Mike London: The Aftermath

Now that we've given it a few days for the dust to settle, its time to look around and see what everyone else is saying about the new hire.  You have to take what's being said with a grain of salt, mind you, because its in the Fourth Estate's best interest to be nice to the new guy so he'll talk to them (Al Groh certainly didn't).  So the new head coach could be you or me, and they'd find something nice to say (OK, maybe not me).

• Hootie reflects on London's whirlwind ride.  There are few other excellent tidbits in this piece: London ignored his agent's advice to see what else was out there before committing to Virginia, London's salary quintupled with the move from Richmond, and Virginia's need to hire (and more importantly pay) good assistants.  The DP also noted London's intent to switch from a 3-4 to a 4-3 defense.  Good news for Steve Greer, but Cam Johnson's going to have to figure out his role, as he's more suited to a 3-4 scheme.
• Doug Doughty notes that Virginia didn't have a Plan B.  Quoting Associate AD Jon Oliver, UVA was prepared to wait as long as Richmond's playoff run took to talk to London.  Doughty also notes that the London hire earned the approval of high school coaches and diversity groups.
• Jeff White noted how many members of the UVA family came into town for London's introductory press conference as a good sign. 
• The Good Ol Blog tries to disavow Virginia fans of the notion that London is an Al Groh disciple.  The Good Ol's new blogger doesn't really back up his premise, but I do agree with him. 
• London getting some TV time on Washington Post Live. It is funny that London won't mention Virginia Tech by name.  They're like Lord Voldemort.
• The next order of business? Filling out London's staff.  David Teel notes that London secured a 29% raise in assistant pay to bring it up from last in the ACC.  About time. 
• Jeff White notes that three of London's UR assistants are likely to join him in C'ville. Doug Doughty notes that if Jeff is running those names, you can bet its pretty close to a done deal.  We agree. 
• Within the same piece, Doughty kicks around a few other names to fill out the staff.  Jim Reid, the former VMI Coach and current LB Coach for the Miami Dolphins, as DC.  Bill Musgrave, who's coaching QBs in Atlanta, for OC.  Interesting thought, but as Doug acknowledges, Musgrave would likely have to take a paycut from his NLF gig, and then move from coaching Matt Ryan to Marc Verica and Riko Smalls.  In other words, don't hold your breath.  Doug also notes the UVA assistants under Groh that did recruit well (they existed?) that London should consider retaining.  He also theorizes that former Notre Dame DC Corwin Brown, WVU RB Chris Beatty and former QB Shawn Moore might also be considered for the staff, but that none is a slam dunk to come.  
• A number of pieces out there on London's real job No. 1 - recruiting.  Hootie here, the WP on the all-important 7-5-7, and the Daily Press, which covers sports for the 7-5-7 area, here.  Scouts Inc. certainly like the hire for recruiting purposes.  Still, as the WP's Zach Berman notes within this chat, London's effect on recruiting won't be immediate with most of the state's top talent already committed for next season.  (On a sidenote, lots of angst within this chat about London's pricetag.  Apparently Zach's readers would have preferred UVa to go lowball in its coaching search). 
• Coincidentally, London landed his first recruiting commit on Sunday.  It didn't hurt that Miami-area QB Michael Strauss was visiting on the weekend of the big hire, or that he now plays for former UVA LB Ernie Sims.  Still, good timing kid.
• Top OL Morgan Moses, who just a week ago appeared to lobby for London in a meeting with AD Craig Littlepage, is now exploring his options.  Huh?  Within the same piece, though, Berman notes that FUMA Head coach John Shuman is happy (which is important moving forward), and fellow OL prospect (albeit less regarded) Cody Wallace remains committed to the Hoos.
• Finally, Jeff White takes a peak at the football schedule in upcoming seasons.  Next season's out of conference slate features E. Michigan, Richmond, and VMI at home, some team from Southern California on the road.  A home and home with Penn State starts in 2012, and one with UCLA in 2014.

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Welcome to the ACC, Coach Bennett

After watching the Hoos get outmanned by the likes of South Florida on Monday, its hard not to think about the reinforcements coming for 2010.  As we've written in this space before, Coach Tony Bennett's first class is good, not great as some have proclaimed.  Still, its hard not to get excited about the five new recruits Bennett is bringing to the 'ville, two of whom are consensus top-100 players. 

Nor should it be surprising.  At Washington State, its hard to imagine how Coach Bennett got anyone to come to Pullman (if you've ever been to or even seen pictures of it, or that "cage you call a gym," you know what I mean). Here at UVA, Bennett's got a state-of-the-art facility, is a couple hours drive from more than a few recruiting hotbeds, and has the draw of playing in what is considered by most to be the nation's premier college hoops conference.  Its kind of like swimming every morning at the local Y, and then having the chance to instead swim every day at the Aquatic and Fitness Center.  It's gotta feel pretty nice, and certainly a whole lot better than where you were. 

But reviewing the various recruiting rankings has to bring things into perspective for UVA's new head man. Case in point, ESPN just released its rankings for college basketball's top 25 recruiting classes for 2010 (insider access required).  Virginia is ranked a respectable 21st.  Its what's ahead of Coach Bennett's class in those rankings that will soon enough be keeping him up at night.  Despite the strength of Virginia's class, no less than FIVE ACC schools' classes rank ahead of Bennett's.  UNC, with three top-20 players, is No. 3.  Wake is adding four top 100 players and is ranked No. 6.  Duke is right behind them, with two elite recruits, at No. 7. NC State (how Sidney Lowe keeps doing this yet his team stinks every year I'll never know) is No. 12, and Maryland is just ahead of Virginia in ESPN's rankings at No. 18.  Florida State is right behind the Hoos at No. 24. 

Meanwhile, only two of Bennett's former rivals from the Pac-10 have classes that rank ahead of Bennett's.  Always strong UCLA is at No. 10 and new Stanford head man Johnny Dawkins checks in at No. 15.  That's it. 

The story's the same over at scout.com, where Virginia's ranked 14th, but still trumped by UNC, Duke, Wake, and NC State, and at rivals.com, where Virginia's all the way up to 12th, but still behind that foursome.  Coach Bennett is certainly doing well, but he has to be learning that he's engaged in an arms race here on the east coast he's not winning, and probably can't.

So yeah, the pool's nicer over here.  Its not that shallow 25-meter thing at the Y where you don't quite trust the water.  Here on the east coast, the pool's heated, its got olympic-sized lanes, and is plenty deep enough for diving.  But just so you know, Coach, there are sharks swimming around in it.  Keep swimming fast.  You're going to have to. Continue reading this post...