Bronco Mendenhall
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Marc Bronco Clay Mendenhall (born February 21, 1966) is an
American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...
coach who most recently coached at
The University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United States, with highly selective adm ...
. He stepped down after the 2021 season. Mendenhall joined Virginia in 2015 after spending the previous eleven seasons as the head football coach at
Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day ...
, and resigned his position following the 2021 season. He has a career record of 135 victories and 81 losses, and has recorded fourteen postseason bowl game appearances with seven victories. Mendenhall is known for his unorthodox methods and "Earned Not Given" motto, even having players earn their jersey numbers each season. In 2019, Mendenhall became the first Virginia coach to bring both the Commonwealth Cup and
Jefferson-Eppes Trophy The Jefferson-Eppes Trophy is an American college football trophy given to the winner of irregularly played games between the Florida State Seminoles of Florida State University and the Virginia Cavaliers of the University of Virginia. The tro ...
to
Charlottesville Charlottesville, colloquially known as C'ville, is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is the county seat of Albemarle County, which surrounds the city, though the two are separate legal entities. It is named after Queen Ch ...
at the same time, and his Cavaliers also won the
South's Oldest Rivalry The South's Oldest Rivalry is the name given to the North Carolina–Virginia football rivalry. It is an American college football rivalry game played annually by the Virginia Cavaliers football team of the University of Virginia and the North ...
in the same season. He took Virginia to the program's first
Orange Bowl The Orange Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Miami metropolitan area. It has been played annually since January 1, 1935, making it, along with the Sugar Bowl and the Sun Bowl, the second-oldest bowl game ...
. More than 60 of Mendenhall's players have been signed to NFL contracts since 2005, including
Ezekiel Ansah Ezekiel Nana "Ziggy" Ansah (born May 29, 1989) is a Ghanaian professional American football defensive end who is a free agent. Born in Accra, Ghana, he moved to the United States to attend Brigham Young University, where he played college footbal ...
, the #5 overall pick in the
2013 NFL Draft The 2013 NFL Draft was the 78th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players. The draft, which is officially called the "NFL Player Selection Meeting", was held at Radio City Music Hall in ...
.10 things to know about Bronco Mendenhall
accessed December 5, 2015
Mendenhall is also known for graduating his players, and his program ranked seventh for most
Academic All-American The Academic All-America program is a student-athlete recognition program. The program selects an honorary sports team composed of the most outstanding student-athletes of a specific season for positions in various sports—who in turn are giv ...
s during his tenure of over a decade. Mendenhall comes from a notable football family. His father played defensive end for BYU in the 1950s, while Bronco himself played safety for
Oregon State University Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering co ...
(OSU) where he was named
team captain In team sport, captain is a title given to a member of the team. The title is frequently honorary, but in some cases the captain may have significant responsibility for strategy and teamwork while the game is in progress on the field. In eithe ...
his senior season. His brother, Mat Mendenhall, started at defensive end for the Super Bowl Champion
Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) N ...
in
Super Bowl XVII Super Bowl XVII was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion 1982 Miami Dolphins season, Miami Dolphins and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion 1982 Washington Redskins season, Washington Reds ...
.


Early coaching career

Mendenhall graduated from Utah's American Fork High School in 1984. In 1990, he served as a graduate assistant coach at OSU in
Corvallis, Oregon Corvallis ( ) is a city and the county seat of Benton County in central western Oregon, United States. It is the principal city of the Corvallis, Oregon Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Benton County. As of the 2020 United ...
. From 1991 to 1993, he was the defensive coordinator for
Snow College Snow College is a public community college in Ephraim, Utah. It offers certificates and associate degrees in a number of areas, along with bachelor's degrees in music and software engineering and a four-year nursing program. Snow College is par ...
, a junior college in
Ephraim, Utah Ephraim is a city in Sanpete County, Utah, Sanpete County, Utah, United States. The population was 5,611 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, making it the largest city in Sanpete County. It is the location of Snow College and is located ...
. From 1993 to 1994, he was the defensive coordinator for
Northern Arizona University Northern Arizona University (NAU) is a public research university based in Flagstaff, Arizona. It was founded in 1899 as the final public university established in the Arizona Territory, 13 years before Arizona was admitted as the 48th state. ...
. From 1995 to 1996, he served as the defensive coordinator for OSU. After the 1996 season, he was fired from OSU. In 1997, he served as the secondary coach at
Louisiana Tech Louisiana Tech University (Louisiana Tech, La. Tech, or simply Tech) is a public research university in Ruston, Louisiana. It is part of the University of Louisiana System and classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activi ...
. From 1998 to 2002, he was the defensive coordinator for the
University of New Mexico The University of New Mexico (UNM; es, Universidad de Nuevo México) is a public research university in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Founded in 1889, it is the state's flagship academic institution and the largest by enrollment, with over 25,400 ...
, where he and head coach,
Rocky Long Roderick John Long Jr. (born January 27, 1950) is an American football coach and former player. He is currently the defensive coordinator at Syracuse. Prior to being hired by Syracuse, Long was the defensive coordinator at New Mexico. He play ...
, developed a blitz-happy 3-3-5 defensive scheme that produced NFL first-round draft pick
Brian Urlacher Brian Urlacher (; born May 25, 1978) is an American former football linebacker who spent his entire 13-season career in the National Football League (NFL) with the Chicago Bears. He played college football for the New Mexico Lobos, where h ...
, who played in New Mexico's "Loboback" position, a cross between a linebacker and safety.


