Mike London Resigns as Virginia HC: Latest Details, Comments and Reaction

Mike London's disappointing six-year run at Virginia is over, as University of Virginia director of athletics Craig Littlepage announced London's resignation Sunday after the Cavaliers finished the 2015 campaign 4-8:

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Mike London has been an outstanding representative of the University of Virginia. During his tenure, Mike created a positive culture for our student-athletes to develop as young men, who improved each year in the classroom and represented us very well in the community. Mike was a tremendous mentor for his players and many of our coaches. His ability to inspire others helped our program establish great relationships among the high school football coaches in the state and he has been a tremendous ambassador for the University. We are thankful for Mike’s numerous contributions representing the University and Virginia athletics.

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London, 55, was 27-46 during his tenure. He was under contract through the 2016 season. Virginia will immediately begin a search for a new head coach who will be tasked with resuscitating a moribund program.

London released a statement following the decision:

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I appreciate the opportunity to have been the head football coach at the University of Virginia and for the relationships that have been formed during my time in Charlottesville that will last for years to come. I took this job to make a profound difference in the lives of young men and to re-establish Virginia football as one of the best programs in the ACC. While we were successful in the development of our players in many areas, I would have liked to have won more games for the student-athletes, coaches, fans and everyone that’s a part of the University of Virginia.

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Hired after winning one FCS championship and nearly another at Richmond, London failed to make the FBS transition. He improved the team each of his first two seasons, peaking with a surprise 8-5 campaign in 2011, but failed to develop his own talent. The Cavaliers regressed in his next two seasons, reaching a nadir during an ugly 2-10 campaign in 2013.

Despite near-constant calls from alumni and fans to make a change, London remained, with the program showing no real sign of life. The Cavaliers reached a bowl game only once in his tenure and closed out with a particularly ugly 2015. 

“The goal is to win football games. We all get it. I get it. That’s what it’s all about," London said in October, per Tim Pearrell of the Times-Dispatch. "But there’s no quit in this team. There’s a tremendous amount of fight. Again, I would ask you guys to ask (the players). Coaches can sit up here and talk about how things are going, and it’s important that you get the message from the players because the message is no one’s quit on them.”

Virginia will now open up a coaching search for a job without much appeal to big names. The team hasn't won a bowl game since the 2005 Music City Bowl and has appeared in only two bowls over the last decade. While the school's basketball program has become one of the pre-eminent programs in the nation, it's going to take one heck of a rebuilding job from London's replacement for the same to happen on the gridiron.