Jim E . Mora James Earnest Mora ( born May 24 , 1935 ) is the former head coach of the USFL ' s Philadelphia / Baltimore Stars and the NFL ' s New Orleans Saints and Indianapolis Colts . He played football at Occidental College where he was also a member of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity . His son Jim L . Mora is the former head coach of the Atlanta Falcons and the Seattle Seahawks . As an NFL coach , Mora is best known for turning two of the NFL ' s consistently losing franchises into perennial post - season contenders , his lack of success once he got his teams to the playoffs , and his often impassioned post - game tirades and press conferences , including his oft - quoted " Chocolate pudding stories " , " Coulda , Woulda , Shoulda , " " Diddly Poo , " " Ding - a - ling - a dong bong " and " Playoffs ? " tirades . Early career . As a youth Mora became an Eagle Scout in 1950 and was presented the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award as an adult by the Boy Scouts of America . Mora was a tight end at Occidental College , graduating in 1957 . His college roommate was Jack Kemp , an all star quarterback with the Buffalo Bills , U . S congressman for 18 years and presidential candidate in 1988 . After playing three years of service football in the United States Marines Mora became an assistant coach at his alma mater in 1960 . He moved up to head coach of Occidental a few years later and led the team for three seasons ( 1964 – 66 ) compiling an 18 - 9 record . Mora received a master ' s degree in education in 1967 and left Occidental to serve as an assistant coach at Stanford for the 1967 season . He then spent five seasons at Colorado , one at UCLA and three at Washington . In 1978 he moved to the professional ranks as the defensive line coach for the NFL ' s Seattle Seahawks under head coach Jack Patera . USFL . In 1983 the United States Football League came into existence and Mora became head coach of the Philadelphia Stars ( who moved to Baltimore in 1985 ) . During his tenure the team compiled a 48 - 13 - 1 ( . 782 ) record , appeared in all three USFL championship games and won two of them . Mora was named Coach of the Year in 1984 and is considered by many observers to be the best coach in the short history of the USFL . Soon after the Stars won the 1985 USFL title , Mora was named head coach of the NFL ' s New Orleans Saints . The USFL would eventually be forced out of business after only winning $ 3 in an antitrust suit against the NFL . New Orleans Saints . Mora was hired by new Saints General Manager Jim Finks to turn around the franchise largely viewed as the NFL ' s most inept . In its first 20 seasons , New Orleans had never achieved a winning record , and only twice had reached . 500 , in 1979 and 1983 . In late 1984 , then - owner John Mecom Jr . threatened sell the team to a group of investors who planned to move the franchise to Jacksonville , Florida if he could not find an owner or group of owners who would buy the team and keep them in New Orleans . Mecom sold the Saints to Tom Benson in May 1985 for $ 70 million . Benson , who grew up in the city ' s Ninth Ward , pledged to keep the team in New Orleans . The Saints limped along to a 5 - 11 record in 1985 , and coach Bum Phillips resigned with four games remaining . Benson hired Finks in January 1986 and charged the former Vikings and Bears executive with the task of hiring the new coach . Mora spent his first off - season remaking the Saints roster . He convinced several players from the USFL to come to New Orleans . The imports included linebackers Sam Mills and Vaughan Johnson , who went on to form the inside tandem of the legendary " Dome Patrol " linebacking corps with veteran Rickey Jackson and draftee Pat Swilling on the outside . Mora inherited quarterback Bobby Hebert and receiver Eric Martin from Phillips , and drafted running back Reuben Mayes and tackle Jim Dombrowski . After a 7 - 9 record his first season , Mora led the Saints to a 12 - 3 record in 1987 . That was the Saints ' first season over . 500 and its first playoff appearance . In week 6 of the 1987 season the Saints lost a 24 - 22 game to the San Francisco 49ers , missing a last - second field goal . After the game Mora launched what became known as his " Coulda , Woulda , Shoulda " speech . In his postgame press conference , Mora angrily said the following : The Saints responded by winning their last 9 games . The team ' s 12 – 3 record in the 1987 season was the second - best in the NFL that year . Unfortunately for them , the 49ers had the league ' s best record ( 13 – 2 ) , and also played in the NFC West . Therefore , the Saints were a wild - card team ( since 1987 was a strike - shortened season with replacement games , it should be noted that the Saints and 49ers had identical 10 – 2 records in regular season non - replacement games ) . Nonetheless , the Saints were able to play their first playoff game at home , which they lost 44 – 10 to the Minnesota Vikings . Mora received the NFL Coach of the Year Award . 