BYU


Defensive coordinator

In 2003, Mendenhall accepted the defensive coordinator position at BYU under head coach
Gary Crowton David Gary Crowton (born June 14, 1957) is an American football coach. He is the offensive coordinator at Pine View High School in St. George, Utah, a position he has held since 2018. Crowton served as the head football coach at Louisiana Tec ...
. Crowton resigned at the end of the 2004 season which was his 3rd consecutive losing season. The BYU head coach position was first offered to former Cougar linebacker and then-defensive coordinator at the
University of Utah The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of De ...
,
Kyle Whittingham Kyle David Whittingham (born November 21, 1959) is an American football coach and former player. He is the head football coach at the University of Utah, a position he has held since 2005, and is the all-time leader in wins at Utah. Prior to bec ...
, which resulted in Mendenhall calling
UNLV The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a public land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the University of Nevada from 1957 to 1969. It includes th ...
head coach, Mike Sanford, about the defensive coordinator opening on his staff. Mendenhall and his wife, Holly, were prepared to tell their sons about the move to UNLV when Whittingham rejected the offer from BYU and accepted the head coaching job at Utah as
Urban Meyer Urban Frank Meyer III (born July 10, 1964) is a college football TV commentator and former American football coach. He spent most of his coaching career at the collegiate level, having served as the head coach of the Bowling Green Falcons fro ...
's replacement. BYU players had been upset that Mendenhall had not been offered the job. In response, BYU athletic director
Tom Holmoe Thomas Allen Holmoe (born March 7, 1960) is an American college athletics administrator and former football player and coach. He has been the athletic director at Brigham Young University (BYU) since 2005. Holmoe played college football at BYU ...
interviewed Mendenhall first in the re-opened search. Two weeks later, Mendenhall was named BYU's head coach.


Head coach


2005 season

In 2005, his first year at the helm, the Cougars finished the regular season with a 6–6 record. Mendenhall switched back to the traditional uniforms with the Y logo on the helmets, which were worn by the most successful BYU teams. Quarterback John Beck, tight end Jonny Harline and running back Curtis Brown led an offensive attack that was BYU's most potent since 2001, averaging 33.0 points per game (second in the MWC and 24th in the nation) and 462.4 yards of total offense per game. BYU tied for second in the MWC and appeared in the
Las Vegas Bowl The Las Vegas Bowl is an NCAA Division I FBS annual post-season college football bowl game held in the Las Vegas area. First played in 1992, the bowl was originally held at the 40,000-seat Sam Boyd Stadium in Whitney, Nevada before moving to the ...
, their first bowl game since 2001, falling to
California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
, 35–28.


2006 season

In 2006, BYU posted its best record in five seasons. It knocked off 10 straight opponents over the final three months, registered a perfect 6–0 home record, and finished 11–2. The Cougars tallied a perfect clip against league opponents to win the Mountain West Conference championship, winning on the final play of the game at Utah. They decisively defeated Oregon, 38–8, in the Pioneer PureVision Las Vegas Bowl. BYU was ranked in the top-20 in the final Associated Press, ''USA Today,'' and Harris Interactive polls, and finished 15th in the final BCS rankings. Mendenhall was named Mountain West Conference and AFCA Region 5 Coach of the Year.


