The University of Richmond football saga continues….

Highland Springs High School football coach Scott Burton has resigned to take a position as an assistant to newly hired coach Mike London at the University of Richmond.

Burton has been the Springers’ coach for nine years.

A 1995 graduate of UR, Burton was a four-year letterman at safety and ranks second behind Jeff Nixon on the school’s career interception list with 16.

The Springers compiled a 72-26 record during Burton’s tenure. They qualified for the Central Region playoffs the past seven seasons. Highland Springs was region runner-up in 2001 and 2006.

Burton’s departure means four Henrico County high schools are looking for head football coaches. Gary Chilcoat (Varina), Jesse Chavis III (Henrico) and Chris Didlake (J.R. Tucker) also have resigned.

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We also came across this excellent commentary, courtesy of P Keip’s Hype, concerning University of Richmond’s new football coach, Mike London.  Keip mentions everything from London’s background in hailing from Hampton, Virginia to his years as a defensive back at UR to the upcoming new stadium and how London will use his NFL experience to put the Spiders ahead of their competitors.

Mike London wasn’t going to stay at the University of Virginia forever. In fact, his second stint in Charlottesville was more like a nice addition to a resume University of Richmond Athletic Director Jim Miller wanted to get his hands on (again)

The University of Richmond announced today the hiring of UR graduate and former UR coach Mike London as their new football coach.

London, 47, has spent six of the past seven seasons molding one of the nation’s top defenses at the University of Virginia. He returned to Charlottesville in 2006 after spending the previous season as the defensive line coach with the NFL’s Houston Texans. London was a member of Al Groh’s original staff at UVa from 2001-04, coaching the defensive line. He was also the program’s recruiting coordinator from 2002-04.
We are thrilled to have Mike lead our football program,” said Miller. “He has proven himself as a talented football coach and great recruiter, while experiencing football at its highest level. Having played, graduated and coached at Richmond, we are confident that Mike is a perfect fit for the University and will continue to attract student-athletes that reflect his same qualities.”

From UR press release.

The University of Richmond will announce its new head football coach today at 2 p.m. during an afternoon press conference at the Jepson Alumni Center.
The public is invited to attend.

Last week we reported Coach Dave Clawson will be heading to the University of Tennessee.

Univesity of Richmond swimmer, Nicole LePere, was named the Atlantic 10 Rookie of the week after a stellar performance on Saturday.

Freshman swimmer Nicole LePere was tabbed the Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week after her performance in Richmond’s dual meet versus Maryland Saturday. The freshman captured her first collegiate gold medal with a win in the 200 back.

LePere paced the field in the event, winning in a lifetime best time of 2:05.66. The freshman continues the Spiders’ Atlantic 10 dominance in the 200 back. Currently Richmond owns the top four times, with LePere’s time ranking fourth.

A native of Yorba Linda, Calif., LePere also swam the fly on the Spiders’ third-place 200 medley relay (1:49.68), took fourth in the 200 fly (2:08.79) and fourth in the 100 fly (59.34). Richmond lost to Maryland, 150-121 in the meet.

The A-10 honor for LePere is the first of her career.

Richmond returns to action Sunday, January 27 versus William & Mary for the team’s only home event. The Senior Day meet begins at 1 p.m. at the Robins Center Natatorium.

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In addition to University of RIchmond football coach Dave Clawson leaving UR to head for Tennessee,, Richmond wide receivers coach Latrell Scott head to UT as well, as a wide receivers coach.

Scott, 31, interviewed with Fulmer on Friday, the same day Tennessee officially announced it had hired Richmond coach Dave Clawson as its offensive coordinator.

On Saturday, Scott joined his former head coach at a press conference in the Neyland-Thompson Sports Center to announce their arrival.

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It’s official. According to Go Vols Xtra, University of Richmond football coach Dave Clawson will head to University of Tennessee to become UT’s offensive coordinator.
Now, the next question: who will Richmond hire?

Clawson, 40, met with Richmond athletic director Jim Miller on Thursday night, and the Spiders moved up a previously scheduled team meeting to 3 p.m. today.

On Thursday night, Richmond sports information director Mike DeGeorge confirmed an Associated Press report that said Clawson had been offered the job. DeGeorge could not confirm whether Clawson had accepted the job.

Tennessee is expected to announce its new offensive coordinator sometime this weekend.

Spiders wide receivers coach Latrell Scott also is expected to join Tennessee’s staff as an assistant coach, the source said.

Word on the street is that University of Richmond head coach, Dave Clawson, may be leaving UR to be the offensive coordinator for the Tenessee Vols.
While no official announcement has been made, there is plenty of chatter about his impending departure.
CSTV reports the announcement could be made today.

GO Vols Xtra had these details:

University of Richmond head football coach Dave Clawson is the latest candidate to interview for Tennessee’s vacant offensive coordinator position, sources told the News Sentinel.

