London returns to program as the defensive coordinator
By Jay Jenkins and Jerry Ratcliffe / Daily Progress staff writers
January 17, 2006

There is an old cliche about good things coming in threes. The athletic department at Virginia can vouch for that.
On Saturday, UVa All-American linebacker Ahmad Brooks announced that he would return to school for his final year of eligibility and not turn pro.

On Sunday, the Cavaliers landed a road win in men's basketball over in-state rival Virginia Tech.

Virginia football coach Al Groh helped pull off the trifecta on Monday as he announced that Mike London, a former assistant coach with the Cavaliers, would return to the program as the defensive coordinator.

London, who spent 2005 coaching the defensive line for the NFL's Houston Texans, replaces Al Golden. In December, Golden was named the head coach at Temple.

"Obviously for a guy that went to high school in the state of Virginia, played college ball here, coached at the University of Richmond, William & Mary and UVa, and now have the chance to come back again, I feel very blessed," London said Monday night en route to Charlottesville. "There's not many places you can come back to where your family is from. From both the personal and professional aspect of it, to be defensive coordinator at the University of Virginia is great."

London coached the defensive line at Virginia from 2001 until 2004 as the program won 30 games and played in three bowl games.

"Mike was instrumental in setting the foundation of our program from the first day, and we are very excited to have him rejoin Cavalier football as our defensive coordinator," Groh said in a released statement. "He brings a set of standards and value system that will provide the right leadership for our defense."

During his first stint at Virginia, London spent three years (2002-2004) serving as the program's recruiting coordinator.

London will not be needed in that capacity - quarterback's coach Mike Groh is currently the recruiting coordinator - but his return should help the Cavaliers in recruiting throughout the Commonwealth, namely in the Tidewater.

"Mike's knowledge and background of the state of Virginia and the high school programs is a big plus," Groh said of the Hampton native. "And his year in the NFL with the Texans will provide some new ideas for us. Mike's return is a win-win at all spots."

London could have easily remained with the Texans or elsewhere in the NFL but felt the pull of home and comfortable surroundings.

"I was going through a situation where the Texans wanted to keep me and three or four other NFL teams were interested in me," London told The Daily Progress. "I was faced with a tough decision on whether to come back to Virginia or stay in the NFL. The familiarity with [Virginia's] program and my family ties tipped the scale when the coordinator's position was offered to me."

He did point out that his one year of NFL experience greatly enhanced his football knowledge, something he plans to apply to his new job at Virginia and in recruiting some of the region's most talented athletes.

"It was a year of exposure to a different coaching culture," London said. "Different techniques and philosophies and systems. How to put a team together in terms of evaluating talent. How you break down teams and prepare for them. That's an experience in and of itself. Believe it or not, a lot of what Al [Groh] had already taught us from his NFL experience was very similar throughout the league. All those perspectives are hard to acquire if you haven't been there."

Golden, who had been Virginia's defensive coordinator for the past four seasons, said London's return "would be great for the program. He and wife have ties to Virginia, so it would be nice for him to come back home."

Golden knows London and his qualifications better than most. The two worked together at Boston College under coach Tom O'Brien (1997-2000) and at UVa (2000-2004).

"Mike and I worked together for seven years," Golden said. "Mike and I have a great relationship and we still do to this day. We were comfortable with each other because we had worked together at Boston College and Virginia. He is definitely a great person and a obviously a great coach."

The official release from UVa did not list which position London would coach, although it is expected that he will coach the Cavaliers' defensive line. In that event, current defensive line coach Levern Belin would shift to coach linebackers with the Cavaliers' other newly added assistant Bob Diaco.

Virginia still has two vacancies on its coaching staff, one of which is at offensive coordinator.

In addition to Golden's departure, former offensive coordinator Ron Prince was named the head coach at Kansas State, former associate head coach Danny Rocco took over the program at Liberty and Mark D'Onofrio, who coached linebackers at UVa, became the defensive coordinator at Temple.

