Cover Story: Mendenhall Tasked With Rebuilding Utah State Football

LOGAN – Bronco Mendenhall was anxious. Not because he was holding court at his introductory press conference – this was his fourth such event since he replaced Gary Crowton at BYU in 2005 – nor for its setting, marking his return to a head coaching position in his home state of Utah after nearly a decade away, spent across stints at Virginia and New Mexico, separated by two years of ranching in Montana. If the 58-year-old ever had stage fright, 18 years of head coaching experience, including 11 in the BYU pressure cooker and six at the then-Power Five level with UVA, has surely cured him. His off-kilter turns of phrase and frequent reliance on slogans, often mistaken for awkwardness, are simply part of the deal.

Mendenhall's anxiety stemmed from one thing, and one thing alone: He had work to do. With the transfer portal open and a program to reconstruct in his image, each minute spent elsewhere was a minute that he and his staff would have to account for and eventually recoup. The latter unit, expected to strongly resemble his collection of assistants at New Mexico this past season save for offensive coordinator Jason Beck – now at Utah, replaced with San Jose State assistant Kevin McGiven for what will be his third stint with Utah State – was already plugging away at its task of assessing Utah State's roster in full.

"I'm thrilled, and also anxious," Mendenhall said. "Right now, the transfer portal is open. My staff is, right now, evaluating our current roster. Those are important decisions. Hard decisions. Who currently fits? Who will excel? Who will align with schematic changes? The staff is doing that. Then we'll evaluate the recent signing class at Utah State, and it's the same thing. Does this fit? Is this aligned? And then, the institution I just came from, there are many there who want this approach, and then here's the transfer portal in addition to that. The combination of all that will form this upcoming team, and we're on the clock.

"I'm speaking to you and I'm glad that I'm here, my knees are shaking, I'm bouncing, and kind of drawn to other work that needs to be done, but I intend to represent you in a manner that I hope you're thrilled with. Will you always agree? I don't think it's possible. I'm hopeful you will more often than not, but even in the times that you don't agree, you'll understand how come. That transparency and clarity hopefully will provide understanding. In the meantime, good results help soothe differences, and I understand the value of that as well."

He provides, in one aside, the carrot and the stick. Evaluating the roster for cultural and schematic fits is a generous way to describe the process of compelling players to enter the transfer portal and make room for newcomers. While Mendenhall won't come right out and say that, at least not as directly as some of his counterparts in the coaching industry, he couches it with the aforementioned carrot to make clear his point: You may not like how he chooses to gut the program he inherited, be it with a brand-new staff or an already-in-progress purge of the roster, but Utah State hasn't had a winning record since 2021, and changing that in the long-term will placate short-term apprehension.

That might as well be the Mendenhall mission statement in Logan, held to by the new coach and the administration that selected him as Utah State's 31st head football coach a little over five months after the 30th head coach, Blake Anderson, was fired for his involvement in a scandal that drew further interest in Aggie football from the Department of Justice, which has had a close eye on the program since 2017. Utah State University President Elizabeth Cantwell said it to open the press conference.

"When I hired Diana Sabau, and that was maybe 16 months ago – it feels like it was a really long time ago – I charged her with elevating Aggie athletics to the next level," Cantwell said. "We are doing just that. We are rising, our student-athletes are succeeding, and our community continues to support us and elevate right along with us. We're making big moves. I know you all are aware we're going into what is still called the Pac-12 next year. That season will start in 2026, and between now and then, there is a lot to be done. I'm very excited about that.

"Our focus will always be creating and running winning programs. Why is that? Because that elevates the entire university and the entire community. We know that the culture we have here, grounded in student success, is the right one. I think you'll find that Bronco Mendenhall is the right guy for that approach. It's incredibly important to me that we elevate student success every single step of the way."

Athletic director Diana Sabau, who has already overseen an absurdly active term in just 16 months on the job, staked out the same claim.

"His leadership, his proven record and his deep understanding of the game make him the ideal choice for our Aggie future as we step toward Pac-12 membership," Sabau said. "Importantly, his success goes far beyond football. Bronco thrives on investing in and developing young men. He has a profound connection to student-athletes, and he builds their toolboxes for success in life. He has high expectations, and he's a believer in discipline and academic achievement. Bronco realizes the value of our community, and he will be proud, with his family, to live in Logan.