Clawson spent Monday in Knoxville interviewing with UT coach Phillip Fulmer, the third known candidate to interview for the job since David Cutcliffe left Dec. 15 to become Duke’s head coach.

Other possible candidates, according to sources, are former Michigan assistants Mike DeBord, and Scott Loeffler. Loeffler interviewed with Fulmer before the Outback Bowl in Tampa, Fla.

Clemson offensive coordinator Rob Spence and San Francisco 49ers quarterbacks coach Frank Cignetti also interviewed for the job.

Spence told reporters he’d remain at Clemson shortly before the Chick-fil-A Bowl and reaffirmed that Sunday in the Charleston (S.C.) Post and Courier. Also Sunday, Cal named Cignetti its offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.

UT also spoke with former assistant Kippy Brown, who has since been promoted from wide receivers coach to passing game coordinator by the Detroit Lions.

Clawson, 40, has been with the Spiders since 2004.

A phone call to Clawson’s office went unanswered Monday evening.

Prior to joining Richmond, Clawson was the head coach for five seasons at Fordham and offensive coordinator at Villanova for three seasons. While at Villanova, he coached Philadelphia Eagles running back Brian Westbrook.

In the last two seasons at Richmond, the Spiders’ offense has set a school record with 8,817 total yards.

This season, Richmond finished 11-3, losing to eventual national champion Appalachian State 55-35 in the playoffs

Considering that UR’s swim coach, Matt Kredich, also left UR to coach the Lady Vols swim team (back in 2004), I wouldn’t doubt that UT was happy with their first recruitment and decided to go for a second Spider coach.

A University of Richmond chemistry professor set another Masters World Record.

An indoor swimmer from Richmond has set yet another record.

Earlier this month, Chris Stevenson broke three world records in Virginia Beach. Stevenson, an associate professor of chemistry at the University of Richmond, set the Masters World record in the 50-, the 100- and the 200-meter backstrokes in the 40 to 44 age bracket.

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I came across an article about a former University of Richmond swimmer and about how the U or R swim program wasn’t a great fit for her, but despite that she was able to come back to win a national title.
I wasn’t sure If I wanted to post the article, because it is not very flattering of former University of Richmond swim coach, Matt Kredich, who is also my former swim coach, and a friend. But, for the sake of telling two sides of the story, I am posting it.

Michelle Coombs, the swimmer, featured in the story, obviously has bad memories of her time swimming for U of R. She even recalled her coach as Mark Kredich, instead of Matt Kredich (or perhaps the reporter made this error). Coombs, was burned out, and needed a break from swimming. It was obvious she was unhappy in the swim program at U of R.

“I was just miserable overall and it really did show,” she said. “It was not much in my swimming but I would come to practice miserable and not happy. One day, coach pulled me into the office and said I was being a cancer to the team. It was hard to hear. I could see it, but I wasn’t enjoying swimming at that point.”

Coombs said she withdrew into herself and started to feel isolated from the rest of the team. “I didn’t feel a lot of support from my teammates,” she said.

I’d like to say that while I’ve never been a collegiate swimmer under Matt Kredich, I did train under him and found him to be an amazingly inspirational coach. In fact, I can easily state his is the best and most patient swim coach I’ve ever had.

Having trained for a Half Ironman 70.3 last year (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run) and as I am currently training for the 4.4 mile Great Chesapeake Bay Swim – both events that require many workouts longer than 4 hours and often training 12-14 hours a week. I can say that unless you are taking care of your body, sleeping right, eating right and coming to practice in the right frame of mind, there is no way you can make your body perform, even if you are not fighting an illness. I have no doubt that it was a tough situation for both parties involved, but If Matt called her a cancer to the team, her heart wasn’t in it and didn’t feel like she was part of the team, it was likely true.

I love comeback storeis, and I’m happy that Coombs was able to find a coaching program that worked for her and helped her to a national title, but I wish she hadn’t tarnished the name of such a great coach in the process of telling her story.

For Christmas, a heartwarming story of love and sacrifice from a University of Richmond basketball player. It is definitely worth the read.

Moments that find this little family sharing the same space — moments such as today, Christmas, the last day of the Spiders’ six-day holiday break — are fulfilling beyond description. Goring, the younger sister of Washington Mystics post player Gillian Goring, was asked to describe the emotions that accompany a reunion with her son following a lengthy separation.

“I can’t,” she said. “I’m not sure words can explain something like that. I don’t know — maybe some people can put it into words. But I know I can’t.”

But soon thereafter, she did. Goring’s eyes and face seemed illuminated by a glow from within as she recalled a recent visit from Jabari.

“I picked him up and held him and I couldn’t stop smiling,” she said. “I held him for a long time . . . a long time. I didn’t want to let go. Finally my mother said, ‘You know, it’s OK if you want to put him down. He’s probably ready to play.’ And I said, ‘Not a chance. I’m going to hold him as long as he’ll let me.’”

