Along with other members of the University of Richmond community, I am greatly disappointed to hear the news that coach Mike London will be leaving Richmond for the head coach position in football at the University of Virginia. I highly respect our athletic director, Jim Miller, in his ability to recruit a coach with such a good fit for our university. As a further credit to Jim Miller, London came to Richmond from a non-head coach position. This is less disruptive to other athletic programs than to pluck a high-achieving head coach from a smaller program. The cascading effect of coaches moving from one program to another seems to be a trap Richmond is caught in too often.
How can we attract coaches that match the needs of our university, and are willing to stay through their careers? I would have thought London, as an alumnus, would have considered staying longer than his two-year tenure. I would have thought that his moral character would have respected our university more than to run to Virginia within a day of the football season's end. What have we done amiss to lose London? Was it the fabulous pay increase? His ambitions? Does he simply prefer Charlottesville over Richmond? I ask these questions not in regret, but as a matter of looking to the future.
Athletics are a primary route for the world to see who we are and how great our community is. I'm concerned that the lack of continuity in coaching gives the university community an appearance to be weaker than we are. London is just the latest in a revolving door of coaches, including Clawson, Boyle, Wainwright and Beilein. Other universities that we regularly compete with do not necessarily experience a continual change in athletics leadership. Consider Mickey Mathews at James Madison, or Karl Hobbs at George Washington. Are the days of a career coach, such as Dick Tarrant, over? Or, can we find a coach who's loooking for more than using Richmond as a stepping stone to greater things?
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