owner Tom Benson’s postgame victory dance.

Newscaster Garland Robinette stared at the camera and asked: “Was I hallucinating there or did Mora just laugh?”

Contrary to popular opinion in these parts, the Saints’ rookie coach does smile. Heck, there’s even a nice picture of him, complete with grin, in the media guide. Well, maybe it does look as if his face is about to break, but at least they didn’t have to airbrush on the smile.

Mora, in his first season as coach of the Saints, is a distinct departure from his predecessor, Bum Phillips. Phillips was like a father to his players. Mora is more like your girlfriend’s father. No matter what you do, it isn’t quite up to his standards.

He fines players for watching the cheerleaders and not the game. He makes them wear coats and ties on trips. Players who are on injured reserve have to show up at every practice, wearing jersey and helmet. And during practice, a helmet is either worn or carried but never set down.

Mora expects a lot and--so far anyway--has been getting just that.

The Saints, who will play the Rams Sunday at Anaheim Stadium, are 6-5 and could very well be on the way to their first winning season. As far as the long-suffering Saint fans are concerned, if the guy’s a despot, he’s certainly an enlightening one. It’s amazing how much easier it is to see a game without that damn grocery bag on your head.

All this talk about discipline is enough to force Mora to smile. If imposing discipline were all it took to be a great coach, Frank Kush would have more wins than Tom Landry and Don Shula put together.

Mora, 51, is more than just all business. He knows his business. John Ralston, who had Mora as an assistant at Stanford, once said Mora had “the executive abilities to run General Motors.”

Said Jim Finks, the Saints’ president and general manager who hired Mora: “He’s certainly not unique in his no-nonsense approach. There’s a big difference when you compare him to Bum Phillips, a guy who was more relaxed, but in all fairness to Bum, players will always say, ‘This is great,’ when you make a change.

“And, of course, they hope the change means they’ll start winning. No, it’s not what the players say, it’s how they respond. And I think they truly perceive that we’re going in the right direction now.”

Actually, not all the players thought the coaching change was that great. Some didn’t even mind saying so.

“I’m a big, big fan of Bum Phillips,” veteran tackle Stan Brock said. “It was really hard for me to let go of Bum and his staff. At the beginning, I wasn’t really giving Coach Mora a chance. He wasn’t Bum, and that bothered me a lot.

“For me, respect has to be earned. You don’t just give it to someone because he has a title. But he’s earned my respect--for whatever little that’s worth--and I think everyone on this team enjoys playing for him.

“He expects you to do things right, and he’ll start a drill completely over if it’s not done that way. And I think it’s starting to show on Sunday.”

That, of course, is what it’s all about. Jim Mora didn’t come to New Orleans because he’s fond of Cajun cooking. As ludicrous as it might sound, he came here to win.

“I’m not a guy who’s going to go out there and screw around,” Mora said. “Practice and meetings are not a time to be screwing around. Hell, this is a job and the fun comes from winning.

“But all this discipline (bleep) is way overrated. I don’t think you need to be buddies or friends with your players, but it isn’t a militaristic thing. I just think that you need a certain amount of discipline in any walk of life. We’re dealing with 50-some players, and if you don’t have discipline, you have chaos.

“But it’s not like a military camp around here.”

Jim Mora’s formula for success may have roots in military installations, though. He was in the Marines after graduating from Occidental College and started coaching as soon as he was discharged.

He met his wife while in the service, and their courtship was an example of the order and organization that has served him well in his coaching career. Mora and Connie Saunders became pen pals when her roommate at USC was dating a Marine friend of Mora’s. They met five months later, during the 1957 Christmas season. They were engaged on Christmas Day 1958, and they were married in June 1959.

Three sons, eight moves and a slew of job changes later, they’re still unpacking boxes in New Orleans. It’s been a sometimes turbulent life style, but Mora has never considered doing anything else.

“If I wasn’t coaching, I’d like to have enough money so I didn’t have to work at all,” he said.

Mora grew up in upper middle-class surroundings in Glendale and played football and ran track at University High School. He roomed with then-quarterback, now-politician Jack Kemp at Occidental before returning as an assistant, for four years, then head coach, for three years. In 1967, Mora joined Ralston’s staff at Stanford as linebacker coach. A year later, the Moras moved to Colorado, where he served as defensive coordinator at the University of Colorado for six years.

In 1974, he was reunited with longtime friend Dick Vermeil, then the coach at UCLA. But the next season, Mora got a job as defensive coordinator at the University of Washington.

Mora says Washington’s Don James and Vermeil were the biggest influences on his career.

“They’re totally different type guys emotionally,” he said, “but they’re very similar in their approaches to the game.”

In 1978, Mora made the jump to the National Football League as defensive line coach with Seattle.

“That was the answer to my prayers,” Connie Mora said. “Jim got to see the boys play high school football, in person.”

Mora has three sons, Jim, 24, an assistant with the San Diego Chargers; Michael, 22, and Stephen, 18. Missing most of their formative years is his only regret about his chosen profession.

“I have a lot of guilt about missing my kids growing up,” Mora said. “If I could do it over again, I would spend more time with them. I think there were times I could have just said, ‘Hey, I’m going home.’ ”

After four seasons with the Seahawks, he was named defensive coordinator at New England. The next year, Mora was named coach of the United States Football League’s Philadelphia Stars--a full two weeks before training camp opened.

“Everyone was starting out new, of course, but most of them had a lot more than two weeks,” he said. “But I wasn’t panicked. If you put your nose to the grindstone, good things can happen.”

They did. The Stars were 16-4 in their first season and lost in the league championship game to the Michigan Panthers, 24-22. They were 32-9-1 in the next two seasons and won the championship both years.

When the USFL folded, Mora’s name was mentioned wherever there was a head coaching vacancy in the NFL.

“I chose New Orleans mainly because of Tom Benson and Jim Finks,” Mora said. “These are the people I have to work for, and I think it’s very important you feel comfortable with those people.

“Plus, I liked the challenge of coming down here and doing something that’s never been done before, to help produce a winner.”

The Saints are marching up the standings these days, and they’re doing it with a conservative offense, a standout kicking game and a stingy defense that is third in the NFL in points allowed, 167.

“Mora’s been good for this team,” quarterback Bobby Hebert said. “He keeps saying that nothing comes easy and he stresses that if you expect a lot and work for it, you can achieve it.”

Said Finks: “I think Jim is getting everything out of this team, and that’s a two-fold proposition. He’s getting the most out of his players and the most out of his staff, in terms of preparedness. This coaching staff is efficient and it’s only going to get more efficient in years to come.”

Maybe Mora and Co. will organize their way to a Super Bowl one day. And maybe the folks in New Orleans will get a chance to see his best smile reflected in the championship trophy.