Mike London announced his resignation today after a morning meeting with Craig Littlepage. Unlike Al Groh’s departure, which happened six years ago today, this one brings more a sigh of relief than any jubilation.
The fan base’s relationship with London was a complicated one. London represented the University off the field with integrity and class, as the Kendall Bayne story is just one example — one that caught the press’s eye — of the kind of outreach he regularly performed. London also rebuilt relationships that had crumbled under the previous regime, reestablishing trust with the University’s own admissions department, getting back on the good side of the state’s high school coaches, and making National Signing Day in February more of an event, as highly regarded athletes from in-state schools streamed in and weakened Virginia Tech’s stranglehold on the state’s top talent. London took care of his own, too, emphasizing academic performance and the building of character. I can’t think of a critical legal issue or crippling academic casualty that took place under this regime.
Unfortunately, being a good, character-driven man and a good football coach are qualities that needn’t be mutually exclusive, and Mike London never found his footing on the sideline. The win/loss records (27-46 overall, 14-34 in the ACC, 15 consecutive road losses to end his tenure, a 2-16 record against Tech, UNC, and Duke) are damning, but it was the hallmarks of his teams — abundant penalties, ill-timed turnovers, increasingly poor management of clocks and quarterbacks, and tons of unnecessary sideline histrionics — and his seeming inability or unwillingness to fix them that I think ultimately did him in.
Those negatives put those of us who cover the program in a tough spot. Seemingly every piece anyone wrote calling for a new coach or listing London’s faults included the caveat that London is a nice man, and I think we all felt a little guilty about the very fair ripping that was going on. I know I did at times — I even went as far as to block a couple people on Twitter who were sending critical tweets to the coach with some of their own editorializing thrown in. It comes as a relief for all of us that the University has decided to move on, allowing us to bring someone more qualified and hopefully capable of more on-field success on board, and allowing Coach London to go find a different avenue for his skills in molding successful young men.
It wasn’t really fair how London was brought on board, as the administration fell starry-eyed head over heels in love with his UVa background (time on Al Groh’s staff) and recent success (an FCS championship at Richmond) and didn’t even bother interviewing anyone or taking some time to weigh the potential negatives. I expect a more extensive search is already underway, and that’ll we’ll know something sooner rather than later. I’m looking forward to having a football team to be excited about again.