London said he plans to be in his office at UVa today doing paperwork but is eager to get going at his new job.

"The NFL season is a long one and I just resigned from the Texans on Friday," London said. "I have some things to do in the office [Tuesday], but whenever that's done, I'll be ready to roll."
 

3-star Parker commits to Cavs
By Jerry Ratcliffe / Daily Progress sports editor
January 17, 2006

When Virginia assistant coach John Garrett traveled to Orlando, Fla., last week, his mission was to convince one of the top 40 safety prospects in the country that he should play for the Cavaliers.
Garrett was following up on a personal, in-home visit by UVa head coach Al Groh to Michael Parker's place earlier.

On Monday, Virginia's persistence paid off. Parker committed to the Cavaliers, choosing UVa over offers from Wake Forest, Georgia Tech, South Carolina, Clemson and South Florida. The 6-foot-2, 183-pound combination safety and cornerback from Orlando's Edgewater High School, is rated a three-star prospect and the No. 37 safety in the nation by Rivals.com.

Calls to Parker's home and cellular phone were not returned, but the prospect told Jamie Oakes of CavsCorner.com that he was about to call Garrett to give a commitment when Groh rang the prospect to extend a personal invitation.

"I had to be excited [about committing] because [Groh] was so excited by it," Parker told CavsCorner.com. "I had camped at Virginia and I knew the staff liked me. Coach Groh told me that I was the type of player they were looking for in the secondary. He told me first and foremost, he loves my hitting ability. He also said that he loves that I have cover corner skills."

Parker, who is Virginia's 21st commitment, has been tagged as a player with 4.6 speed in the 40, but noted that he ran a 4.46 (hand-timed) at UVa's summer football camp.

Groh said he intended to sign the full compliment of 25 players allowed by the NCAA on national signing day, Feb. 1.
 

Cavaliers limited Hokies' Collins
Next up: UNC on Thursday
By Whitelaw Reid / Daily Progress staff writer
January 17, 2006

Coming into Sunday's game against Virginia, Virginia Tech big man Coleman Collins was averaging a team-best 17.1 points and 7.7 rebounds - numbers that didn't come against cupcake competition.
The 6-foot-9 junior dropped 25 points on Sheldon Williams and No. 1-ranked Duke on Dec. 4.

Somehow, Virginia was able to hold Collins to 14 points and five rebounds. Collins looked out of sync and frustrated for much of the game - a main reason why the Cavaliers were able to escape Blacksburg with a 54-49 victory - their first road ACC win of the season.

"We knew he was their big scorer," said Cavs guard J.R. Reynolds, "and wanted to keep the ball out of his hands as much as possible."

Virginia coach Dave Leitao said the Cavs didn't do anything special against Collins, who was 4 of 11 from the field.

"We didn't go and double him because he's not exclusively a block-to-block player," Leitao explained. "He steps out and shoots and has really long extension on his shot. We tried to get him off his rhythm, and when he did catch the ball, rush people at him and provide early help."

The peak of Collins' frustration came when he missed a dunk with about 11 minutes left in the second half and the Virginia Tech bench was hit with a technical foul.

"I think Coleman's dunk is a microcosm of what has happened to us throughout these league games," said Hokies coach Seth Greenberg, whose team dropped to 0-4 in the ACC.

The Cavs (8-6, 2-2), who host defending National Champion North Carolina on Thursday, also did a good job on Collins' teammates. UVa mixed their defenses against the Hokies to perfection.

"Coach Leitao knows what he's doing," said Cavs guard Sean Singletary, whose 10 straight points in the second half keyed the win. "He put us into the right defenses, no doubt. And we were getting hands in faces and closing out - those types of things."

After allowing Florida State to shoot 60 percent from the field on Wednesday, the Cavs held the Hokies to 33 percent - the team's best defensive effort since holding Hartford to 29 percent on Dec. 31.

Leitao said reducing the percentage was a major emphasis in practice heading into Sunday.

