Photo courtesy of the University of Richmond

Mike London, the first-year Richmond head football coach, spent all but one of the last seven seasons as a Virginia assistant.

From the time Mike London joined Al Groh's first Virginia coaching staff in 2001, the Cavaliers knew there was one coaching position that invariably would catch his eye.

It wasn't the Houston Texans' defensive-line job, although London did take a one-year detour to the NFL in 2005.

If there was a position for which London was a no-brainer, it was the head coaching spot at his alma mater, the University of Richmond. The only problem was the Spiders had a young, successful head coach in Dave Clawson.

London was one of the finalists when Richmond hired Clawson after the 2003 season.

"When the position was open previously and Dave Clawson was given the job, I remember we had a conversation that went something to the effect of: 'We'll make sure, the next time this opens up, you get the job,'" Groh said..

That's what happened last January, not that the NFL stopover had anything to do with it.

London didn't last long in Houston, where head coach Dom Capers was fired after the 2005 season, but it set in motion a chain of events that left him as the obvious choice when Richmond found itself in the market for a head coach.

Capers' departure coincided with the resignation of then-UVa defensive coordinator Al Golden, who was hired as head coach by Temple. London, who previously had coached the Cavaliers' defensive line, was an obvious choice to replace him.

London knew that Groh was very hands-on with Virginia's defense but was comfortable with the arrangement, particularly since it gave him the one item his resume had lacked, a coordinator's title.

He had been back at UVa for one season when Old Dominion targeted him to revive its program, but he eventually removed his name from consideration. The second year, he could not say 'no" to Richmond.

The Spiders' job had come open when Clawson had made the reverse move, forsaking a Division I-AA head-coaching job for the offensive coordinator's post at I-A Tennessee.

Clawson had seen in his efforts to get involved at Duke and with other I-A openings that I-AA head coaches were not in great demand. Clawson might be in line for a I-A head-coaching job at some point, but at 48, he couldn't wait.

The Cavaliers were coming off a 9-4 season and the transition following London's exit should have gone smoothly, but that was during the period when academics and other issues were claiming UVa underclassmen on an almost daily basis.

One of the players who was leaning on London was marquee defensive end Jeffrey Fitzgerald, who eventually was dismissed from school. Two UVa recruits who had committed to London ended up signing with other schools.

"That was hard," London said Wednesday. "There's never a good time to leave. You struggle because you've been in these [recruits'] homes and you've told them you'll take care of their sons. And also you're looking at fulfilling your lifelong dream, an opportunity that doesn't come around too much."

London said the ink was barely dry on his contract when his wife pointed out that the Spiders would be playing at Virginia this Saturday in the second game of the season. She said to make sure he had enough tickets for family.

"It already was in the back of my mind," he said. "We're going to play Virginia this year and even a couple of years from now. It's going to be one of those deals where we play them and the Vanderbilts and the Dukes of the world."

Four of Groh's former UVa assistants are now head coaches at the I-A or I-AA level, but London is the first one he has faced. Groh, who spoke to London before their respective openers, said he would rather not play against one of his former aides.

One reason that the Houston Texans liked London was his background in the 3-4 defense, and Groh felt that London's work in Capers' 3-4 would benefit the Cavaliers. However, Richmond did not use a 3-4 in its opener last Saturday, when it beat host Elon 28-10.

"Coming in, obviously, I had some ideas," London said. "At times, the schemes they ran last year were very successful. The first game, we didn't have a need for [the 3-4]."

Based on a 52-7 loss to Southern California, Virginia could be vulnerable against a Richmond team that won 11 games last year and is ranked No. 3 in Division I-AA.

"I was a recruiting coordinator [at Virginia] and you'd evaluate kids and say, 'Oh, that's a four-star,' or 'He's a five-star,'" London said. "I asked my guys the other day, 'How many of you were one-stars?' Half of them. I said, 'How many of you were zero stars?' The other half raised their hands.

"My focus and the players' focus is, 'No, we weren't recruited by them,' or, 'I was on their long list,' but now we've got an opportunity to compete against them."