FORT COLLINS — Jim Mora is a climber.

As he was introduced as Colorado State’s newest head football coach, the 64-year-old wanted to know how many 14,000-foot mountains there were in the state. When he found out the number was 54, he didn’t blink. He just added it to his list of goals without hesitation.

“I love to go uphill and I think that’s a metaphor for my personality in general. I love to embrace hard things,” Mora said. “I stood here today and I looked out there and I saw the top of those mountains and I said, ‘I’m gonna get up there.’ We’re gonna win a Pac-12 championship, we’re gonna compete to win a national championship and I’m gonna scale 54 14,000-foot mountains here.”

For a program that just suffered its worst season (2-10) in the last 35 years and is embarking on a new journey into the Pac-12 next summer, that’s some big talk. But Mora isn’t backing down from lofty expectations.

Just like his goals for his free time — which he admits there won’t be a lot of — once Mora summits one mountain, he’s moving right on to the next.

“There is no top to the mountain,” Mora said. “You just keep going, keep climbing. When you reach one peak, you find a way to get to another peak. You set a standard (and) when you reach that standard, you push the standard higher. There is no peak, there is no finish line, there is no limitation, there is no timeline other than today.

“I will never put any limitation on what this football team can be, ever, if we do the work, which we will.”

That was music to the ears of a few hundred boosters, fans, administrators and former players that packed the fourth floor of Canvas Stadium on Monday afternoon to hear their new coach talk about what they hope is a brighter future in Fort Collins.

“Good days are ahead,” Mora said.

The packed house didn’t even blink when Mora talked about some of his heroes growing up — CU Buffs Hall of Famers like Cliff Branch and Bobby Anderson, who he watched shine at Folsom Field while his dad, Jim E. Mora was an assistant coach for the late Eddie Crowder during the late 1960s and early 70s. 

Those formative years of his life are a big reason why Mora has been trying for many years to make his way back to the Front Range. He was reportedly interested in the CU job in the past and Mora even admitted Monday that back when CSU hired Steve Addazio in 2019, he was interested then in coming to Fort Collins.

“My experiences growing up for six years in Colorado shaped a lot of the way I am now, the things that I like to do, my interests outside of football. I had great memories as a child growing up in Boulder, visiting Fort Collins,” Mora said. “My nephew just graduated from CU a year and a half ago. My son graduated from Colorado six months ago. There’s a real connection to this community and I really wanted to be a part of it. I think it’s a healthy, happy, diverse, outgoing community. (My wife) Kathy and I can’t wait to just get to know it better.”

Mora will likely have plenty of time to do so. The Rams have signed him to a five-year contract that will pay him an average of $2.6 million per season and Mora was asked directly by The Denver Gazette if he intends on finishing his coaching career in Fort Collins.

“I’m confident that it will be,” Mora answered definitively. “As young coaches, we all aspire to ascend. As a head coach, I’ve never gone any place and thought, ‘This will be the next step.’ I’ve always thought, ‘This will be the last step.’ I’m very confident in saying this will absolutely be the last step. 

“This place offers everything that me and my family could ever desire from a professional standpoint and from a personal standpoint. We just can’t wait to get here and plant our roots.”

It may seem strange for someone who has been a head coach in the NFL with both the Atlanta Falcons and Seattle Seahawks and had a successful run in the old Pac-12 with UCLA, but it feels like Mora has been waiting his entire coaching career for an opportunity like this and in a place like this.

He’s determined to make the most of it.

“In my career, I’ve been very fortunate, but I’ve had a chance to compete for the greatest prize in football,” Mora said. “I have an incredible amount of confidence in myself and the people that I surround myself with. We’re gonna populate this team with young men that are committed and they’re tough and they’re hard-nosed and they’re gritty and they’re talented and they’re unentitled and they can bond together and go after something that a lot of people don’t think is attainable. We will get it done.

“I love coaching college football. I’ve spent most of my career in the NFL, but it wasn’t until I went to UCLA as a head coach that I felt like I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing. I’m gonna bring that attitude here.”