03 September 2010
The waiting is finally over.
It's been a long 9 months, but alas Saturday will be the start of a new football season and the start of the Mike London era. On this football eve, we would like to re-post our article from December 7, 2009, the day we hired our new ball coach. Enjoy!
"The University moved quickly. Virginia identified their wants and needs for a new head coach and focused on one guy. Less than 12 hours after he became available, Craig Littlepage was standing on his doorstep with a pitch and a contract. Finally, only one day after the Richmond Spiders lost their playoff game, they lost their head coach. Today at 1 p.m., The University of Virginia named Mike London their next football coach. As much turnover and turmoil Virginia fans are used to in its major sports programs, it is only the fourth time they have named a new football coach in the last 33 years. While it is the on-field issues that London was hired for and is capable of handling, it will be the off-field issues that will cement his legacy.
London’s accomplishments on the field have been mostly productive. He has enjoyed success as a Defensive Coordinator in two stints with Virginia, both times producing defenses that held opponents under 300 yards per game on average. It was no coincidence that UVa went bowling those years, including upset wins over West Virginia and Pittsburgh. Most recently he has lead the Richmond Spiders to a National Championship in 2008 and the quarterfinals this past season. The only real blemish on his resume was his brief stent in the NFL as the Houston Texans Defensive Line coach, where the team went 2-14 in 2005, worst in the league.
Along with his coaching skills are his established recruiting ties in the Commonwealth of Virginia. A graduate of Bethel High School in Hampton, Virginia, London has been recruiting exclusively Virginia born players since 1988 for Richmond and William & Mary, along with the Wahoos. Finding talent to come to a Division 1-AA program takes great skill, and this will prove to be invaluable as Virginia will need to re-establish themselves in the bigger state markets, most notability the Hampton Roads region. For the past several years, a major of the state’s best talent have been leaving Virginia for higher profile college teams like Florida, Alabama, and Penn State. Competing for talent against Virginia Tech is only the start, keeping the blue chippers in the state will be the ultimate goal.
But the most important part of his coaching tenure at Virginia will be to bring back the fan base and get both students and alumni interested in Virginia football again. This is considered to be a herculean task due to many factors. First off, Al Groh’s “Sea of Orange” clashed with the traditional style of “Guys in Ties, Girls in Pearls”, which immediately created a rift through most students wanting to support the new coach, but keep its long standing tradition. Secondly, London will have to navigate through a new President of the University as John Casteen will be stepping down in June. There should be no reason why the University will not be 100% behind the new coach, but we are in difficult economic times and with budgets being cut everywhere, the extra resources needed to support a championship team may or may not be there a few years down the road.
If London is to succeed, The University and the Athletic Department will need to make available any and all of those resources that he will need to navigate a winning program. Lastly, the overall game experience needs to change inside the stadium. Mike London is a fiery and intense coach and the game day experience needs to match that. I know that we are in the 21st century and diplomacy reigns, but we are here to win games, not make friends."
Good luck to the 'Hoos this season!
