The Zeitgeist List · coaching

Mike London

Followed Al Groh. Mike London slid Virginia from National Program I to National Program II in 6 seasons.

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2010–2015 · 1 stint

Career arc

His real stature score, season by season, across every program he’s coached — so a stretch that stays in one tier the whole way can still climb or sink on the line, not just flatten out. Node color marks the tier reached. Which program a stretch belongs to is carried by the shaded lane behind it.

Reached National Program in his 1st career season — faster than 41% of the 675 FBS coaches who have ever reached National Program (rank #1 of 675 by seasons-to-arrival).

Virginia, 6 seasons

−8.8

National Program II → National Program III.

Style position and drift

Where each stint’s offense sat between run-first and pass-first, and how far it moved from one season to the next. The band is that stint’s real season-to-season range, not a fixed-width box.

Pass rate — share of offensive plays that were pass attemptsfirst covered seasonmost recent covered seasonfull season-to-season range (3+ covered seasons)

The big-game ledger

How he does in the games that matter most — rivalry record, performance broken out by real opponent tier, one-score games, and his toughest historical matchup.

0–6 against his rivals. Winless in 5 tries against Larry Fedora.

Rivalry record

0–6

0.0% · 1 rival

One-score games

13–19

40.6% · margin ≤8

vs. Blue Blood or better

1–3

25.0%

Rivalry ledger

Virginia Tech0–60%

The toughest matchupNemesis

vs. Larry Fedora0–5

5 meetings, 2011–2015

’11 L’12 L’13 L’14 L · blew a 14-pt lead’15 L · blew a 3-pt lead

Performance by opponent class

Blue Blood

1–3 25.0%

Power Program

9–20 31.0%

National Program

3–16 15.8%

Regional Program

6–7 46.2%

His own effect, isolated

A statistical estimate of this coach’s contribution to team performance, separated from that season’s roster talent, returning production, and his coordinators — pooled across his whole head-coaching career.

Offense marginal impact

+0.01

#143 of 319 · a typical amount · smaller cross-referenced sample

Defense marginal impact

-0.08

#214 of 325 · a typical amount · smaller cross-referenced sample

Model fit as of 2026-09-04.

Coaching career

2010–2015

Virginiacaretaker

National Program I → National Program II

Mike London slid Virginia from National Program I to National Program II in 6 seasons.

4th-best Virginia tenure of 16 by the numbers.

Recruiter or developer?

Performs about as expected for his recruiting talent on offense and underperforms his recruiting talent on defense.

Offense vs. talent

-5.5 pts

#133 of 208 · a typical amount

Defense vs. talent

-24.5 pts

#187 of 208 · less than most

Recruiting talent is team-wide (no offense/defense split exists in the source data) -- both sides are scored against the same talent input, only the outcome is side-specific.

Followed Al Groh (2001–2009) · succeeded by Bronco Mendenhall (2016–2021).

Season	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015
Record & result
Record	4–8	8–5	4–8	2–10	5–7	4–8
Postseason	—	—	—	—	—	—
Recruiting rank	—	—	—	—	#33	#50
Style — pass rate
Pass rate	—	—	—	—	48.9	49.3
Coordinators
OC	—	—	—	—	Steve Fairchild	Steve Fairchild
DC	—	—	—	—	Jon Tenuta	Jon Tenuta
Outcome — opponent-adjusted efficiency percentile
Offense	—	—	—	—	14	53
Defense	—	—	—	—	83	33
Tendencies — play-by-play, neutral script (2021+ only)
1st-down pass%	—	—	—	—	37.3	41.8
Red-zone pass%	—	—	—	—	37.2	37.5
4th-down go%opp. territory	—	—	—	—	24.0	15.8

Where the roster comes from, by position

Grows Tight end from high school

100%

#164 of 188 stints

Grows Edge from high school

100%

#191 of 208 stints

10 NFL Draft picks: Chris Cook (2010), Ras-I Dowling (2011), Cam Johnson (2012), Oday Aboushi (2013), Morgan Moses (2014), Brent Urban (2014), Luke Bowanko (2014), Eli Harold (2015) + 2 more

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