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 . However , the 49ers won the division on tie - breakers , and the Saints lost the wild - card tiebreaker with the Rams and missed the playoffs . In 1989 , the Saints again had a winning record ( 9 – 7 ) but finished 3rd in the NFC West and missed the playoffs . Thereafter his Saints teams made the playoffs three more times . In 1990 , the Saints only finished 8 – 8 , but managed to make the playoffs as a wild card . They lost in the first round of the playoffs to the Chicago Bears , 16 – 6 . In 1991 , Mora ' s Saints finished 11 - 5 and won the team ' s first division title . However , the Saints lost again in the first round of the playoffs . They lost at home to the Atlanta Falcons 27 - 20 , in spite of finishing one game ahead of the Falcons in the NFC West during the regular season . In 1992 , Mora led the Saints to its second 12 - win season in 6 years , finishing 12 - 4 . They were a wild card again , however , as the San Francisco 49ers finished 14 - 2 . But for the second time in two years , the Saints were upset at home in the first round the playoffs , as the Philadelphia Eagles defeated the Saints , 36 – 20 . This would be the Saints ' last playoff game during Mora ' s tenure , leaving Mora with an 0 – 4 playoff record in New Orleans . The Saints would not win a playoff game until 2000 . 1993 marked the beginning of the decline of Mora ' s Saints . The team started the season 5 – 0 and appeared to be headed to the postseason again ; however , after the Saints ' bye week , the team went into a tailspin and went only 3 – 8 in the final 11 games , including losing 4 out of their last 5 games . 1993 was Mora ' s last season of . 500 or better in New Orleans . In the Week 16 game against the New York Giants , quarterback Wade Wilson was injured on " Monday Night Football " and fans were cheering that fact , earning an angry retort : After two 7 – 9 seasons in 1994 and 1995 , Mora appeared increasingly frustrated with his team ' s situation in New Orleans . The Saints ' defense went into a steep decline , negating the passing heroics of quarterback Jim Everett , acquired from the division rival Rams in 1994 for a seventh - round draft choice . Everett came to the Saints shortly before his infamous incident with Jim Rome on ESPN2 when Rome insulted the quarterback by calling him Chris Evert , a reference to Jim Everett ' s lack of toughness . The 1996 season started off very badly . The Saints lost their first five games , including an embarrassing 28 - 14 loss at home to the then - winless Arizona Cardinals in which LeShon Johnson rushed for 214 yards , a Cardinals franchise record which has since been broken by Beanie Wells in 2011 . 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 . " On the Saints ' performance , Mora said the following : The next day , Mora unexpectedly resigned his position as head coach and was replaced by interim coach Rick Venturi . The Saints finished the season at 3 – 13 , their worst season since going 1 - 15 in 1980 . Venturi was replaced by veteran Chicago Bears coach Mike Ditka . Indianapolis Colts . Mora served as a color analyst for NBC in 1997 , and in 1998 he replaced Lindy Infante as head coach of the Indianapolis Colts . The team struggled to a 3 – 13 mark in his first year with a rookie Peyton Manning learning the ropes at quarterback , but had an amazing turnaround to 13 - 3 in 1999 , thanks in large part to the addition of rookie running back Edgerrin James . At the time , this turnaround was the " largest " in NFL history . The Colts lost their first playoff game in the AFC Divisional Playoffs ( the team received a first - round bye to advance to the Divisional Playoffs ) to the Tennessee Titans , which dropped Mora ' s all - time NFL postseason record to 0 - 5 . The Colts finished 10 – 6 in 2000 and made the playoffs once again , but the team lost a wild - card round playoff game to the Miami Dolphins by a score of 23 - 17 in overtime . This defeat dropped Mora ' s overall postseason record to 0 - 6 . Coincidentally , just hours after Mora lost what would be the sixth and final playoff game of his career , his former team , the New Orleans Saints , won their first - ever playoff game . On November 25 , 2001 , after a loss to the San Francisco 49ers that dropped the Colts to 4 – 6 , Mora made his famous " Playoffs ? " tirade . Of the Colts ' performance , Mora said : Later in the press conference , in response to a reporter ' s question about the Colts ' chances for making the playoffs , Mora said in a high - pitched , incredulous tone : His " Playoffs " sound byte is regularly played back as a joke on a number of sports radio talk shows when discussing mediocre NFL teams or playoffs of other sports . 