2007 season

Mendenhall and the Cougars repeated as MWC champions in 2007 behind another perfect 8-0 MWC season and 11–2 final record. They finished the season ranked No. 14 in both the Associated Press and USA Today polls, BYU's highest finish in the national polls since 1996. To complement their 16-game conference win streak, the Cougars boasted the nation's longest overall winning streak at 10 games. BYU reached its third consecutive Las Vegas Bowl, again winning in dramatic fashion after blocking UCLA's last second field goal to preserve a 17–16 victory. En route, Mendenhall became the first coach in school history to lead the Cougars to two consecutive bowl game victories in his first three years as head coach. A defensive specialist, Mendenhall helped BYU finish as the nation's 10th-ranked defense.


2008 season

In 2008, BYU finished 10–3 overall and 6–2 in the MWC to achieve three straight 10-win seasons and become the first teams in Cougar history to go unbeaten at home over three consecutive seasons. BYU earned a spot in the national polls each week during the season, including a ranking as high as No. 7. Mendenhall led BYU to a third-place finish in the MWC at 6–2 and yet another bowl berth in Las Vegas where the team lost to Arizona by a score of 31–21. BYU became one of only nine schools nationally to be ranked in the top 25 of the final BCS standings each of the past three seasons, with only five teams winning more games than the Cougars over that same time span. While stressing the need for balance in life, Mendenhall began a string of Academic All-Americans at BYU in 2008 as three Cougars—Matt Bauman, Kellen Fowler and David Oswald—were named ''ESPN the Magazine'' Academic All-Americans, a program record. Junior wide receiver
Austin Collie Austin Kirk Collie (born November 11, 1985) is a Canadian former professional gridiron football wide receiver. He was drafted by the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League (NFL) in the fourth round (127th overall) in the 2009 NFL D ...
was named to six different All-America teams, including first-team All-America from CBSSports.com and second-team from The Associated Press. Collie led the nation in total receiving yards and receiving yards per game. He set the BYU single-season record of 1,538 receiving yards. Future NFL players
Max Hall Max Hall (born October 1, 1985) is a former American National Football League (NFL) and Canadian Football League quarterback. After playing college football for BYU, he was signed by the Arizona Cardinals as an undrafted free agent in 2010. Hal ...
and
Dennis Pitta Dennis Gregory Pitta Jr. (born June 29, 1985) is a former American football tight end. He played college football at BYU, where he was a consensus All-American. He was drafted by the Baltimore Ravens in the fourth round of the 2010 NFL Draft. Af ...
were also among the top players in the nation at their respective positions.


2009 season

BYU recorded an 11–2 record and 7–1 league mark in 2009. Mendenhall's team went 3–1 against ranked opponents, including a 14–13 season-opening win over No. 3 Oklahoma, a dramatic overtime win over No. 19 Utah and a 44–20 Maaco Bowl Las Vegas victory over No. 16 Oregon State. BYU finished No. 12 in the final 2009 polls earning the distinction of being one of only six programs nationally to be ranked in both final polls for four straight seasons. Individually, senior tight end Dennis Pitta earned Consensus All-America honors while setting the NCAA record for most career receiving yards by a tight end (2,901) and breaking Austin Collie's school record for career receptions (221). Scott Johnson and Matt Bauman gave BYU multiple Academic All-Americans again while future NFL running back Harvey Unga became the school's all-time leading rusher with his third-straight 1,000-yard season.


