UVA's new coach moves fast

If only Mike London could have called a quick timeout, just to catch his breath and reflect on the emotional ride of the past few days.

Instead, his whirlwind continued Monday afternoon after he was named Virginia’s new head football coach. Press conference, meet and greets, photo ops, meeting his new team, chatting it up with former Cavalier players about what needs to be done to restore Wahoo football.

All that came on the heels of his former Richmond team losing in the waning moments of the FCS playoffs on Saturday night, being offered and accepting the UVa job, and a tearful goodbye to the players that he nurtured to a 24-5 record and a national championship the past two years.

No wonder the first word out of his mouth when introduced to the Virginia crowd was an emphatic “Whew!”

Work to be done

His 49-year-old life will only get busier in the days ahead as he puts together a coaching staff, reconnects recruiting ties around the Commonwealth and examines all the other hurdles in attempting to put Virginia football back on the map.

When officially offered the job by UVa athletic director Craig Littlepage, London didn’t have to do much soul searching.

Even though his agent, Dennis Cordell, told him to not jump quickly because there were other opportunities out there, London knew what he wanted.

A perfect fit

“I wasn’t in it to be the head coach at Richmond to go to school X, Y, or Z ... out in the West Coast or anything,” London said. “I could have been perfectly happy to stay at my alma mater. It’s just that I had been [at Virginia] and spent six years of my life here and this is a fit. So, when the opportunity came about, then it made the decision easy.”

The salary, $1.7 million annually for five years, probably didn’t hurt either. Because London coached at a private school, his contract was never made public, but it is believed his UR salary of an estimated $300,000 per year was among the highest of any FCS coaches.

If there were any questions the coach needed to be answered before relocating down I-64, it was that of salaries for assistant coaches. A recent poll revealed that Virginia’s assistant coaching staff ranked at the bottom in pay of any ACC school, although those figures are a bit skewed since former head coach Al Groh was his own defensive coordinator, which saved money.

Littlepage assured London that the funds would be there to attract the type of coaches necessary to get the job done.

London said that he will not rush to put a staff together that he can count on.

“The staff is ongoing,” he said. “There’s some people that are still playing and some people that still have seasons going on. “There’s some that I’ll bring with me and there’s some here that I’ll have to talk about in terms of whether to retain or not,” the new coach continued. “But it’s an ongoing process. I want to make sure that I get the right individuals, the right men, men of honor and integrity, guys who are going to do it the right way, be a reflection of myself. If you see me, you see them. If you know me, you know them.”

There has already been speculation that Bill Musgrave could return as offensive coordinator. Musgrave, who was on Groh’s original staff as OC, has been the quarterbacks coach for the Atlanta Falcons for the past four years, having worked with former UVa passer Matt Schaub and current Falcons starter Matt Ryan.

Other potential job candidates being whispered are West Virginia running backs coach Chris Beatty, a native Virginian with Tidewater roots, and former UVa assistant coach Corwin Brown, most recently defensive coordinator at Notre Dame.

While London’s strength has been mostly on the defensive side of the ball, he understands that Virginia’s offense must improve. For the past four seasons, the Cavaliers have been ranked mostly No. 100 or lower out of 130 FBS schools in the majority of offensive statistical categories.

Offensively speaking, he knows what he wants.

“Score fast and as often as you can ... how about that?” London said, drawing approving laughter from his audience. “I think you have to utilize your playmakers, you have to find and identify who those guys are and then do your best to get the ball into their hands.”

While he served two stints at Virginia under Groh’s tutelage and first became involved with the former Cavaliers coach with the New York Jets, he noted they are both alike and dislike when it comes to coaching.

“I have a tremendous amount of respect for coach Groh,” London said. “He allowed me to grow within this system. But I’m my own man. I’m looking to provide my own mark and do my own things and make my own way.”

Certainly, it won’t be easy. There isn’t an abundance of talent in the program, at least in terms of depth, and state rival Virginia Tech has controlled the recruiting borders on its way to prominence in recent years.

Can he rebuild UVa into a winner? Can Virginia win an ACC championship?

“I know we have the facilities to compete for young men’s attention,” he said. “I know we have the opportunity for those who are looking for — again, I go back to the best of both worlds opportunities [football and academics].

“You’ll have a head coach who is going to foster an environment that’s conducive to you achieving academically and make sure that you get the type of coaching and have a relationship that’s going to be able to at least help you achieve athletically also,” London said.

All of that in good time. Right now, he’s too busy to worry about a championship. He needs to land talent.

So, it’s not at all surprising that today, Virginia’s new head football coach will be attending a talent combine at Fork Union Military Academy.

There’s no time to rest.