UVA Sports World Reacts to Bronco Mendenhall’s Resignation

See how fans, journalists, and players reacted on social media to Mendenhall stepping down as Virginia’s head football coach

Author:
Matt Newton
Publish date:
Dec 3, 2021 1:16 PM EST

Bronco Mendenhall shocked the UVA sports world on Thursday evening and announced that he would be stepping down from his position as head coach of the Virginia football program at the end of the season.

As is always the case when big news comes out in this day and age, people took to social media to respond.

Chris Long and Ahmad Hawkins were all of us when we first heard the news:

The official UVA sports accounts posted and thanked Mendenhall for his contributions to UVA football.

University of Virginia President Jim Ryan also tweeted to express his gratitude towards Mendenhall.

A host of former and current players tweeted their reactions, which were messages filled in most cases with a mixture of thankfulness and sorrow.

The Athletic’s Andy Bitter gave the move some interesting context in terms of ACC coaches who began their tenure in the 2016 season:

247Sports’ Chris Hummer placed Mendenhall’s decision in the category of “high-profile coaches” stepping down from their positions:

Naturally, there were a great many people sharing their thoughts on who ought to be hired as the next Virginia football coach.

In summary: everyone thinks Anthony Poindexter, who was just brought on as the Penn State co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach in February of this year, is clearly the best choice (someone even changed Poindexter’s wikipedia page to say that he became the UVA head football coach in 2022). Also, there were lots of calls for current wide receivers coach Marques Hagans to remain on the staff. More on that later.

Before Carla Williams makes the call to Anthony Poindexter, someone should check in on Chris Long, who didn’t *entirely* reject the possibility.

At any rate, the reactions on social media were almost as captivating as the news of Bronco Mendenhall’s resignation.