If people feel you have their best interest at heart, they'll go the distance for you

Had a chance to watch a little of Richmond's win over Montana in the FCS championship game last night.

Mike London, Richmond's first-year head coach, played at the school in the late 1970s and early '80s. He returned as an assistant coach in the late '80s (and again in the mid 1990s) mixed in with stops at Virginia, Boston College, and a couple of NFL teams.

In his 20 years of coaching, Coach London says it boils down to people:

"The biggest thing probably that I've gotten out of football is the personal relationships that you need to have with individuals, players and people," London said. "If people feel you have their best interest at heart, then they'll go the distance for you."

Those who know Coach London believe he proves that nice guys can finish first.

"No question he has a great understanding of football," said longtime William and Mary coach Jimmye Laycock, for whom London worked in the early 1990s. "But the thing I remember the most, and I've certainly followed him and stayed close with him over the years, is what a good person he is. If you're a very, very good person, you treat people right, you do things the right way, you're going to achieve success, and I think that's what's happened with Mike."