27 Facts About Bronco Mendenhall

Marc Bronco Clay Mendenhall was born on February 21,1966 and is an American college football coach who is the head coach of Utah State University.

Bronco Mendenhall was previously the head coach at the University of New Mexico for the 2024 season, the University of Virginia from 2016 to 2021, and Brigham Young University from 2005 to 2015.

Bronco Mendenhall has a career record of 140 victories and 88 losses and has recorded fourteen postseason bowl game appearances with seven victories.

In 2019, Bronco Mendenhall became the first Virginia coach to bring both the Commonwealth Cup and Jefferson-Eppes Trophy to Charlottesville at the same time, and his Cavaliers won the South's Oldest Rivalry in the same season.

Bronco Mendenhall took Virginia to the program's first Orange Bowl.

Bronco Mendenhall is known for graduating his players, and his program ranked seventh for most Academic All-Americans during his tenure of over a decade.

Bronco Mendenhall's father played defensive end for BYU in the 1950s, while Bronco himself played safety for Oregon State University where he was named team captain his senior season.

Bronco Mendenhall graduated from Utah's American Fork High School in 1984.

In 2003, Bronco Mendenhall accepted the defensive coordinator position at BYU under head coach Gary Crowton.

The BYU head coach position was first offered to former Cougar linebacker and then-defensive coordinator at the University of Utah, Kyle Whittingham, which resulted in Bronco Mendenhall calling UNLV head coach, Mike Sanford, about the defensive coordinator opening on his staff.

BYU players had been upset that Bronco Mendenhall had not been offered the job.

Bronco Mendenhall switched back to the traditional uniforms with the Y logo on the helmets, which were worn by the most successful BYU teams.

Bronco Mendenhall was named Mountain West Conference and AFCA Region 5 Coach of the Year.

En route, Bronco 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.

Bronco Mendenhall set the BYU single-season record of 1,538 receiving yards.

Bronco 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.

Bronco Mendenhall named former Cougar and NFL player Kelly Poppinga to a permanent position on the defensive staff as outside linebackers coach.

At BYU's first-ever Media Day, Bronco 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.

On December 4,2015, Bronco Mendenhall was named the head coach of the Virginia Cavaliers, after Mike London resigned on November 29,2015.

Bronco Mendenhall had previously turned down the head coaching job at UCLA several years prior to accepting the one at Virginia.

Bronco Mendenhall highlighted roster management as an area where the previous staff fell short.

Bronco Mendenhall's Cavaliers won the South's Oldest Rivalry 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.

Bronco Mendenhall's Cavaliers improved on the previous year's win total for the third straight year.

However, UVA lost its next game to BYU, where Bronco Mendenhall started his head coaching career.

In December 2023, Bronco Mendenhall was hired to a five-season contract as head coach of the New Mexico Lobos.

On December 6,2024, Bronco Mendenhall was named the head coach at Utah State.

Bronco Mendenhall is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.