"We wanted to make sure we got back to our principles," he said. "To give up 33 percent to a pretty darn good offensive team that shoots 46 percent is a pretty good credit to our guys' commitment on that end of the floor."

Leitao sounded especially pleased with the team's performance in its 2-3 zone.

"At times we bent, but we didn't break," he said. "I'm happy and proud because of that."

The Hokies went scoreless over the game's final 3:39, going 0 for 6 and committing two turnovers in the span.

"We knew if we stayed together and played tough defense at the end, we could come out with the win," Reynolds said. "Everyone's starting to understand their role better and what coach wants from us. As the season goes on and on, I think we'll get better and better."

Added Leitao: "We've got North Carolina staring us in the face on Thursday. We have to put this one away, get back to business and get ready."

 

Groh's attention remains divided
Hiring of assistants, recruiting and determining a starting quarterback are on the to-do list.
By Doug Doughty
981-3129
The Roanoke Times

More than two weeks after Virginia's appearance in the Music City Bowl, it's not clear where the Cavaliers' 2005 season ends and the 2006 season begins.

Normally, by this time of year, a Division I-A football coach has turned his attention to recruiting and so has Virginia's Al Groh.

But, not his undivided attention.

Groh has known since early December that he needed to fill four vacancies on his staff, having lost three of his assistants to head-coaching positions.

While he was preparing for the bowl and interviewing coaching candidates and trying to stay on top of recruiting, Groh also faced the loss of two prominent underclassmen to the NFL.

The first, first-team All-ACC linebacker Kai Parham, said early last week that he would make himself available for the 2006 NFL Draft.

The second, former Butkus Award finalist Ahmad Brooks, said in a statement Saturday that he will be returning. Brooks was limited to six games last season by injuries.

"This isn't just about, 'Well, I'm going to return,' " Groh said Monday. "We're going to start the project that we intended to do last spring at this time, when he was coming off his Butkus finalist year. Ahmad was anticipating -- and I was anticipating -- really moving his game forward. That really never got going."

When Brooks started to experience discomfort in one of his knees, it was discovered he had a cyst behind his kneecap that was cutting off blood flow to the knee. He required surgery that kept him out of spring practice and limited his conditioning.

As a result, Brooks weighed close to 280 pounds when he reported for preseason workouts. He was listed at 249 the previous year.

"He clearly has seen the challenges and realized, if he didn't want to take these challenges on, then there was a door open to avoid those challenges," said Groh, referring to a possible jump to the NFL. "He was quite resolute in wanting to do this."

On the day before UVa announced that Brooks was staying in school, Mike London confirmed he would be returning to UVa as defensive coordinator. London was the Cavaliers' defensive-line coach for four seasons before a one-year stop with the NFL's Houston Texans.

"Mike was such an integral part of what we were doing from the start," Groh said. "He understands the school, he understands the state, he knows the [UVa] players. In a year's time, he's gone to school, you might say. I'm sure he'll bring back some good ideas for us.

"He was the lead choice right from the start. He's got a really high set of standards and a really good value system. So much of being a coordinator is the leadership. It sometimes gets misconstrued that a coordinator has to be a tactical genius, but so much of it is organization."

London returns at defensive line, where Virginia already has a position coach. However, holdover Levern Belin played inside linebacker at Wake Forest and coached linebackers at Ball State and William and Mary.

Bob Diaco, co-defensive coordinator at Central Michigan this past season, was hired before Christmas and will take over for Mark D'Onofrio. Diaco will coach linebackers and special teams and recruit in his native New Jersey.

Al Golden was the Cavaliers' defensive coordinator and the Cavaliers also lost offensive coordinator Ron Prince, the new head coach at Kansas State. Golden coached the UVa defensive backs and Prince, the offensive line.

"One of the most important things from the outset has been to take care of the offensive line because we had a very good line coach here for five years," Groh said. "That's such a significant position, which all the other positions on offense are dependent on. That's always been a priority and we have some very strong candidates for that."

