After Six Years, Bronco Mendenhall Makes Highly Anticipated Return to BYU
Bronco Mendenhall does not typically begin his press conferences with a statement, instead opting to start right away with taking questions from the media. In Monday’s press conference ahead of the BYU game on Saturday night, he decided to deviate from the norm and begin with a statement. For the entire season up until this point, Mendenhall has not been talking much about his return to BYU, where he was the head football coach for 11 years. But now, BYU week is here and he knew he could not avoid talking about it anymore.
“BYU is near and dear to my heart,” Mendenhall said in UVA’s weekly press conference on Monday. “They gave me an opportunity to be a head coach. 13 years I was at Brigham Young University. My father played there. My brother played there.”
After two years as defensive coordinator, BYU promoted Mendenhall and he became the head coach of a college football team for the first time in 2005. Mendenhall inherited a BYU program that endured three consecutive losing seasons.
His rebuilding effort was incredible. BYU went 6-6 in Mendenhall’s first season and made a bowl game. In his second season in 2006, the Cougars went 11-2, including an undefeated record against conference opponents and won the Mountain West Conference Championship. BYU crushed Oregon 38-8 in the Las Vegas Bowl and Mendenhall was named the Coach of the Year in the Mountain West Conference. BYU repeated that effort the next season, again turning in an 11-2 overall record and an 8-0 MWC record and again won the Mountain West Conference title.
Over the course of Mendenhall’s 11 years as head coach in Provo, he took the BYU football program to incredible heights. The Cougars had five seasons with 10 or more wins as well as several significant victories over notable Power Five competition, including wins against Texas, Oklahoma, Oregon, and a memorable victory over Nebraska in last-second Hail Mary fashion in Mendenhall’s final season at BYU.
“I’ll always be thankful for the opportunities I was given [at BYU], for the institution, and for the unique set of values that align with my faith and the development of young people,” Mendenhall said.
Mendenhall did more than just build BYU football into a winning program. He oversaw the team’s departure from the Mountain West Conference to become an independent in 2010 and was one of the earliest and most fervent advocates for BYU to join a Power Five conference. On September 22nd, 2021, the Big 12 Conference announced that BYU would be added as a member of the Big 12 starting in 2023, the culmination of efforts that began with Mendenhall. Despite having been away from BYU for six years, it was clear that that news meant a great deal to Mendenhall.
“I was probably the most aggressive in the push for the Big 12 in my time and probably told to tone it down a little at some point, but I thought it would be the exact right fit, the exact right match, and besides planting seeds, I was trying to harvest seeds at the same time,” said Mendenhall. “I’m glad that there has been some realignment and that BYU is acknowledged and I think it’s great for the institution. I think it’s good for college football and man, did I want that to happen bad when I was there and to see it finally come to fruition, yeah, pretty cool.”
Mendenhall was named the head football coach at the University of Virginia on December 4th, 2015. He asked 14 members of his BYU coaching staff to accompany him to Charlottesville and all 14 said yes.
“I invited 14 families or people and all 14 accepted and we have, from the statistics given to me, the most stable staff in college football,” said Mendenhall. “I'm thankful they all came. I have a pretty simple principle, as you guys know, that I just won’t work with anyone I don’t like. These are my friends and I think that’s pretty rare in college football, that you get to work with people that you are friends with, and I consider myself lucky.”
Current members of the UVA football staff who have prior connections with BYU include offensive coordinator Robert Anae, defensive coordinator Nick Howell, co-defensive coordinator Kelly Poppinga, quarterbacks coach Jason Beck, running backs coach Mark Atuaia, offensive line coach Garett Tujague, safeties coach Shane Hunter, and director of sports analytics Matt Edwards.
After six years, Bronco Mendenhall is making his long-awaited return to Provo to face his former team, but it was very clear that playing this game against BYU was not at all his decision.
“I do remember when I was announced (I was) leaving BYU that I wouldn’t play this game,” Mendenhall said. “I just didn’t know how to make it any clearer. But that didn’t happen and I just learned I’m not the one that decides.”
Mendenhall noted that it is easier to play against BYU now that there are essentially zero players on the team that he coached or recruited.
He expressed appreciation for his time at BYU and what it has prepared him to accomplish at UVA, but Mendenhall emphasized that the primary focus of the week is on winning a football game and preparing his current team to accomplish that goal to the best of his ability.
“I would just like to express gratitude for that experience and that really allowed me to come to the University of Virginia and be ready, capable, and it’s been one of the most amazing experiences of my life… It’s an amazing experience to now be able to return, but it’s been six years and I’m the coach of the University of Virginia and so thankful to be here and to continue to learn and grow and progress.”
“I’ve had six years to go through the emotions,” Mendenhall continued. “My job is to do the very best that I can for my team and hopefully, be an example and teach principles and guidelines that will help these kids in their lives.”
There will be plenty of distractions right up until the start of the game, as it is expected that the BYU fans will give Mendenhall an ovation upon his return. But when the ball is kicked on Saturday night, you can bet that Mendenhall’s sole focus will be beating BYU and extending Virginia’s winning streak to five games.
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