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 . In an appearance on the Best Damn Sports Show in 2003 , Mora talked about going to autograph signings and having a kid come up to him and ask him to say " playoffs " in lieu of an autograph . He ' s also had some fun with the remark , saying the " Playoffs ? " line during a media session to the New York Giants in the days leading up to Super Bowl XLII in Arizona . More fun was had during 2007 training camp when he talked to his son Jim L . Mora , then an assistant with the Seattle Seahawks , via satellite feed on the NFL Network and Marcus Pollard , a former member of Mora ' s Colts , spoofed Mora Sr ' s " Playoffs ? " rant . Hampered by a defense that allowed the most points in the league ( 30 . 4 per game ) , Indianapolis only won two more games that year . Some sources believed that Mora could have saved his job if he fired one ( or more ) of his coordinators ( especially defensive coordinator Vic Fangio ) but he refused to do so . Mora was fired after the season and replaced by Tony Dungy who led the Colts to win the Super Bowl in 2006 before leaving the Colts after the 2008 season . Coaching philosophy . Mora favored a conservative approach to the game , relying on a strong running game and solid defensive play . Perhaps more than any other teams , the Saints teams of the late 1980s embodied his coaching style . Those teams were led by the " Dome Patrol " linebacking corps . 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 . Despite his solid regular season record ( 125 – 106 ) , the biggest criticism of Mora has been his NFL teams ' inability to win any playoff games in six appearances . His critics , both among regular fans and media reporters , often blamed his lack of success in the postseason to his conservative approach . Outwardly , Mora did not appear to take the criticisms seriously , as evidenced in another famous Mora quote from a press conference during his years in New Orleans . Nevertheless , critics continued to argue that this conservative approach prevented his teams from closing out big games against good teams , not unlike the " Marty Ball " approach Marty Schottenheimer used during his coaching career . The most frequent complaint was that his teams ' offenses would no longer be aggressive late in these football games . They accused him of trying the run out the clock and not make mistakes , and over - relying on his defense to hold the lead ( instead of trying to build on the lead and score more points ) . More often than not , critics argued that this aspect of his conservative strategy backfired on him . For example , they point to the fact that his teams had second - half leads in four of his six playoff games , but won none of them . In three of those games , Mora ' s teams also had leads in the fourth quarter . In an NFL Network program naming Jim Mora the # 10 " Coach Who Never Won a Championship , " former Philadelphia Eagles offensive lineman Brian Baldinger said of the Saints ' playoff loss to the Eagles in 1992 , " We beat ' em . But that ' s only because they called the dogs off . Whatever reason , they called the dogs off in the second half . I don ' t know what Jim Mora was thinking about that day . " In that game , the Saints led 17 - 7 at halftime and 20 - 10 after the 3rd quarter . However , the Eagles scored 26 unanswered points in the 4th quarter and won the game 36 - 20 . Life after coaching . In 2003 , Mora became an on - air analyst for " NFL Total Access " , the primary analysis show on the newly - launched NFL Network , a job he holds to this day . Mora was a sports radio commentator for Fox Sports ' s " GameTime Saturday " and " GameTime Sunday " with Dan Moriarty . On Thanksgiving Thursday , November 23 , 2006 , Mora made some critical comments about the Atlanta Falcons ' quarterback Michael Vick which became controversial because the Falcons were coached at the time by Mora ' s son , Jim L . Mora . Craig Shemon of Fox Sports Radio called Vick a " coach killer " and Mora quickly agreed with that assessment , saying that Vick was not a good passer and expressing concern for his son ' s prospects of keeping his head coaching job while the popular Vick was the team ' s quarterback . On Wednesday , December 6 , 2006 , according to ESPN and confirmed by FOX , Mora quit his radio show on FOX because of the controversy he caused with his comments about Vick . Currently , Mora does game analysis for Saints games that either air on NBC or ESPN for WDSU in New Orleans .