2010 season

After losing BYU's winningest quarterback (Max Hall), all-time leading rusher (Harvey Unga) and consensus All-American tight end (Dennis Pitta), Mendenhall started the 2010 season 2–5 after playing six games against eventual bowl-bound teams. Mendenhall fired defensive coordinator Jaime Hill and took over defensive duties as the coordinator, resuming the position he held after originally joining BYU as an assistant coach. The change ignited the Cougar defense and the rest of the squad as BYU bounced back to finish the year winning five of its last six to place third in the MWC and earn the program's sixth-straight bowl invitation. BYU earned a 52–24 win over UTEP in the New Mexico Bowl. Junior Bryan Kariya was named an Academic All-American, the only FBS running back to earn the honor. On September 1, 2010, BYU also announced that the university's football program would become independent beginning with the 2011 season. Concurrently, BYU signed an eight-year contract with
ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
. Before the 2011 season, Mendenhall filled the departure of offensive coordinator
Robert Anae Robert Anae (born December 21, 1958) is an American football coach and former player who is current serving as the offensive coordinator (OC) for NC State since December 2022. Prior to NC State, he was the OC at the University of Virginia and Bri ...
by promoting quarterbacks coach Brandon Doman to offensive coordinator. He also named former Cougar and NFL player
Kelly Poppinga Kelly Scott Poppinga (born January 31, 1982) is an American football coach and former player. He is the special teams coordinator and defensive coach at the Brigham Young University (BYU). He is the younger brother of National Football League (NFL ...
to a permanent position on the defensive staff as outside linebackers coach. A few days later, Mendenhall hired Joe DuPaix as BYU's running backs coach and recruiting coordinator. Finally, he added former BYU and Canadian Football League wide receiver
Ben Cahoon Ben Cahoon (born July 16, 1972) is a former professional Canadian football slotback who spent his entire career with the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League. He won the award for the Most Outstanding Canadian in the CFL two years i ...
as the wide receivers coach.


2011 season

At BYU's first-ever Media Day, Mendenhall announced that he had signed a three-year contract extension that would take him through the 2013 season but hinted that coaching BYU may not be his football calling forever. According to Mendenhall, "BYU wanted to make it longer term than that. I want to be worthy of the position I have and I'm going to give it everything I have for those three (years). I'm not saying I won't go farther than that. I hope that's reported. It's not three and done. But I'm willing to lead the charge through independence, then re-evaluate." Embarking on its first season playing as an independent, BYU finished the 2011 season, Mendenhall's seventh as head coach, with its fifth 10-win season (10–3) in the last six years, seventh straight bowl invitation and third-straight bowl win. The Cougars defeated Tulsa in a 24–21 come-from-behind victory in the Armed Forces Bowl and earned a No. 25 final ranking in USA Today Coaches Poll. After another slow start to the season, Riley Nelson was named the starting quarterback after leading Cougars to a 27–24 victory vs. Utah State in the fifth game of the year, helping BYU win nine of its last 10 games.


2012 season

In 2012, BYU had an 8–5 season—including a Poinsettia Bowl victory over former Mountain West Conference rival San Diego State—and Holmoe announced Mendenhall had extended his contract through the 2016 season. Said Mendenhall: "BYU is a special place and this is a special time. I'm excited to build on the success of our program over hepast eight years, and I think there's much more that we can accomplish at BYU." Prior to the 2013 season, Mendenhall re-hired
Robert Anae Robert Anae (born December 21, 1958) is an American football coach and former player who is current serving as the offensive coordinator (OC) for NC State since December 2022. Prior to NC State, he was the OC at the University of Virginia and Bri ...
as the offensive coordinator and also turned over the defense to secondary coach
Nick Howell Nicholas Wade Howell (born February 26, 1980) is an American football coach. He is the defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach at Vanderbilt. Coaching career Howell began his career coaching high school football. He worked from 2002 to ...
.


2013 season

After losing defensive star
Ezekiel Ansah Ezekiel Nana "Ziggy" Ansah (born May 29, 1989) is a Ghanaian professional American football defensive end who is a free agent. Born in Accra, Ghana, he moved to the United States to attend Brigham Young University, where he played college footbal ...
as the #5 pick in the
2013 NFL Draft The 2013 NFL Draft was the 78th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players. The draft, which is officially called the "NFL Player Selection Meeting", was held at Radio City Music Hall in ...
, the season started slowly for BYU. A blowout win against #15 Texas that put the football world on notice was sandwiched between disappointing losses at Virginia and against Utah. After adjustments by Mendenhall, the team won 5 games in a row including impressive victories against Boise State and Georgia Tech. In a game against Houston, BYU had 456 yards of offense in the first half alone, and Cody Hoffman became the all-time leading receiver in BYU history while the Cougars set the all-time school mark with 41 first downs in a single game. However, the team's defense was not as strong as usual, and BYU finished 8–5 after a loss in its bowl game against Washington.