"Family comes first for coach Mendenhall. In fact, this move allows Bronco to be closer to his mother, Lenore, who lives in Alpine. He embraces USU's values of respect, integrity, dedication, continuous improvement and teamwork. His passion for coaching empowers students to become the best versions of themselves, and he respects the rich traditions of this university. Bronco Mendenhall is exactly the teacher, leader, and head coach that our young men need right now."

And Mendenhall, always eager to pontificate on the importance of program culture, carried that tune to open his time at the dais.

"There isn't anyone on the planet who will have higher expectations for our players than I," Mendenhall said. "The greatest gift I can give is that of extreme expectations. Some say high, and that's not enough. Extreme expectations mean, 'Coach, how am I going to do that?' My normal answer is, 'I'll help you.' At most institutions I've been, it was the highest grade-point average in school history, followed by the most service hours in school history, followed by the most success on the field in school history. Those things have happened at the same time. Many in the world of college athletics today think those are mutually exclusive, that there's not enough time, that all we care about is football."

An introductory press conference is no place to put too fine a point on anything, and none of the three did, but the messaging is clear to anyone with a cursory knowledge of Utah State's recent football past. Mendenhall was hired to rebuild a program that has grown listless on the field, and more importantly, that has consistently provided the university with far too many fires to extinguish off the field. It's hard to imagine that interim head coach Nate Dreiling (or the staff he inherited) ever had much of a chance to stick around, given that context. Utah State is headed to the greener pastures of the Pac-12 in 2026, and the Aggies would greatly prefer to make their grand entrance without the shadow of off-field transgressions and Department of Justice investigations trailing them. The easiest way to do that is with a clean split, overseen by a steady, experienced head coach.

For that role, few in college football are better suited than Mendenhall. He took on his first head coaching job almost exactly 20 years ago, ascending from defensive coordinator to the top spot at BYU, charged with repairing a program that suffered three consecutive losing seasons and a string of scandals under Crowton. The Cougars improved to 6-6 in Mendenhall's first season at the helm and returned to a bowl game for the first time since 2001, earned an 11-2 mark in 2006 and won the Mountain West, and never dipped below seven wins (2010 being the lone seven-win campaign) during his 11-year tenure. With Mendenhall at the command, BYU registered 11 bowl appearances, five double-digit win seasons, four AP top-25 finishes, two MWC crowns and a 39-9 record in league play.

Off the field, BYU's Academic Progress Rate (APR) rose from 914 in 2005 to 945 by 2007, holding relatively steady through his decade-plus on the job. From 2005-15, his full tenure, BYU led the FBS with 39 National Football Foundation Hampshire Honor Society selections. Disciplinary issues were, largely speaking, few and far between – two players were arrested in 2007 for kicking down doors after a water balloon incident; that same year, tailback Manase Tonga was apprehended for failing to pay a traffic ticket and providing a fake name to police, and was later suspended for the 2008 season after being declared academically ineligible; defensive back Shiloah Te'o was dismissed from the team in 2009 after a DUI charge; and two players were suspended and ultimately dismissed after a 2012 fight in a Provo restaurant.

The Cougars were accused on several occasions of dirty play, especially after a 2014 brawl at the Miami Beach Bowl, and they... "inspired" NCAA Bylaw 13.1.1.3.2.1, better known around these parts as the Riley Nelson rule, to prevent the recruitment of student-athletes serving missions. All things considered, when put up against the rest of college football, Mendenhall did what he intended to do when he took over the job, and cleaned up BYU's program. Utah State will expect him to do the same in Logan.

"One of the principles that I've learned over time is that the best predictor of future performance is past performance when it replicates," Mendenhall said. "If you look at the conduct of the teams I've coached, and you look at the cultures of the teams I've coached, were they perfect? No. That's not possible when developing young men. But, it was exemplary in terms of achievement in every area of life, and that includes faith as well. It's not a specific faith, but that does mean faith. The academics, performance on the field, and character will be exceptional. There are some mistakes made along the way, as we all do, even grown-ups, but we'll be completely embedded in the community and making a difference.

"This really didn't have to be a part of the conversation, because it's just what I believe in. You're getting the next iteration of my wife and I doing that. This community will love our team, just like we will love this community, and that only happens when you get to know each other. There's a lot of work to be done on that, and one of the best ways to get to know each other is to serve. I love reaching out and serving, and I love for our players to do the same. This is just the beginning, and I look forward to it."

