Mike London, Head Coach - William & Mary

Inside the Headset with the AFCA

This week on Inside the Headset, we are featuring William & Mary’s Head Coach, Mike London. In this episode Coach London speaks on the importance of having a healthy work-life balance, highlights the offseason program he implemented to develop his players for beyond the field, and shares the benefit of cultivating relationships with high school coaches in your state.

Mike London’s playing career in the NFL was finished after a knee injury in his first season with the Dallas Cowboys, and he went on to become a police officer and detective. After a near-death experience, he joined the coaching staff at Richmond working with the outside linebackers (1989-1990). Coach London went on to spend time as a defensive line coach at William & Mary (1991-1994) before returning to Richmond as the outside linebackers coach and recruiting coordinator (1995-1996). He joined the staff at Virginia as the defensive line coach (2001-2004), went to the Houston Texans for a season (2005), and returned to Virginia for two more years (2006-2007). From there, London got his first head coaching position at Richmond (2008-2009) and led his squad to a I-AA National Championship in his first season. He was the head coach at Virginia (2010-2015) and assistant head coach at Maryland (2016) before being named the head coach at Howard in 2017.

Mike London is now entering his third year as head coach of the William & Mary football program. Under London’s leadership, the Tribe have dramatically improved in a number of offensive statistical categories prior to him being at the helm. London’s first season leading the Tribe provided a glimpse of the program’s bright future, as the squad concluded the 2019 campaign with wins in three of its final four games – including a Capital Cup victory at long-time rival Richmond in the season finale. Coach London has also lead his team to success off of the field as a program-record of 69 players who earned CAA Commissioner’s Academic Honor Roll Accolades during the fall semester.

• [1:28] Start of interview
• [2:47] Coaching with his son
• [6:41] Having a healthy work-life balance as a coach
• [10:40] Developing players for the field of life
• [16:19] Advice for coaches who aspire to be a head coach
• [19:50] Cultivating relationships with high school coaches