2014 season

For the second consecutive year, BYU throttled the #25
Texas Longhorns The Texas Longhorns are the athletic teams representing the University of Texas at Austin. The teams are sometimes referred to as the Horns and take their name from Longhorn cattle that were an important part of the development of Texas, and a ...
on both sides of the ball and won the game going away, 41–7. The team also avenged their loss against Virginia by winning in Provo. Also for the second consecutive year, BYU opened the season on the road in the
east coast East Coast may refer to: Entertainment * East Coast hip hop, a subgenre of hip hop * East Coast (ASAP Ferg song), "East Coast" (ASAP Ferg song), 2017 * East Coast (Saves the Day song), "East Coast" (Saves the Day song), 2004 * East Coast FM, a ra ...
, beating UConn 35–10 on their home field. Another 8–5 season was in store as BYU lost
The Old Wagon Wheel ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...
to Utah State, 20–35. Mendenhall and BYU played a memorable first edition of the
Miami Beach Bowl The Miami Beach Bowl was a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) sanctioned Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) college football bowl game played for three years (2014–2016) at Marlins Park in Miami, Florida. The bowl was crea ...
against Memphis, for which star quarterback Taysom Hill was injured and did not play. The Cougars lost a double-overtime thriller to Memphis and its coach
Justin Fuente Justin James Fuente (born July 30, 1976) is a former American football coach and player. He was the head football coach at Virginia Tech from 2016 to 2021. He was the 2016 ACC Coach of the Year. Fuente was the head football coach at the Universit ...
. A brawl broke out after the game-ending Memphis interception, in which a Memphis player was seen dangerously swinging his metal helmet as a weapon at a BYU player who was taking on four of the Tigers at once.


2015 season

BYU opened the season playing away at Nebraska, coming away with a hard-earned victory against the Cornhuskers, 33–28. They followed up the win with an impressive home victory against #20 Boise State, 35–24. However, a heartbreaking 23–24 loss at #10 UCLA Bruins lingered with the team to the following week, when they were blown out, 0–31, at Michigan. The team would recover though and win 7 of its last 8 regular season games to earn a 9–3 record and an eleventh consecutive bowl invitation, all under Mendenhall. This season would be Mendenhall's last as the BYU head coach. As he had alluded to in his 2011 contract negotiations, it was soon time for him to move on from BYU and its unique situation, opportunity, and restraints. While his brother and father had played for the Cougars, Bronco himself had played at a public university in a major conference, Oregon State. BYU held a joint press conference with AD
Tom Holmoe Thomas Allen Holmoe (born March 7, 1960) is an American college athletics administrator and former football player and coach. He has been the athletic director at Brigham Young University (BYU) since 2005. Holmoe played college football at BYU ...
and Mendenhall for his departure, in which BYU thanked him for his many successful years as head coach, leaving with the second-most wins in school history at 99. Mendenhall also thanked BYU for the one-of-a-kind opportunity and agreed to coach the team in the
2015 Las Vegas Bowl The 2015 Las Vegas Bowl was a post-season American college football bowl game played on December 19, 2015, at Sam Boyd Stadium in the Las Vegas suburb of Whitney, Nevada. The 24th edition of the Las Vegas Bowl featured the BYU Cougars against ...
against #20 Utah.


Virginia


Head coach

On December 4, 2015, Mendenhall was named the head coach of the Virginia Cavaliers, after
Mike London Michael Wilson London Sr. (born October 9, 1960) is the current head football coach for the William & Mary Tribe football program at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. He is a former defensive back and associate head coa ...
resigned on November 29, 2015. Mendenhall had previously turned down the head coaching job at UCLA several years prior to accepting the one at Virginia. The hire gained attention across the sports spectrum, as
Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. Founded in 1946 as one of t ...
president and BYU alumnus
Danny Ainge Daniel Ray Ainge ( ; born March 17, 1959) is an American former professional basketball player, coach, and former professional baseball player who serves as an executive for the Utah Jazz of the National Basketball Association (NBA). A three-sp ...
voiced his congratulations to both Mendenhall and UVA on the hire. The appointment was viewed by many as a surprise, following intense speculation involving
Mark Richt Mark Allan Richt (born February 18, 1960) is a retired American football head coach, former player, and television analyst. He was the head football coach at the University of Georgia for 15 years and at the University of Miami, his alma mater, ...
,
Jeff Brohm Jeffrey Scott Brohm (born April 24, 1971) is an American football coach and former quarterback, who is the current head football coach of the Louisville Cardinals. Brohm played college football at the University of Louisville for coach Howard Sc ...
, and
Sonny Dykes Daniel "Sonny" Dykes (born November 9, 1969) is an American football coach, and a former college baseball player. He is currently the head football coach at Texas Christian University (TCU), and previously served in the same role at Southern Meth ...
as candidates, and drew comparisons with the 2009 hire of Virginia's men's basketball coach
Tony Bennett Anthony Dominick Benedetto (born August 3, 1926), known professionally as Tony Bennett, is an American retired singer of traditional pop standards, big band, show tunes, and jazz. Bennett is also a painter, having created works under his birth ...
.