Virginia's issues were limited largely to on-field results when Mendenhall arrived in Charlottesville ahead of the 2016 season, and again, he excelled. The Cavaliers went 2-10 in his first campaign, jumped to 6-7 and made their first bowl appearance since 2011 a year later, and did not dip below .500 across the remainder of his tenure. They improved to 8-5 and upset then-No. 16 Miami (FL) in 2018, and rattled off nine wins in 2019 for the first time since 2007, claiming their first ACC championship berth and their first victory over rival Virginia Tech since 2003. That still stands as Virginia's only win against the Hokies in two decades. Neither of his final two teams appeared in bowl games because of COVID-19 issues, but both qualified. His former players, some of whom have since reconnected with him as assistant coaches, speak glowingly of the work he did with the program.

“He instilled a sense of direction. Anyone that plays football at a high level wants to win. But it takes a real leader to show the way of how to win and to win consistently. Coach Mendenhall already had that track record,” former Virginia wideout Andre Levrone said in 2020. “From Day 1, when he got there, he was the most analytical leader I’ve ever been in contact with. Every day, he had some sort of analytical data point that he and the staff had come to that showed how we could be more successful — on first downs or third-quarter production.

“Everything was tangibly presented to us so there could be no mistake in our minds that if we do this, then it will yield this result. I think it took a year for guys to understand that framework. Once it did, we went to a bowl game. And we haven’t looked back since. We’ve had incremental success each year.”

Though his one-year stint at New Mexico doesn't offer much of a sample size, the Lobos still improved from 4-8 to 5-7, knocked off a top-25 opponent for the first time since 2003, and showed signs of real life for the first time in nearly a decade. Far from unwilling to meet the college game where it now is, Mendenhall and Co. spent plenty of time filling gaps in the roster with key transfers like San Diego State cornerback Noah Avinger, Old Dominion defensive tackle Devin Brandt-Epps, Nebraska linebacker Randolph Kpai, Iowa State tailback Eli Sanders, Cal defensive end Moso'oipala Tuitele, Texas Tech cornerback Cam Watts, Northwestern safety Nigel Williams, and all five starters on the offensive line. That type of infusion is already under construction and will soon be en route to Logan. As for stylistic and schematic questions, Mendenhall defers to the arrival time of those newcomers.

"One of the principles you'll learn from me that's maybe a little atypical in college football, most bring schemes and recruit to the schemes," Mendenhall said. "I'm a who first, then what person. We'll see exactly who we draw and then maximize all the resources we have with enough scheme knowledge of all these different ways to do it.

"Scoring points matters. Actually, I commissioned a study, and the No. 1 influencer on winning a football game is points scored. I paid for that study to be done, by the way. Money well spent. The second biggest predictor in the outcome of college football games is points allowed. We'll do stuff that scores a lot, and doesn't allow many."

New Mexico incumbents had a role to play, though. Quarterback Devon Dampier, now slated to follow Beck to Utah, grew into one of the league's most dynamic offensive players, passing for 2,768 yards and running for 1,166 while contributing 31 total touchdowns. His chief receiving threats, Trace Bruckler, Ryan Davis, Caleb Medford and Luke Wysong, were all at New Mexico for the end of Danny Gonzales' tenure.

Standout safety Christian Ellis was a bright spot in 2023 and a breakout star in 2024. He was joined throughout New Mexico's defense by plenty of familiar faces, from front-seven starters linebacker Dimitri Johnson, defensive ends Kyler Drake and Gabriel Lopez and defensive tackle Bryce Santana to backfield stalwarts in cornerback Bryson Taylor and his primary battery mate, Noa Pola-Gates. Mendenhall's system is built around clearly defined structures, but that hasn't extended to his schemes in some time. He's kept those flexible, especially on the offensive end, to great effect: New Mexico finished 27th in scoring offense in 2024, while Virginia was 21st in 2021, 47th in 2020 and 40th in 2019. He'll have a new coordinator running that show at Utah State, but the idea is the same.

"We have really good coaches," Mendenhall said. "Kevin McGiven, our offensive coordinator who has been here before, he is innovative and creative, and points go on the board running and throwing. I love the chance to have all the players on the offense involved, including the quarterback, and in this world, that really matters. Complementary football matters. We'll need a defensive scheme that matches, and most of my background is defense, but my passion is complementary football. I'll look at the players we have and the ones we draw, and put them in schemes that will be successful with the results we all want, and we'll watch that unfold as we go, rather than declaring it today."

