William & Mary has hired Mike London as its next football coach, the school announced Monday.

London, who once was an assistant coach at William & Mary, will be introduced Tuesday.

London will replace Jimmye Laycock, who is retiring after 39 seasons at William & Mary. Laycock announced his retirement in August and coached his final game Saturday against Richmond.

""This is an exciting day for William & Mary, and we are thrilled to welcome Mike and his family back to Williamsburg," director of athletics Samantha K. Huge said in a statement. "Mike embodies the values and character that we need to lead our football program forward and he has demonstrated an ability to develop players and win championships over his nearly 30 years in coaching."

London has spent the past two seasons as head coach at Howard University. He returns to the Colonial Athletic Association, where he first became a head coach at Richmond, guiding the Spiders to the 2008 FCS national championship. He then moved to Virginia, going 27-46 in six years with the Cavaliers with only one winning season, in 2011.

London, who is 58, went 11-10 at Howard. He also has been an assistant at Maryland, Virginia and Boston College and with the NFL's Houston Texans.