2016 season

Going into the 2016 season, the Cavaliers had accumulated losing seasons for four consecutive years under London, and a total of eight losing seasons in the previous ten. In the press conference at BYU following the announcement of his departure, Mendenhall made note of the similarities to the Cougars when he took over as head coach, having suffered three losing seasons under
Gary Crowton David Gary Crowton (born June 14, 1957) is an American football coach. He is the offensive coordinator at Pine View High School in St. George, Utah, a position he has held since 2018. Crowton served as the head football coach at Louisiana Tec ...
at that time. Things did not go well for the Cavaliers in his first season at UVA however, as the team finished 2–10, last place in the ACC, and he did not coach in a bowl game for the first time in his entire career. This 2–10 record matched UVA's record in 2013, which was itself the worst for the program since 1981. Though it was Mendenhall's first season at the helm, it was the program's fifth consecutive losing season. Mendenhall highlighted roster management as an area where the previous staff fell short. “What I call succession planning, just the methodical, simple filling of a roster to rebuild and develop, has not been done very well,” Mendenhall said, “and I love doing that part... utit’s hard to develop four years of players unless you have four years of players.”


2017 season

Virginia was picked last in the ACC Coastal by all seven football experts at
CBS Sports CBS Sports is the sports division of the American television network CBS. Its headquarters are in the CBS Building on W 52nd Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, with programs produced out of Studio 43 at the CBS Broadcast Center on W 5 ...
heading into the 2017 season.2017 ACC Predicted Order of Finish
accessed October 19, 2017
Despite the poor projections, the Cavaliers surprised many by starting the season 5–1, including a 42–23 road win against a nationally ranked Boise State team. Mendenhall's Cavaliers also won the
South's Oldest Rivalry The South's Oldest Rivalry is the name given to the North Carolina–Virginia football rivalry. It is an American college football rivalry game played annually by the Virginia Cavaliers football team of the University of Virginia and the North ...
against North Carolina for the first time since 2009, and later defeated Georgia Tech to claim their 6th win of the season and qualify the team for its first bowl bid since the 2011
Peach Bowl The Peach Bowl is an annual college football bowl game played in Atlanta, Georgia since December 1968. Since 1997, it has been sponsored by Chick-fil-A and is officially known as the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl. From 2006 to 2013, it was officially ...
.


2018 season

Despite coming off an improved record and a bowl appearance in 2017, Virginia once again was picked last in the ACC Coastal by ESPN and many college football news services. However, the Cavaliers handily defeated official ACC rivals
Louisville Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border. ...
, 27–3, again won the
South's Oldest Rivalry The South's Oldest Rivalry is the name given to the North Carolina–Virginia football rivalry. It is an American college football rivalry game played annually by the Virginia Cavaliers football team of the University of Virginia and the North ...
against North Carolina, 31–21, and upended the No. 16
Miami Hurricanes The Miami Hurricanes (known informally as The U, UM, or The 'Canes) are the intercollegiate sports teams that represent the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida. The Hurricanes compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic A ...
, 16–13. However, to end the regular season they dropped two consecutive overtime games to
Georgia Tech The Georgia Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Georgia Tech or, in the state of Georgia, as Tech or The Institute, is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1885, it is part of ...
and
Virginia Tech Virginia Tech (formally the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and informally VT, or VPI) is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. It also ...
(27–30, 31–34) despite being perceived as outplaying both squads. The team then regrouped and ended things on a dominant high note with a statement win over
South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...
, 28–0, in the
2018 Belk Bowl The 2018 Belk Bowl was a college football bowl game played on December 29, 2018. It was the 17th edition of the Belk Bowl, and one of the 2018–19 bowl games concluding the 2018 FBS football season. The game was sponsored by the department s ...
. The lopsided victory was seen as a show of strength for not only Virginia and Mendenhall, but for ACC football's standing relative to SEC teams in the runup before Clemson's rout of Alabama for the National Championship.