Many of his 2024 players have since entered the transfer portal, and it would be far from surprising to see a large swath of that group rejoin him in Logan. The newly appointed Aggie head coach runs a notoriously tight ship, complete with enough catchphrases, acronyms, and principles to populate every wall of a football facility. Mendenhall's program, which he described several times as "atypical" during his Monday press conference, is not for everyone.

Put bluntly, he's an oddity in the sport. Weird. Unique. Different. He spent two years away from the game to develop a ranch in Montana alongside his wife, Holly. Most college football coaches don't do that. He wears on people, inviting detractors and mockery, at times, but also cares deeply about his players, and generates plenty of loyalists. That's true of his coaching staff, comprised almost entirely of former Mendenhall players, and of the roster.

"It will take everything our players have to keep up with the football demands, and quite frankly, it won't be for everyone," Mendenhall said. "Each program I've inherited, people had the chance to leave, and not everybody stayed. Not everybody wanted this approach of really high expectations. This current team, they didn't choose me. They'll have the chance to choose me over the upcoming months, but let's face it, they weren't the ones who chose. That relationship will grow and develop, and ultimately, the relationships formed will be outstanding. I believe in the power of choice, and enabling young people the power of choice. The expectations for the program will be so clear, so transparent and so consistent, with fierce accountability, that really, it doesn't allow anyone to remain neutral. You're with us, or you're not.

"Ultimately, people that are with us can accomplish remarkable things. When that collective is committed at the level that these kids will be, it's remarkable what they can accomplish, and that's what will be asked of them. I've put together a staff, almost all of whom have played for me. That's atypical in college football, 15 of my staff members have a history with me as their head coach. Many don't take this approach, but when you ask as much, and when the vision is this clear and atypical in college football with what's required, it usually isn't for everyone. I do think it is for Utah State University, the state of Utah, for Logan, for this institution, and I think it's for college athletics. I think more schools will need and value an approach like this. Quite frankly, it's the only way I can make sense of being a Division I college football coach."

More important than the aesthetic of a Mendenhall tenure is the production, and with nearly 20 years of data, it's clear that his program works. It worked to transform BYU, worked to revive Virginia, and worked to breathe life into New Mexico. The NIL and transfer portal era is relatively new to Mendenhall, as it is to everyone in college football, but he has plans for that, too, adapting a color-coded system he developed for team-issued gear deployment at Virginia and applying it to name, image and likeness opportunities for his players in Albuquerque.

"The way I've chosen to approach NIL is with a very simple earned-not-given mentality," Mendenhall explained. "That means that players (earn) by performance, by marks in the classroom, by the way they train in the weight room and by their character. That qualifies them for a chance to benefit from their name, image and likeness. If you're a football player and an amazing student and person, which I think college football is missing, those all have value. I'm looking to acknowledge the entire person. What I've found, too, is that anything given upfront usually diminishes its value over time. When someone has to chip away and work to qualify for increasing amounts, it's amazing to see their growth and development.

"The team sees it, too, and man are they happy for whoever is qualifying for more. The team is excited because, in our system, the colors change, much like in martial arts. You start at white and you move colors. The team sees that color changing and they're happy for the individual, but they're also happy for themselves because the color is changing on the team. They're watching the team become better. I love the idea of each player benefitting from name, image and likeness, and I also crave the idea of how it sustains and builds a culture in your team. Not many are trying to do both, and we are. We do it really well, and that's part of developing young people."

The driving question around Mendenhall's arrival at Utah State is simple: Why? Why come out of retirement for the opening at New Mexico and establish an encouraging foundation for the Lobos only to jump after one season, and why do it for a Utah State program mired in controversy and in need of a full reset? The money – a whopping $12.94 million over six years, plus a $3.5 million pool for assistants set to grow by $500,000 annually – is essentially double his contract value at New Mexico, but Mendenhall isn't exactly strapped for cash after nearly 30 years of FBS-level coaching. He and his wife went out of their way to donate $500,000 to Virginia in 2018 when it was raising funds for a new football operations facility. They sold a property in Ivy, Virginia, for nearly $5 million in 2022.

When asked about the contract, easily the largest Utah State has extended to a football coach, he described it as proof of the institution's commitment to football rather than a deciding factor.

"I certainly acknowledge (the money), and I acknowledge it from this perspective," Mendenhall said. "When expectations and commitment don't match, frustration occurs. When expectations and commitment match, alignment and trust are ensured. It was just a quick check, not a deep look. It was that Utah State wants great football, improvement, success, advancement and growth, and that really didn't have to be through words. That came by what the numbers look like.

