UCLA coach Jim Mora commented on USC’s campus safety and upset USC coach Lane Kiffin

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On Monday UCLA Bruins new head coach Jim Mora appeared on the Roger Lodge radio show and took a few shots at USC’s campus safety.

Mora told Lodge, “We don’t have murders a block from our campus. It’s a cocoon of safety-ness”, referencing the murder of two Chinese students that took place in April.

While Mora went on to clarify that he wasn’t directing the comments at any one school in particular, he obviously overstepped his bounds.

“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, whether USC or Cal State San Bernardino, is offended by the statement, then that’s their insecurity, not mine.”

After being told of the two students deaths, Mora said “They were? I don’t read the paper, I don’t watch the news. So I don’t know that stuff.” Not sure I believe that.

Then he went on to describe that he doesn’t think about USC on a daily basis.

“I don’t spend the day thinking [about] what USC thinks. Just like they don’t spend the day thinking what we think. My concern has to be on this football team.”

After the mayhem broke out in response to Mora’s comments, he 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 interpreted as insensitive to the victims and their families. I truly regret and I’m sorry if my words caused any pain.”

USC’s Lane Kiffin didn’t take the comments very well.

“We have stats to point out to show the facts. Not opinions,” Kiffin said. “We feel that the

campus is very safe. It’s very expensive to go here. A lot of people send their kids here from around the world. We feel that it’s very safe.

We don’t negative recruit, that message comes from the top. It comes from me to (our staff). There’s no need to here at ‘SC. Go in the house, get on the phone and talk about ‘SC. There’s so many things to talk about here as far as the school and the history of the football program. It’s the greatest place in the world and so there’s no need to talk about other places. So, it’s my belief that we don’t do that and don’t need to.”

HT LATimes