A decision on an offensive coordinator will follow, although Groh had to be happy with the playcalling of wide receivers coach John Garrett, with input from quarterbacks coach Mike Groh, in a 34-31 Music City Bowl victory over Minnesota.

From a competitive standpoint, the greatest question is the identity of Marques Hagans' successor at quarterback. Hagans accounted for nearly 64 percent of the Cavaliers' total offense this past season. His back-up, Christian Olsen, attempted only 11 passes.

Groh said in November that a determination on Olsen's return would be made at a later date, leading some to believe that Groh was more inclined to have a younger quarterback who could spend two or three years on the job.

"I intend to meet with all the quarterbacks and talk about what's in front of them," said Groh, who has five scholarship quarterbacks. "I think I have to be fair to next year's team and make sure that we have the best quarterback on the field, no matter how many years we will have him."

Parham will be difficult to replace, given his 103 tackles -- 37 more than the next-most productive tackler. However, Brooks' injuries provided an opportunity to groom freshman Antonio Appleby, who started UVa's regular-season finale at Miami and had 10 tackles in the Music City Bowl.

A key for the defense will be the status of safeties Tony Franklin and Nate Lyles. Franklin will be in Albemarle General District Court today on a Dec. 6 charge of misdemeanor marijuana possession. Groh did not allow Franklin to play in UVa's bowl.

Lyles did not play in the Cavaliers' final three games after sustaining a concussion Nov. 12 against Georgia Tech. Medical tests will determine if it is safe for Lyles to return, but he wants to come back.

"He said that the night of the Georgia Tech game," Groh said, "but that's just the way Nate is."
 

London returning to head Cavs' defense
Offensive coordinator? Garrett, Mike Groh or both could fill role
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Jan 17, 2006

As expected, the University of Virginia's defensive coordinator next football season will be Mike London, who's returning from the NFL.

The Cavaliers' offensive coordinator? Don't be shocked if the job goes to receivers coach John Garrett or quarterbacks coach Mike Groh - or both.

Garrett and Mike Groh shared the coordinator's duties after Ron Prince left for Kansas State last month, and U.Va. piled up 468 yards in a 34-31 victory over Minnesota in the Music City Bowl.

U.Va. announced the hiring of London yesterday. London, 45, spent four seasons on head coach Al Groh's staff at Virginia before leaving in 2005 to become the Houston Texans' defensive-line coach.

Also yesterday, Virginia received a commitment from Mike Parker, a 6-2, 190-pound defensive back from Edgewater High in Orlando, Fla.

Parker was named to the all-Central Florida second team by the Orlando Sentinel last month. He told The Times-Dispatch yesterday that he also had scholarship offers from South Carolina, Wake Forest, Georgia Tech, Clemson and Southern Mississippi. Parker said he has met NCAA eligibility requirements.

The Texans fired coach Dom Capers early this month but hoped to retain London. Other NFL teams, including the Vikings, were interested in London, too. In the end, though, the opportunity to become a coordinator - and move back near his and his wife's families in Virginia - was too good for him to turn down.

"You can't ask for anything more," London said by phone Saturday.

A graduate of Hampton's Bethel High and the University of Richmond, London is interested in becoming a college head coach, and having experience as a coordinator will make him a more attractive candidate. Also, he said, there's "a difference between the pro game and the college game, and I kind of missed that: the relationships with the players and the families, being a role model."

London, whose wife, Regina, is from Newport News, was Virginia's defensive-line coach for four seasons and recruiting coordinator for three.

"He brings a set of standards and value system that will provide the right leadership for our defense," Al Groh said in a statement. "Mike's knowledge and background of the state of Virginia and the high school programs is a big plus. And his year in the NFL with the Texans will provide some new ideas for us. Mike's return is a win-win at all spots."

