London to UVa

richmond coach who was an asst. coach at UVA
is going back to the caching graveyard that is university of Virginia.
WAHOO WA

golden, Dooley, or etzell would be better

I'd even go fulmer first too

don't get me wrong, it's a great school.
But they have very high academic standards and they cut no slack for the athletic dept.
Welch was great for a long time because they had low expectations and also Va tech hasn't always been very good.
Now it appears that alumni have higher expectations and want to compette in a way they never have before.
London is well liked and is familiar with the culture of UVA and some of the major players.

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don't get me wrong, it's a great school.
But they have very high academic standards and they cut no slack for the athletic dept.
Welch was great for a long time because they had low expectations and also Va tech hasn't always been very good.
Now it appears that alumni have higher expectations and want to compette in a way they never have before.
London is well liked and is familiar with the culture of UVA and some of the major players.

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I preface this post with the fact that UVA is holding a press conference at 1pm tomorrow (I'm sure ESPN, CNN, and the BBC news will be all over this one) to announce Mike London as the head football coach officially. It's a done deal. Welcome coach.

You're right about UVA being tough academically. Now, don't put words in my mouth here...obviously the players get preferential treatment in admission (as most would not get in based on academic record alone). The issue here is that UVA does not have very 'easy' majors, and a recent Washington Post interview with Chris Long highlights a lack of academic support from the athletic department and school administration. Not saying that they need papers written for them or anything...simply that more allowances have to be made to help these athletes cope and adjust to a high intensity academic environment (with respect to the other BCS schools).

George WelSH (not Welch) is the only glimmer era in UVA history. Before him (and unfortunately after), this program did nothing consistently. Prior to his arrival, we had only two winning seasons in the previous 29 years...during his tenure: two ACC titles and 11 bowl games. In his 19 years, he is the winningest coach in our school and ACC history.

Groh came in with a NFL pro-type mentality...and he was good at it. Running a 3-4 fairly well in college is no gimmie and do a quick google search of the pro players he's churned out. It's impressive. But he wasn't a 'family kind of guy' and this rubbed some players the wrong way. He wasn't able to 'be a friend' with the players. Ultimately though, it was his lack of offensive production and consistency that led to his downfall. It also did not help that VPISU was able to out-recruit us more often than not in-state.

And this is why I think London will do better here at UVA. Here are his rankings as recruiting coordinator and defensive coordinator while at UVA:

2002 Class: Ranked 12th in the country, with 26 players, three 5-stars,
seven 4-stars, and thirteen 3-stars. Fourteen in-state recruits
2003 Class: Ranked 20th in the country, with 22 players, one 5-star,
seven 4-stars, and eleven 3-stars. Eleven in-state recruits.
2004 Class: Ranked 40th, with 19 players, three 4-stars, and eight 3-
stars. Eleven in-state recruits.
And 2005 since he was involved until his departure a couple months
before signing day: Ranked 19th in the country, with one 5-star, five 4-
stars, and twelve 3-stars. Thirteen Virginia players.

After London’s departure and Mike Groh’s succession as Recruiting
Coordinator, the classes were ranked as follows:
2006 – 39th
2007 – 25th
2008 – 61st

After London’s final departure from the program:
2009 – T-33rd
2010 – currently 66th

“London then served as defensive coordinator in 2006 and 2007.”

Defensive Rankings – 2006
Scoring defense: 22nd
Total defense: 17th
Rushing defense: 41st
Passing defense: 15th

Defensive Rankings – 2007
Scoring defense: 16th
Total defense: 23th
Rushing defense: 13th
Passing defense: 54th

It helps that he is from the Tidewater area (Virginia Beach) and that he is young, energetic, and enthusiastic. He'll definitely help on the recruiting road with Anthony Pointdexter. He knows football in Virginia and he knows how to somewhat manage high academic standard institutions. Sure, he doesn't have much on his resume in terms of DivI-A performance as head coach, but it's a safe gamble IMO. He's flying under the radar right now, and we're 'buying low'. He'll be easy to buy out of his contract if he doesn't work out, and besides, it would have been difficult to lure Petersen, Kelly, etc with schools like ND knocking.

lol, I'm at UL of L, and some of the posters on their forum won't say LSU, only State or lsu a&m@br, that's just what it reminded me of.

My brother has his masters from UVa and the doctorate is in progress. I love the campus and town.

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As for the typical UVA football player in the academic setting, I sincerely doubt most of them are any smarter or more qualified than athletes at other BCS schools. I had classes with plenty of them at UVA. They were there for sports and nothing more.

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I'm not saying that these guys would made 4.0's at another BCS school. I mean, Jesus, we've had our share of fairly 'dumb' football players, but what I'm saying is that the structure isn't as 'supportive' as some other schools.

Great hire, I feel like London has a chance to do great things for UVA. Now he needs to find himself a good offensive staff. Possibly bring some of his coaches from Richmond?

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Charlottesville is one of the best college towns in the country.

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Yes, it is. I loved it when I was there.

As far as the London hire, I'm quite excited about this. I think London will start rebuilding the program that Groh screwed up. It also helps that he has great recruiting in the Hampton Roads area that has been successfully recruited by VaTech for YEARS.

WAHOOWA!

The heart the posters in this thread.