Mora was born May 24, 1935 in Glendale, CA.Mora is an Eagle Scout and recipient of the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award from the Boy Scouts of America.Mora was a tight end at Occidental College in California and played three years of service football after graduating and then became an assistant coach at his alma mater in 1960. He moved up to head coach four years later.

Mora, who received a master's degree in education in 1967, left Occidental after compiling an 18-9 record in three seasons and served as an assistant coach at several colleges until 1978, when he became defensive line coach for the NFL's Seattle Seahawks.

When the U. S. Football League was organized in 1983, Mora was named head coach of the Philadelphia Stars, who moved to Baltimore in 1985. He guided the team to a 48-13-1 record and two USFL championships. Mora was named coach of the year in 1984. The league folded after the 1985 season and Mora took over the NFL's New Orleans Saints.

He took over as head coach of the Saints in 1986. Previous to Mora, the Saints' best seasons had come in 1979 and 1983 (8-8). The closest they had ever come to making the playoffs - In 1979 the Saints tied or lead the NFC West late in the season until a 42-35 loss to Oakland Raiders on MNF dropped them a game behind the Los Angeles Rams, coupled with another loss the following week gave the Division Title to the Los Angeles Rams. In the strike shortened 1982 season when 16 teams made the playoffs (New Orleans was number 17). In 1983 the Saints came a mere :06 seconds from both a winning season and playoff berth. - But in 1987 Mora righted the ship, taking the team to a 12-3 record in a strike shortened season, in his second year, which is still the best in franchise history. However, the Saints would lose their first playoff game. 44-10 loss vs Minnesota Vikings.

In 1988 and 1989, the Saints went 10-6 and 9-7 respectively, but missed the playoffs both times. In 1990, they dropped to 8-8, but returned to the playoffs. (16-6 loss @ Chicago Bears) They would make the playoffs in 1991 with a 11-5 mark and a division title, (27-20 loss vs Atlanta Falcons), and again in 1992 with an 12-4 mark. (36-20 loss vs Philadelphia Eagles). New Orleans would not duplicate winning another Division Title until the 2000 season.

In 1993, New Orleans would complete its seventh consecutive non-losing season with an 8-8 mark. The team would then fall to 7-9 in each of the next two seasons. Mora resigned in the middle of the 1996 season (2-6-0) after a profanity-laced post-game interview where the Saints were beaten 19-7 @ Carolina Panthers, Saints would conclude the season going 3-13-0, the worst season New Orleans had suffered since going 1-15 in 1980.

In 1998, Jim Mora replaced Lindy Infante as head coach of the Indianapolis Colts. After a 3-13 season, Indy got the number one pick in the draft. Faced between Peyton Manning of Tennessee and Ryan Leaf of Washington State, Mora and his team selected Manning. Although Manning took every snap his rookie season, the team struggled to a second consecutive 3-13 season and missed the playoffs for the ninth time in eleven years.

Again with a high pick, Indianapolis selected Edgerrin James out of Miami. Along with Marvin Harrison at wideout, Indianapolis was loaded at the skill positions with young talent and was ready for a monster '99 season--and they would not disappoint.

Mora led his troops to a 13-3 season and a first round bye, the best season since Dom McCafferty led the team to its only Super Bowl championship in 1970 (when they were still the Baltimore Colts). However, Tennessee dominated Indy on its way to its first Super Bowl appearance. Mora was now 0-5 in the playoffs.

2000 was somewhat of a down season as Indy posted a 10-6 record. Things were looking good in the playoffs against Miami, but Mike Vanderjagt missed a field goal and Lamar Smith ran Miami down the field with a 200+ yard performance as Miami won in overtime. Mora dropped to 0-6 in the playoffs.

2001 was a terrible year as Indy slumped to a 6-10 season. It became apparent down the stretch that Mora would get fired, especially after his outburst with six games left.

After dropping to 4-6, Mora said in a press conference "Playoffs?! Don't talk about playoffs! You kidding me?! Playoffs?! I just hope we can win another game!" Indianapolis only won two more games that year; Mora was fired after the season. It's important to note that sources said the reason he was ousted was because he refused to let go of one of his coordinators. It is one of the more known sports quotes.

The "Playoffs?!" quote is used today by sports commentators occasionally when discussing the hunt for the playoffs. It is for comedic purposes. Another famous quote of Mora's consisted of him saying that his team "didn't do diddly-poo offensively".