College Football

Jim Mora interrupted while remembering fallen UCLA player

Mora was in the midst of talking about a walk-on who was killed over the weekend when he was interrupted by a reporter in the room.

By Steven Muma@akulawolf Sep 9, 2013, 4:29pm EDT

Jim Mora was addressing the tragic death of walk-on Nick Pasquale during a press conference Monday when he was interrupted by someone talking on the phone. Mora, understandably, was not pleased about it, telling the reporter to "shut up" and suggesting that he should leave the press conference.

Pasquale, a redshirt freshman, was struck by a car and killed in his home town of San Clemente, Calif., on Sunday morning. He was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the Orange County Sheriff's Department. Pasquale was hit around 1:30 a.m. while walking near a residential intersection, though there were no indications of alcohol or drug use on the part of the driver.

A vigil for Pasquale was held Sunday night at San Clemente High School, his alma mater. Many members of the community turned out for the ceremony at the 40 yard line, and Mora was there as well to add what comfort he could.

Update:

NBC4 of Los Angeles issued this statement about the incident caused by one of its staff members:

NBC4 wants to apologize for an incident that we caused Monday afternoon at the news conference with UCLA head coach Jim Mora.

As Mora was talking about the tragic passing of Nick Pasquale, one of our technicians was in the back of the press on the phone with our station.

It disrupted the coach. Understandably, Mora abruptly ended the news conference saying our technician was being disrespectful.

There is no excuse for this incident.

We deeply regret it and want to apologize to the Pasquale family, Mora and all of UCLA.

We are sorry.