Bronco Mendenhall to Step Down as Virginia Football Coach

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. –  Virginia Fralin Family Head Football Coach Bronco Mendenhall announced today he will step down from his position as the Cavaliers’ head football coach following the team’s upcoming bowl game.

“It has been a privilege to have Bronco Mendenhall direct the Virginia football team over the past six seasons,” said Virginia athletics director Carla Williams. “He has done an exceptional job of not just transforming the program, but elevating the expectations for the program. He has established the necessary foundation to propel our football team upward. He is more than a football coach and the impact he has had on these young men will be a positive influence for the rest of their lives.

“In his own, understated way, he had a tremendous impact on our local community with the Thursday’s Heroes Program and with his  encouragement of his players to be proactively involved in so many local community organizations.

“He is an amazing colleague to our other coaches and staff, always willing to help wherever it is needed. I have been blessed to have been able to work with him these last four years  and I wish he and Holly the very best in their next chapter.”

Mendenhall is in his sixth season at Virginia. He has led the Cavaliers to a 36-38 record including a 6-6 record this season. This marks the fifth consecutive season UVA is bowl eligible during his tenure.

Mendenhall guided the Cavaliers to the 2019 Atlantic Coast Conference Coastal Division championship and the program’s first New Year’s Six Bowl appearance when the Cavaliers faced Florida in the 2019 Orange Bowl. The team competed in the Military Bowl in 2017 and the Belk Bowl in 2018, defeating South Carolina 28-0.

Mendenhall’s 17-year record as a head coach stands at 135-81. He ranks eighth among current Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) head coaches in terms of winning percentage (.625). Between 2005 and 2015 he headed up the program at Brigham Young, directing the Cougars to a 99-43 record and 11 bowl appearances. With seven career bowl victories, Mendenhall figures 12th among active coaches and 36th all-time in that category.

A native of Alpine, Utah, Mendenhall graduated from Oregon State in 1988. He served as an assistant coach or graduate assistant coach for 16 years prior to being named the head coach at BYU in 2005. He was a graduate assistant coach at Oregon State from 1989 to 1990, worked at Snow College (Utah) in 1991 and 1992, North Arizona in 1993 and 1994 and returned to Oregon State in 1995. In 1996, at the age of 29, he became the youngest defensive coordinator in Pac-10 Conference history.

He coached at Louisiana Tech in 1997 and moved to New Mexico in 1998. He joined the BYU staff in 2003 as the team’s defensive coordinator.

Mendenhall and his wife, Holly, have three sons, Raeder, Breaker and Cutter.

Virginia is expected to receive a post-season bowl invitation on Sunday, Dec. 5.