A Division I-A team is allowed to have nine full-time assistant coaches. U.Va. now has seven: Mike Groh, Garrett, London, Anthony Poindexter (running backs), Bob Price (tight ends), Levern Belin (linebackers) and Bobby Diaco (linebackers). In addition to assigning offensive-coordinator duties, Al Groh still must hire an offensive-line coach and a secondary coach.

Two offensive-line coaches - Purdue's Bill Legg and Colorado's Dave Borbely - have interviewed at U.Va. recently. The front-runner for the job is Borbely, 46, who also has been an assistant at Rice, Temple, Tulane, Stanford and Notre Dame. Borbely is a native of Hammond., Ind., and a graduate of DePauw University.

 

UNC seeks confidence
After losing to Miami, Tar Heels take to road for two key ACC games
BY BILL COLE
MEDIA GENERAL NEWS SERVICE Jan 17, 2006

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- Reyshawn Terry had an encouraging feeling when he arrived at the Smith Center early Saturday for North Carolina's game against Miami.

"I thought we were ready," Terry said. "We had prepared for this team well this week. I thought we would be able to come out and jump on them from the start."

Terry was surprised after the game began. So were his teammates and his coaches. Miami jumped on UNC instead, fought back in the second half from seven points down early, and pulled away confidently for an 81-70 victory.

And now, after the upset, UNC will face its most critical week of the season to date.

UNC will be on the road this week, a place where it has struggled recently. It will visit Virginia on Thursday and Florida State on Sunday. UNC has a daunting task ahead to shake its problems and get ready for a week of road demands.

Wes Miller, a reserve guard, knows what will be necessary in practice this week for UNC to improve and for the four freshmen in the playing rotation to settle down and be ready for two games on unfamiliar courts in front of hostile crowds.

"We've got to bounce back, there's no question," Miller said. "It's not a time to hang your head. You've got to move forward. It's over now. And we've got to try and fix what we did wrong out there and bounce back and get a win at Virginia."

Saturday's disappointment ran deep through everyone in the program. Some of the players appeared shocked that they had lost to an ACC team on home ground. Coach Roy Williams was disturbed by most aspects of his team's play.

UNC got away with a bad performance last week at Virginia Tech, holding on to win 64-61 despite 25 turnovers. It couldn't get away with a second poor effort Saturday. Williams will work on rebuilding his team's confidence this week, hopeful that all of his players, the veterans included, learned from the Miami upset.

"I was very disappointed at halftime," Williams said. "I didn't think we were into it mentally. In this league, you can't take a day off. I've told everybody it makes no difference who you play or where you play. If you don't play your best, you don't have a chance to win."

Young teams are usually exuberant, but UNC had little spark. Williams is not concerned about his freshmen wearing out because the game was only the season's 13th. The only sustained burst of energy UNC had came in the first two minutes of the second half when a 31-30 halftime lead was built into a 39-32 advantage, but Miami stormed back with a 12-0 run.

UNC's turnovers kept building on the way to a total of 17. Miami's two big men kept crashing the boards and beating UNC's players to offensive rebounds or taking them away. Miami had 21 offensive rebounds. It had 22 defensive rebounds.

UNC led the ACC in rebounding margin before the game, grabbing an average of 9.5 more than opponents. Miami finished with a 43-34 edge, the first time in seven games that UNC was beaten on the boards.

Williams could not explain immediately after the game how Miami was so successful rebounding against his team.

"I think it was everything," he said. "I don't think we boxed out. I don't think we had five guys rebounding on the defensive board. We've preached that all year long. We've been one of the best rebounding teams in the league, if not the best rebounding-margin team, but today we didn't have five guys going for the basketball."

Williams knew this season would have days as painful as Saturday after UNC lost its top seven scorers from last season's NCAA championship team. He also knew the freshmen would play great on some nights and dismal on others.

Still, the foreknowledge didn't make UNC's play or the loss any easier to accept.

"As happy as we may have been in Blacksburg the other night, we're as disappointed right now," Williams said. "It was a total breakdown in what we like to think we practice every day."