Georgia Tech Head Coaching Candidate Profile: Bronco Mendenhall
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For a lot of the candidates that Georgia Tech might be interested in, they would have to wait until after the season to try and interview and hire coaches away. However, there are candidates that are not coaching currently and earlier this week, I mentioned one of those candidates in former UAB head coach Bill Clark. Another guy that is currently not coaching is former BYU and Virginia head coach Bronco Mendenhall and he could be a candidate for the open job at Georgia Tech.
The other profiles that I have written include Deion Sanders, Jamey Chadwell, Bill O'Brien, Dan Mullen, Dell McGee, Matt Rhule, Todd Monken, Willie Fritz, Jeff Monken, and Sean Lewis, so be sure to check those out!.
Bronco Mendenhall left Virginia after the 2021 season
Bronco Mendenhall has a plethora of experience as a head coach, first as the BYU head coach from 2005-2015 and then at Virginia from 2016-2021. His career record at both schools is 135-81 and both schools can be challenging places to build a program. Mendenhall resigned from Virginia after last season and here is what Mendenhall had to say after he did so:
"I would love to say there's been this buildup and a long amount of epiphanies and thought, but clearly this week there was a sense of clarity to me that I needed to step back from college football, and reassess, renew, reframe and reinvent, with my wife as a partner, our future and the next chapter of our lives."
His resignation was really surprising to not only Virginia but the rest of the country as well. The biggest question that Mendenhall would have to answer if he is interviewed is if he is willing to undertake a full rebuild at Georgia Tech and if he will be the coach long-term. The Yellow Jackets can't afford to have a coach for only a couple of years and then have him leave. Georgia Tech needs to be sure that Mendenhall is ready to get back into coaching and be there for some time.
Is Bronco Mendenhall ready to return to coaching?
Mendenhall played defensive back at Snow College from 1984-1985 and then at Oregon State from 1986-1987. He got his first coaching gig as a GA at Oregon State from 1989-1990 before going back to Snow College to be the defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach.
There would be a few different stops for Mendenhall as a defensive assistant before he became a head coach and those include Northern Arizona from 1993-1994, Oregon State from 1995-1996, Louisiana Tech in 1997, New Mexico from 1998-2002, and then he got to BYU in 2003 as the defensive backs coach and defensive coordinator.
His first opportunity to be a head coach came in 2005 at BYU and he finished his first season with a modest 6-6 record and a loss in the Las Vegas Bowl. It would not be long before Mendenall would break through in Provo and in his second season in 2006, the Cougars went 11-2, won the Mountain West, and blew out Oregon in their bowl game.
BYU was winning double-digit games by Bronco Mendenhall's second season
BYU kept rolling under Mendenhall in 2007, winning the Mountain West again and going 11-2, and finishing the season ranked 14th. Mendenhall won 10 games again in 2008 and 11 in 2009. After four straight double-digit win seasons, BYU dipped to 7-6 in 2010 before bouncing back with another 10-win season in 2011. Three straight 8-5 seasons would come from 2012-2014 and in his last season at BYU, he went 9-2. He finished his career at BYU with a 99-43 record and 6-5 in bowl games.
After the 2015 season, Mendenhall made a pretty surprising move to Virginia and took over as the head coach. After being at BYU for so long, it was going to be interesting to see if he could win at a place like Virginia, which is not an easy job.
A rebuild was going to be coming and it was going to take time to get Virginia back to a bowl game. That was evident by his 2-10 debut season, but it did not take long after that for things to get clicking. The Cavaliers went 6-7 in 2017 and made a bowl game and then Virginia went 8-5 in 2018 and won a bowl game.
Bronco Mendenhall guided Virginia to an ACC Coastal Championship in 2019.
The peak for Mendenhall at Virginia was the 2019 season. Virginia went 9-5, won the ACC Coastal, and made the ACC Championship game and the Cavaliers were selected to play in the Orange Bowl, which they lost to Florida.
Virginia would precede to go 5-5 in the 2020 season that was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and then 6-6 last year before Mendenhall stepped away.
By all indications, Mendenhall is ready to get back into coaching. ESPN College Football insider Pete Thamel said as much in the segment below:
Thamel also listed Mendenhall as a candidate shortly after the job came open.
So should Georgia Tech take a look at Mendenhall? I think so.
Mendenhall did a great job of bringing the Virginia program back to stability and had them winning the division title in 2019. He recruited and developed several NFL players while at BYU. Virginia is a tough place to win and Mendenhall only had one down season and that was his first one. He would know the ACC landscape well from his time at Virginia.
Overall, Mendenhall is a respected coach who knows how to win. He might not be the most perfect fit and his name would not necessarily excite the fanbase like Deion Sanders or Jamey Chadwell would, but Mendenhall is a winner and that is what matters in the end.
Georgia Tech would be wise to give Mendenhall a call and see if he is interested in the job.
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