I wanted to give the Mike London hiring a few days to settle in and marinate before I posted an opinion piece. Had this blog existed in March when Tony Bennett was brought on, I would have basically projectile vomited disappointment and anger about Tony not being Tubby for the first day or so until the news set in and I realized I actually loved it.

This would have been similar. My first thoughts were that London was a Groh disciple who has never been an FBS head coach, and that we’re doomed. I’ve warmed to it since then.

Mike London with a trophy. Looks good, huh?

So, considering the present status of our program – coming out of a 3-9 season with limited returning talent at a school handcuffed by a stringent set of academic standards coming out of a nine year period with an aging, curmudgeonly coach who alienated boosters and fans alike – we’re about as desirable as a night with Amy Winehouse, and I’m fully aboard the Mike London bandwagon. Here’s why:

1. Brian Kelly Isn’t Walking Through That Door.
No matter what you might have heard from Mac MacDonald, Virginia isn’t on the radar of coaches like Brian Kelly and Chris Petersen. The career arc of a successful non-BCS coach does not include a stop at a place that has never hosted College Gameday and is in need of a rebuilding from the ground up. They either a.) stay the course at their current institution, continuing to win nine-ish games per season and occasionally crash the BCS party until they become a local institution of the sort that has sandwiches named after them and statues in their honor or b.) jump at the first high profile (when I say high profile, you know the teams: Notre Dame, FSU, Miami, Nebraska, half of the SEC, Texas) job that comes available and leap into almost preordained success. The Urban Meyers of the world are not looking to get their hands dirty with a serious reclamation project – places like Florida and Notre Dame where the idea of a bad season is 7-5 are more their speed.

2. There might not be anyone better to make up ground in Virginia.
No joke: Virginia high school coaches love this guy, and with his connections gained as a 757 native who graduated from Richmond and then has coached 17 of 21 seasons in the Commonwealth, he’s got the pedigree and the knowledge of the state to theoretically get the job done. He’s also got a National Title (sure, it’s FCS, but with half the CAA seemingly in the running for the FCS crown, Tidewater kids know it) and has spent time in the NFL as a coach with the Texans. If he assembles a capable staff (and with the money allotted to assistants rising from the ACC cellar, he should be able to), there’s no reason why we can’t at least be finishing in the top half of the ACC recruiting race again.

3. He fits the mold that Littlepage has established.
London is young in coach years, charismatic, community oriented and eloquent. He’s got plenty of experience at schools that require student-athletes to take the “student” part seriously (Boston College, William & Mary, Richmond), and seems to be a guy who is ready to settle in at a job for the long haul. In other words, he’s almost exactly what Tony Bennett is. Littlepage has confirmed out loud that this is the type of coach he’s looking for, and London fit that set of criteria more than any of the other candidates. If everything goes as planned (and it rarely ever does), we’ve got ourselves a nice set of bookend young coaches in the money sports. We’ll see how it goes.

4. He’s a college coach.
It’s funny: when the Chairman first got here, everyone raved about his NFL-influenced “just coach the team” approach to the job. We had snazzy new stripes and names on our jerseys, the team ran some trick plays every so often, and life was good. Unfortunately, in the college ranks, “just coaching the team” is only a small part of the job, and Groh’s NFL bloodline ended up being his undoing at UVa. The Parcells-inspired aloofness with the media and fans, the lack of attention paid to recruiting character guys who could make the grades, the rigidity and lack of success on offense – all of these traits point to a guy who is best suited as linebackers coach for an NFL team and who didn’t have the personal skills (or inclination) to cut it as a complete college coach. Groh’s resume coming in didn’t do much to inspire confidence, in retrospect: a 9-7 NFL record featuring a four game slide to miss the playoffs in his lone season as a head coach, a series of coordinator and position coach gigs and a 26-40 mark at Wake Forest in the ’80s. None of those exemplify a great college hire.

5. No one prompted has said a single bad thing about him.
The powers that be are obviously not going to invite someone who hates London to the introductory press conference, but I’ve been impressed how many people have come forward unprompted to speak highly of him. Players who have played for London have been coming out of the woodwork to talk about what a great guy he is to play for. A text I got from a friend who played for London at William and Mary spoke of what a great player’s coach he is and how well he relates his point to them. People are excited about this hire, and we’re already seeing it spread through the network with the commitment of Michael Strauss from Florida. It seems like London has garnered a lot of good will at his various stops, and we need every bit of it.

Given what we have to offer, Mike London was probably the best realistic candidate for this job. Kudos to Littlepage and company for getting it done in such a quick, painless fashion.