Head football coach Mike London will resign effective immediately, Virginia director of athletics Craig Littlepage announced Sunday.
The announcement comes on the heels of Virginia’s 23-20 loss to Virginia Tech. In that game, the Cavaliers lost to their in-state rival for the 12th consecutive occasion despite out-gaining the Hokies 433-304.
Littlepage and London met Sunday morning and came to a mutual agreement that a coaching change was best for a program with a 15-33 record over the past four seasons.
“Mike London has been an outstanding representative of the University of Virginia,” Littlepage said. “During his tenure, Mike created a positive culture for our student-athletes to develop as young men, who improved each year in the classroom and represented us very well in the community. Mike was a tremendous mentor for his players and many of our coaches.”
London became the 39th coach — and first African American — to lead the Cavaliers on Dec. 7, 2009 following a two-year stint at Richmond, his alma mater. In those two seasons he coached the Spiders to a 24-5 record and a FCS championship in 2008.
After a rocky first season with Virginia, London coached the Cavaliers to the Chick-fil-A Bowl in 2011. That year, Virginia tallied an 8-5 record with a 5-3 conference mark — the only winning season during his tenure. That year, London was named the ACC’s coach of the year.
In his press release, Littlepage did discuss the search for London’s replacement, but he did not delve into details.
“In our search, we will look for a coach who’s demonstrated the ability to implement his system and achieved a consistent level of success,” Littlepage said. “The coach will have experience recruiting and developing student-athletes who fit his profile for success on the field and in the classroom.”
Littlepage also stated high expectations for Cavaliers football.
“We expect our football program to compete for the Coastal Division title on an annual basis, which puts us in a position to win the ACC championship and be competitive nationally,” Littlepage said. “This is consistent with the expectations for each of our sport programs.”
London’s contract runs through 2016. Virginia and London reached a financial agreement that will pay the former coach $2.7 million through 2016. At this time, no decision has been made regarding any of the program’s assistant coaches.
“I took this job to make a profound difference in the lives of young men and to re-establish Virginia football as one of the best programs in the ACC,” London said. “While we were successful in the development of our players in many areas, I would have liked to have won more games for the student-athletes, coaches, fans and everyone that’s a part of the University of Virginia.”
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