Coaching changes bring familiarity for Cavs, Spiders

By Doug Doughty

Much has been made of Saturday's match-up pitting new Virginia football coach Mike London against a Richmond squad he coached for the past two seasons and led to a Football Championship Subdivision title in 2008.

No less compelling is the debut of new Spiders' coach Latrell Scott, who, at 35, is Division 1's youngest coach and will be facing the program where he served as an assistant in 2009.

There has been a veritable shuttle between Richmond and Charlottesville since the end of the 2009 season. Scott's staff includes nine former Virginia assistants and the U.Va. staff includes several ex-Spiders coaches.

Much of the overhaul resulted from the No. 29 dismissal of nine-year Virginia head coach Al Groh.

Nobody was surprised, eight days later, when London was introduced as Groh's successor. London had enjoyed two separate stints as Groh's assistant,

first as defensive-line coach and recruiting coordinator from 2001- 04, and then as defensive coordinator from 2007- 08.

Scott, on the other hand, was just looking for employment after the Virginia staff was let go. Nobody would have been surprised to see him return to Richmond, where he previously had worked for three years, but not necessarily as head coach.

"I had some things going on with some BCS schools, probably as a receivers coach," Scott said. "It was really just a situation where (Richmond athletic director) Jim Miller and I just decided to sit down and talk.

"About halfway through the interview, he said, 'OK, I want you to answer every question as if you were going to be the next head coach at Richmond. I said, 'You know, Jim. I thought I'd been doing that for the last hour.'

"It was mostly a feeling-out process. I basically said, 'If you would allow me to surround myself with some great people, I think we could make this thing work,' and it started with my two coordinators."

Scott's offensive coordinator is Wayne Lineburg, a U.Va. assistant for the past three years and the Richmond offensive coordinator under Dave Clawson, a Scott mentor.

Richmond's new defensive coordinator, 56-year-old Bob Trott, coached the U.Va. linebackers last fall after four seasons on the defensive staff of the Cleveland Browns.

"Being around coach Trott last year, he took Anthony Poindexter and me under his wing and taught us a lot of things about football in general," Scott said.

Poindexter, a three-time All-ACC defensive back at U.Va. and something of a Cavalier icon, was the only member of Groh's staff retained by London.

Scott didn't have much time to feel sorry for himself. He was hired Dec. 15, eight days after London was introduced at Virginia.

"Mike and I never had the opportunity to talk (about a Virginia position) and I just sensed that he wanted to start things off there with a clean slate, which I think is important to do sometimes," he said.

"In my mind, I'd already moved on. This is a big-boy business and you can't be upset by the decisions that people make.

"I took a day off to relax and, Monday morning, I was on the phone and reaching out to people to see what was out there."

Besides, it wasn't the first time he'd been in that situation.

In 2008, he left Richmond to join Clawson, who had resigned as the Spiders' head coach to become the offensive coordinator at Tennessee. However, then-Volunteers coach Phil Fulmer was fired.

Scott worked briefly for Fulmer's successor, Lane Kiffin, before taking a spot on the Virginia staff.

"It teaches you a little bit about ACC and SEC football and all of the things that come with it," Scott said. "If somebody was willing to release Phillip Fulmer of his duties, it kind of puts everything in perspective. "

Scott, a Richmond native who played at Lee-Davis High in Mechanicsville, was a tight end at Hampton University, and later coached at Fork Union Military Academy and VMI.

Seldom have two programs been as familiar with one another at U.Va. and Richmond.

"I think you know players," Scott said, "but you don't really know what each other's going to do. We have an idea but we both go into the game blind. You know who can hurt you, though.

"Some of those kids at Virginia are very special to me. It will be great to see all those guys but the ones I've talked to, they say, 'Hey, coach, we love you but our goal is to beat you.' I'm sure our kids feel the same way."