Associated Press

New UVa football coach Mike London had strong ties to Richmond, but the school knew it would likely lose him to the Cavs.

University of Richmond fans might have been curious as to how Virginia could request permission to speak to football coach Mike London and then hire him all in the span of one afternoon Sunday.

Spiders' athletic director Jim Miller says there's a little more to the story.

Miller, now in the process of hiring a successor to London, said he had been in contact with UVa athletic director Craig Littlepage prior to the official request.

"Craig notified me before the weekend that there was a possibility of them talking to Mike," Miller said Wednesday. "More than a week in advance, he said he wanted to give me a heads-up."

Littlepage's original call to Miller occurred close to the time that UVa's former coach, Al Groh, was informed Nov. 29 that he would not be retained.

"During [UVa's hiring] process, I would never comment on anything and did not in order to protect everybody's confidentiality," Miller said. "Now that it's over, I don't think it's fair for either Mike or Craig or the University of Virginia to make it sound like we had no notice until Sunday.

"It was not a one-day turnaround for us, not that they told me a week in advance, 'Mike's the guy.' Craig just told me they wanted to move fast."

Miller said it does not bother him that talks may have been taking place with London's agent, Dennis Cordell.

The request for permission followed Richmond's 34-31 loss to Appalachian State on Saturday night in the Division I-AA playoffs.

"There was never any thought that, 'Gee, his attention was distracted,'" Miller said.

"I'm sure that Craig and Virginia handled it properly. We knew well in advance that Virginia would be talking to him after the season.

"They could have elected not to do that. They could have elected to do it before the season was over."

Miller knew when he hired London, the Cavaliers' defensive coordinator in 2006-07, that there was a chance Virginia might come calling.

"Moving from [a I-AA} head job to a BCS-type head job is rare," Miller said. "It doesn't happen very much. I don't know what Craig and his guys were thinking, but from the outside looking in, it appears to be a perfect-storm situation.

"If Coach Groh had left a year earlier or stayed a year longer, or we hadn't won a national championship or if Mike hadn't known all those people, who knows what would have happened?"

ACC connections

Tight end Colin Peek left Georgia Tech prior to a two-year run in which the Yellow Jackets have gone 19-6 and won an ACC championship, but Peek's career hasn't suffered.

Peek had three receptions for 39 yards and caught a touchdown pass for Alabama in its 32-13 victory over previously unbeaten Florida in the SEC championship.

Peek, a Ponte Vedra, Fla., product who was not offered a scholarship by Florida despite numerous Gator family ties, started 11 games and had 25 receptions as a sophomore at Georgia Tech but transferred after coach Paul Johnson arrived with his triple-option offense. Peek has 23 receptions for the Crimson Tide.

Marques Thompson from N.C. State and Joe Dukes from Wake Forest are just two of five Division I transfers on the men's basketball team at Georgia State. Third-year coach Rod Barnes also has two players from Mississippi, one of his previous coaching homes, and one from South Florida.

Local update

Oberlin College freshman Grace Aheron, a former All-Timesland swimmer at Patrick Henry, was named North Coast Athletic Conference women's swimmer of the week after setting five school records in the Wooster Invitational (two in relays).

Aheron became the first Oberlin swimmer since 2001 to record an automatic Division III championships qualifying time with a 2:01.1 clocking in the 200-yard butterfly.

Odd pairing

On the morning of Radford's men's basketball meeting with Kansas at historic Allen Fieldhouse, former Roanoke Times sports writer Andie Gibson wondered if she is the only Kansas alumna who is married to a Radford graduate. Husband Chris grudgingly picked the Jayhawks because they were playing at home. Kansas was a 31-point favorite.