As a triathlete myself, I guess I have a more personal interest and excitement in announcing that Richmond will host the 2008 National Duathlon Festival. This downtown Richmond hosted the 2007 McDonald’s ITU Duathlon Long Course World Championships in October, but this newly announce April event will bring even more athletes from all parts of the country to our beautiful city.
These are athletes who will come and spend lots of money here and then go home and tell their friends what a great place Richmond is. It is just the sort of thing we need. One of the best parts of all is that in addition to the regular National Championships, there will also be Junior National Championships (think kids and their families) and Duathlon Off-Road Championships showcasing our beautiful and unique urban off road bike and run trails. The festival will also occur here for 2009 and 2010. Richmond really has an oportunity to make a huge impression on these athletes and showcase what a great city we are.

Online registration for the 2008 National Duathlon Festival is now open at www.duathlonnationals.com

Pros, age groups, youth/junior, age group participants will all be running and biking along much of the same course that made the 2007 McDonald’s ITU Duathlon Long Course World Championships such a rousing success. The National Duathlon Festival also marks the first time that the USAT Duathlon National Championships and the Off-Road Duathlon Championships will be combined on the same weekend.

The same start, finish and transition area as the World Championships will be used and a closed bike course very similar to the World Championship course will be challenging and technical but easy enough for the citizens races. The downtown Richmond location allows for a proven off-road duathlon location, having hosted the past eight XTERRA East Coast Championships at this site. The location is also easy walking distance from downtown hotels, restaurants and parking.

The schedule (and event distances) for the National Duathlon Festival are as follows:
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Off-Road Duathlon Championships (10k run, 30k bike, 5k run)
Off-Road Duathlon Junior Race (5k run, 10k bike, 2.5k run)
Off-Road Youth Race (1k run, 4k bike, 1k run)
Off-Road Duathlon Sport Race (5k run, 10k bike, 2.5k run)
Sunday, April 27, 2008
USAT Duathlon National Championships (10k run, 40k bike, 5k run)
USAT Duathlon Junior National Championships (5k run, 20k bike, 2.5k run)
USAT Duathlon Youth National Championships (1k run, 5k bike, 1k run)
Duathlon Sport Race (5k run, 20k bike, 2.5k run)
Sports Backers is a 501(c)(3) charitable non-profit organization founded in October 1991 to build a more vibrant community through sports. The mission of the organization is to maximize the community benefits of sports tourism in the region by:
Creating, attracting and improving significant sporting events,
Serving as a resource in the development and utilization of sports facilities and
Aiding area youth through sports outreach programs.
These activities and programs strengthen the economy, provide health benefits to participants and make the region a more desirable place to live.

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University of Richmond has a great women’s swimming program. I know firsthand. From 2002-2004, I swim for their head coach, Matt Kredich, as part of the Triathlonmoms team his wife ran. Since then, the pool has been revamped and the coaches have changed, but the heart of the program is the same.
The Bridgeton (N.J.) News reports this week that they’ve gained another great swimmer, Jill Smaniotto.

“They have a girl that going in as freshman swam 57 (seconds) in the 100 fly and now as a junior she is doing 53 (seconds),” she said. “In a year and a half she dropped four seconds. Their style of training is just phenomenal.”

That style features a more personal approach that focuses on what each swimmer’s heart rate should be at different intervals. It is a new, more scientific, approach that Smaniotto said is starting to get notice from other schools.

At the annual archrival game between St. Christopher’s & Collegiate Schools last Saturday, a record-breaking total of 10,274 pounds of food was raised for the Central Virginia Food Bank.

Together with the help of St. Catherine’s School, the schools’ joint venture is current the number one giver for non-corporations this year. The closest competitor was a government agency at 6.594 pounds. The schools tripled the number of pounds ever brought in by a school.

A Food Bank representative reported the organization as being “ecstatic.” It took 2 trucks to get all of the food to the warehouse.

Congrats on your success, St. C and Collegiate!!

St. Christopher’s and the Collegiate School square off tomorrow at St. Christopher’s football field tomorrow (Saturday, November 3rd) for the popular long-standing game between the two rivals.

In addition, the two schools are working together to raise food for the Central Virginia Foodback. Spectators are encouraged to bring canned items to fill the 220 brown paper bags at the game.

“We just thought this would be a good cause and something we could easily collaborate on,” said Pierre Molster, president of St. Christopher’s Student Council.

“We do a lot of canned-food drives at Collegiate, but we thought this would be a good way to bring a lot more cans in,” said Melissa Trask, co-leader of the Collegiate Community Council.

The Times-Dispatch reports:

Fans from both private schools will pile canned goods into containers placed in front of the bleachers. Each school was supplied with 500 commemorative brown paper bags, donated by the Bank of Goochland, with the fleur-de-lis and paw print logos of the Saints and the Cougars.