2019 season

Mendenhall's
Cavaliers The term Cavalier () was first used by Roundheads as a term of abuse for the wealthier royalist supporters of King Charles I and his son Charles II of England during the English Civil War, the Interregnum, and the Restoration (1642 – ). It ...
improved on the previous year's win total for the third straight year. After opening with a win at Pitt, they proceeded to go undefeated at home, culminating in their first victory over Virginia Tech after fifteen consecutive losses in their rivalry. The victory capped a 9–3 regular season and secured the program's first Coastal Division title and a berth in the 2019 ACC Championship Game and
2019 Orange Bowl The 2019 Orange Bowl was a college football bowl game played on December 30, 2019, with kickoff at 8:10 p.m. EST on ESPN. It was the 86th edition of the Orange Bowl, and one of the 2019–20 bowl games concluding the 2019 FBS football sea ...
. This was the program's first Orange Bowl bid since turning down an invite 68 years earlier (for the
1952 Orange Bowl The 1952 Orange Bowl was a college football postseason bowl game between the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets and the Baylor Bears. Background Georgia Tech was co-champion of the Southeastern Conference with #1 Tennessee. Baylor finished 2nd in the S ...
) and only the third
New Year's Six The New Year's Six, sometimes abbreviated as NY6, is an unofficial but commonly used term used to describe the following NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) bowl games: the Rose Bowl, Sugar Bowl, Orange Bowl, Cotton Bowl, Peach Bowl ...
appearance of any Coastal Division member. It was also the Cavaliers' most prestigious bowl appearance since George Welsh led the 1990 unit to the
Sugar Bowl The Sugar Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in New Orleans, Louisiana. Played annually since January 1, 1935, it is tied with the Orange Bowl and Sun Bowl as the second-oldest bowl games in the country, surpassed onl ...
.


2020 season

The
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
cast a pall over the season, and the ACC teams played mostly only each other with FCS program Abilene Christian being a late addition for UVA.Paul Wiley.
Virginia football adds Abilene Christian to 2020 schedule
. ''StreakingTheLawn'', September 4, 2020. Accessed October 20, 2021.
Fans were not allowed at any Virginia home games. The team finished 5–5 and declined to participate in a bowl game. Highlights included an exciting 44–41 win over No. 13 North Carolina, the Wahoos' fourth consecutive victory in the
South's Oldest Rivalry The South's Oldest Rivalry is the name given to the North Carolina–Virginia football rivalry. It is an American college football rivalry game played annually by the Virginia Cavaliers football team of the University of Virginia and the North ...
.


2021 season

UVA started the season 6-2. After two consecutive losses to North Carolina and Wake Forest, UVA won four ACC games in a row, including wins against Louisville and Miami, each on last-second field goal misses by the opponent. However, UVA lost its next game to BYU, where Mendenhall started his head coaching career. Star quarterback
Brennan Armstrong Brennan Armstrong (born October 18, 1999) is an American football quarterback. He plays college football for NC State. Armstrong attended and played football for Shelby High School in Ohio. He started his career with Virginia, where he won the s ...
left the game with an injury, and he missed UVA's next game against Notre Dame. Armstrong came back in late November, where UVA lost a shootout with Pitt. UVA ended their regular season with a close loss to Virginia Tech, a game they have won only twice since 1999. UVA ended the season with the 24th-best offense ranked by points scored and 3rd-best offense by yards per game, but 108th in opponent points per game and 122nd in opponent yards per game. On December 2, Mendenhall announced he was stepping down as UVA's head coach after bowl game, but also said he was not retiring from coaching and confirmed that he had not yet taken another college football coaching position.


Head coaching record


Personal life

Mendenhall is married to Holly Johnston. They have three sons: Raeder, Breaker, and Cutter. Mendenhall is a member of
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...
.


Notes


References


External links


Virginia profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mendenhall, Bronco 1966 births Living people American football defensive backs BYU Cougars football coaches Louisiana Tech Bulldogs football coaches Northern Arizona Lumberjacks football coaches New Mexico Lobos football coaches Oregon State Beavers football coaches Oregon State Beavers football players Snow Badgers football players Virginia Cavaliers football coaches People from Alpine, Utah People from American Fork, Utah Players of American football from Utah American Latter Day Saints Latter Day Saints from Virginia Snow Badgers football coaches