"Facts are our friends. A lot of times we can say things with flowery speeches and when it comes down to it, what does it mean? Sometimes, numbers say more, and in this particular case, it was clear to me that this institution and team of leaders wants increased success, wants to commit to that, and sees the value that can bring. That's not just for football, that's the impact on this community and institution and who these young men can become."

It wasn't the appeal of leading Utah State into a new league, either – though Mendenhall won't pretend he doesn't enjoy the added challenge of preparing the Aggies for that jump, especially with the benefit of a local talent base he knows as well as any coach in America.

"(The Pac-12) was a small part of the conversation, but a question," Mendenhall said. "I'm really confident, because I have a great idea of what amounts are needed. I just went through this with launching an NIL program in a relative market. Expanding it now to the Pac-12 and knowing what that will take, we almost tripled it in one year at New Mexico. Will that need to happen here? Yes. Will it? Certainly.

"When you spend as much time in the state as I have and you've been a head coach as long as I have in this state... if I were to show you the text messages, it's a world record. That's influence and impact from the past that's now relevant again. And wow, has the high school football and quality of football in this state grown? It was strong before, when I left Brigham Young and went to the University of Virginia. That seems like it was a long time ago. And now, coming back and seeing it, there are amazing young people here.

"They're tough and gritty with strong character, they're well-schooled and well-taught with the coaches they're coming from, and they're from our state. They would align really well here. It makes complete sense to me for that to be the primary place we start. Not the only place, but the primary place where we start for our program. I believe that for those kids playing in front of their families, and for communities to watch kids from their own communities and state, that connection is deeper. It's more meaningful, and there's a stronger tie. I believe in that, I like that, and that's the direction we'll go in."

The move wasn't in his plans when he took over at New Mexico – not that it dulls the sting of his abrupt departure for the fledgling Lobos.

"I'm so grateful for the opportunity I was granted to coach (at New Mexico)," Mendenhall said. "Holly and I were treated so well. We loved those players, as we've loved all the players I've coached... It was very difficult (to leave). You can't coach effectively without connecting deeply. It's not possible. I guess it is, but it's hollow, and I'm not after that. Never was it on our radar (to leave) after one year.

"I still feel for the kids there. In this world of the transfer portal, they might be more prepared now than in past eras, but it's still difficult, and I think any coach who leaves a program that doesn't feel that way probably hasn't coached them well enough."

Mendenhall is here because a large part of him has always been here. He was raised in Alpine and attended American Fork High School. His dad, Paul, played at BYU, as did his brother, Mat. Bronco began his collegiate career at Snow College and landed at Oregon State out of spite – he told the gathered audience on Monday that he picked the Beavers because they were the only school to offer him that would play BYU, which spurned him first as a high school prospect and later as a JUCO recruit. His sons, Breaker, Cutter and Raeder, are nearby. His mother Lenore, 93, lives in Alpine. He's here because he sees the potential in Utah State's program, of course, and because he's at his best undertaking the type of project he has inherited in Logan.

Ultimately, though, Mendenhall is here because, after a decade away, he was ready to come home. It just made sense.

"My wife and I, and my staff, are thrilled and honored," Mendenhall said. "We're very clear that there's interest in football here. Amazing football transforms communities, and who would think that could happen? The Aggies winning in football, doing it consistently and well, doing it the right way, it can become the identity not only of a community, but of an entire state. I love the idea of the majority of our team coming from this state. I love the idea of us being dominant in our footprint. I love the idea of diversity and difference, and I also like the ability to unite. I intend to have a team that represents us – this community and this institution in a way you can be proud of, not only in how play, but who we are.

"The first guiding principle of our program is family first, last and always. This decision, in addition to this amazing institution, aligns with our first principle. Who in the world gets to lead an amazing football program into a brand-new era, with such a rich tradition, and do it with the support of their family in the same state? I think we have the best job on the planet. I'll do my best to act in that manner with not only results but integrity.

"I hope you're taking that as how significant this opportunity is for us. We think this is a life-changing moment for my wife and me, and our family. That ultimately was the reason. Our chance to continue to do this with our family so close, who gets to do that? It's just awesome. And that it happens to be here, in Logan, at Utah State, with its rich tradition, recent successes, past successes, and the trajectory for the future? Gosh, that just made a lot of sense."