Prior to William & Mary, London was head coach of the Howard Bison football program at Howard University in Washington, D.C. A native of the Hampton Roads area of Virginia, London played college and pro football as a defensive back for the Richmond Spiders and Dallas Cowboys.

He was a police officer and detective in Richmond, Virginia with the city's street crimes unit before pursuing a coaching career.

London worked closely with St. Louis Rams defensive end Chris Long while he played for the Virginia Cavaliers.

On September 5, 2009, Richmond upset the Duke Blue Devils of the Atlantic Coast Conference, 24–16, on their home turf in Wallace Wade Stadium.

After beginning the 2009 campaign 8–0 and riding a streak of 17 straight wins, the Richmond Spiders became only the third FCS team ever to receive a vote in the AP Poll (after Northern Iowa in 2007, and Appalachian State later in the same season).

Following the termination of Al Groh, London was hired to coach the Virginia Cavaliers and initially awarded a five-year contract paying $1.7 million per year.

[9] He is the third African-American head football coach in the ACC, behind Wake Forest's Jim Caldwell and Miami's Randy Shannon.

Signature wins in the 2011 campaign included upsets over previously undefeated and 12th-ranked Georgia Tech, at Miami, and at 23rd-ranked Florida State, at a venue (Doak Campbell Stadium) where UVA had never won.

The final regular season game of the year pitted the 24th-ranked Cavaliers against the #5 Virginia Tech Hokies in a battle for not only the Commonwealth Cup, but also for the Coastal Division crown and a chance to play in the ACC championship.

Despite not being able to win consistently, London was able to recruit a small but stellar class for the 2014 season headlined by consensus five-star prospects Andrew Brown and Quin Blanding.

[14] After a 1–3 start in the 2015 season, including a September 25, 14-56 blowout loss to the Boise State University Broncos,[15] calls for London's resignation or termination began appearing in the media and elsewhere [16][17][18] The University had no comment to the rumors and press stories, and many college football pundits did not give the reports much long term credibility, including Mike London himself.

However a bright spot for London was that his sophomore quarterback Caylin Newton was awarded 2018 MEAC Offensive Player of the Year.

He is a member of Omicron Delta Kappa - The National Leadership Honor Society, and Phi Beta Sigma fraternity.