Somehow X's and O's don't cut it when it comes to describing what makes Virginia's Mike London the coach he is. Traditional measures of success such as the Cavaliers' turnaround from a 4-8 record in 2010, his first season, to 8-4 in 2011, along with an invitation to the Chick-fil-A Bowl, can't really calibrate what makes him successful.
London is working with something a little more intangible, a little deeper. He's driven by an experience he had in the early 1980s when he was a police detective in Richmond.
He was working undercover one night when he started to pursue suspects of a robbery at a fast-food restaurant. He cornered their van and with his badge out, approached the driver's side window. The driver gunned the engine, so London started wrestling with him, trying to turn off the ignition. That's when the driver pointed a gun at London's forehead and pulled the trigger.
All London heard was a click. For some reason, the gun didn't go off. He'll never know whether it wasn't loaded or just jammed. But his life was spared, and he was forever changed.
London quit the police force and started to coach football. It became a way he felt he could repay for the second chance he was given. Those feelings were only reinforced years later when his 8-year-old daughter Ticynn faced possible death from a blood disorder, Fanconi anemia. Despite 1-in-10,000 odds, London was a match to donate his bone marrow to her.
"The man upstairs spares your daughter's life, and he spares your life ..." said London, father of seven, including three by a previous marriage. "I owe other people. I owe other people's children. I owe your son, to hug him up, to kick him in the butt, to make sure he does what he's supposed to do because I've been afforded that opportunity to continue to be a dad and a coach."
The suspects in that robbery case were juveniles and reportedly got off with light sentences because they had tossed the gun by the time they were arrested, and witnesses at the restaurant didn't want to testify.
London's life mission changed from trying to catch "bad guys" to making an impression on young men before they ever got to that point.
"In coaching you stand on a pulpit that has the eyes, ears and hearts of 125-plus," London said. "You can make more of an impact that way."
His mantra is "go to class, show class, and treat people with dignity and respect." He's known for his passionate pregame speeches and the way he relates to his players.
One skill he first honed as a police officer, London said, was communication. Some of the more important work he did was disarming with words.
He tells the story of going to serve an arrest warrant at a suspect's house, where he was surrounded by angry relatives. Trying to avoid potential violence, London managed to talk the man into walking outside to talk to him alone and peacefully.
"TV likes to blow things up where you've got a John Wayne personality," London said. "The guy kicks a door in. 'Get over there; be quiet!' In real life, there are so many things that are beyond your control. Who else is behind the door? Is anybody on drugs? ...
"If you go in there and you're not level-headed, you could cost yourself or the safety of another officer that's with you," he continued. "When you walk into a potentially volatile situation like that, communication is key. The power of life and death literally comes out of what you say out of your mouth."
London also relies on the power of positive reinforcement. That's something he said he learned from his dad, who was retired from the Air Force and coached London as a kid.
"He would take the guy that was the worst player on the team and when he would do something, he'd say, 'That's fantastic,'" London said. "I would see how him lifting a guy up like that, how important that was, and then it becomes contagious."
The Cavaliers know a little about that feeling, and so do the Richmond Spiders. London won the FCS (formerly Division I-AA) championship in his first season as coach at Richmond in 2008. Three years later he brought Virginia one game shy of playing in the ACC Championship game.
A loss to Virginia Tech in the regular-season finale kept them out, but after Virginia Tech accepted an at-large invitation to the Sugar Bowl, the Cavaliers were selected by the Chick-fil-A Bowl, the first non-BCS bowl with an ACC tie-in. London was also named ACC coach of the year.
He has a lot to show for himself in a short amount of time, especially to fans who might have doubted a coach without any previous head coaching experience at the FBS (formerly Division I-A) level.
They won't hear any arguments from London.
"My goal is not to try to prove anything," London said. "I consider myself a servant to a lot of young men and coaches that are looking for guidance."
Chick-fil-A Bowl
Who: Virginia vs. Auburn
When; where: 7:30 p.m. Saturday; Georgia Dome
TV; radio: ESPN; 790
Copyright 2011 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
