Mora was also the head coach of the Philadelphia/Baltimore Stars of the first iteration of the United States Football League (USFL) during its three years of existence and led the team to all three championship games, winning two.

As an NFL head coach, Mora was known for turning the Saints and Colts, two consistently losing franchises, into perennial postseason contenders.

However, his reputation was affected by going winless in the NFL postseason, in addition to impassioned postgame tirades and press conferences.

[1] Mora was a tight end at Occidental College, a member of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity, and graduated in 1957.

His college roommate was Jack Kemp, an all star quarterback with the Buffalo Bills, U.S congressman from New York for 18 years and presidential candidate in 1988.

Mora received a master's degree in education in 1967 and left Occidental to serve as an assistant coach at Stanford under John Ralston for the 1967 season.

The United States Football League came into existence 1983 and Mora became head coach of the Philadelphia Stars (who moved to Baltimore in 1985).

Six months after the Stars won the 1985 USFL title, Mora was named head coach of the NFL's New Orleans Saints.

Mora was hired by new Saints general manager Jim Finks to turn around what had long been reckoned as the most inept franchise in the NFL.

The Saints had won only 90 games in their first nineteen seasons, never tallied a winning record, and only twice had reached .500, in 1979 (the only time they finished higher than 3rd in their division) and 1983.

Mora inherited quarterback Bobby Hebert and receiver Eric Martin from Phillips, and drafted running back Reuben Mayes and tackle Jim Dombrowski.

In week 6 of the 1987 season the Saints lost a 24–22 game to the San Francisco 49ers, with Morten Andersen missing a last-second field goal.

Mora's Saints finished 10–6 in 1988, and were part of a three-way tie for first in the NFC West with the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Rams.

It was during the 1989 season when Mora had another remembered tirade after a game, when he scolded a sportswriter on not knowing what goes on during the week during practice.

In the Week 16 game at home against the New York Giants, Saints quarterback Wade Wilson was injured on Monday Night Football and fans were cheering that fact, prompting an angry retort: "You know, I'd like to begin my remarks by saying this, and I mean this in all sincerity; I've been coaching for 34 years, and tonight I saw and heard one of the most disgusting, rudest, sick, demonstrations in my entire career.

The Saints' defense went into a steep decline, negating the passing heroics of quarterback Jim Everett, acquired from the division rival Los Angeles Rams in 1994 for a seventh-round draft choice.

Following a road loss to the Baltimore Ravens, the Saints won back-to-back home games vs. the Jacksonville Jaguars and Chicago Bears, but the turnaround was a mirage.

After the Saints were beaten 19–7 by the Carolina Panthers on October 20, a loss which put them at 2–6 midway through the season, Mora walked out of the postgame press conference in disgust after a profanity-laced tirade.

His outburst became famous on sports highlight reels for years to follow, largely because of Mora's use of the phrase "Diddley Poo."

Mora served as a color analyst for NBC in 1997, and he replaced Lindy Infante as head coach of the Indianapolis Colts for 1998.

On November 25, 2001, after a lackluster five turnover plagued loss to the San Francisco 49ers that dropped the Colts to 4–6, Mora made his famous "playoffs?"

Of the Colts' performance, Mora told the media not to "blame that game on the defense.” Mora cited the five turnovers the Colts' offense made (one of which resulted in a touchdown and three others that set up field position for touchdown-scoring drives) as a cause of the loss, saying that a team that turns the ball over five times in one game is unlikely to beat a high school or college team, "much less an NFL team.”[3] Later in the press conference, in response to Tim Bragg, a reporter for WRTV, who asked a question about the Colts' chances for making the playoffs, Mora said in a high-pitched, incredulous tone:[4] "Playoffs?

The tirade would go on to be featured in a Coors Light commercial in 2006 as part of an ad campaign that recreated NFL coaches' infamous press conferences with twenty-something male actors asking the coaches inane and unrelated non-football questions about the beer.

line during a media session to the New York Giants in the days leading up to Super Bowl XLII in Arizona.

This unit, consisting of Rickey Jackson, Sam Mills, Vaughan Johnson, and Pat Swilling, became known as one of the best four-man linebacking corps in NFL history.

Those same Saints teams also had a strong running game, mostly led by Rueben Mayes and Dalton Hilliard, as well as a conservative but efficient passing game led by quarterback Bobby Hebert and wide receiver Eric Martin.

During his time as the Colts' head coach, Mora was able to benefit from having an explosive, more potent offense, featuring quarterback Peyton Manning, running back Edgerrin James, and wide receiver Marvin Harrison.

Despite his overall solid regular season record coaching both the Saints and Colts (125–106), the biggest criticism of Mora has been his teams' inability to win any playoff games in six appearances.

His critics, both among fans and media reporters, often blamed his lack of success in the postseason to his conservative approach.

Another factor that worked against Mora during his coaching career with the Saints was how his team played in the NFC West with the San Francisco 49ers during their dynasty era and earlier in his tenure a strong LA Rams outfit.