Bronco Mendenhall is in his first season at Utah State after being named the Aggies’ 31st head football coach on Dec. 6, 2024. Mendenhall has 33 years of collegiate coaching experience, including 18 as a head coach, and has guided 16 teams to bowl eligibility.
As a collegiate head coach, nine of his teams have been nationally ranked, and his 140 career wins — which includes seven bowl victories — are the 13th-most in the FBS among active coaches. In all, more than 115 of his former players have signed contracts to play in the NFL.
Mendenhall returns to the state of Utah after serving as the head coach at New Mexico in 2024. He also spent six years as the head coach at Virginia and 11 seasons at BYU. Overall, he has a 140-88 (.614) career record as a head coach and led Virginia to its first-ever Orange Bowl in 2019.
At BYU, Mendenhall posted a 99-43 (.697) record, including a 39-9 (.813) mark in six seasons as a member of the Mountain West, to rank fifth all-time in wins and eighth all-time in winning percentage in league history. Overall, he led the Cougars to 11 straight bowl games, including six bowl wins, and a pair of conference championships in 2006 and 2007. BYU was one of 11 FBS programs to play in 11 straight bowl games during that time. He also posted five 10-win seasons, including three 11-win campaigns, and averaged nine wins per season during his tenure at BYU.
Mendenhall came to Utah State after spending the 2024 season at New Mexico. He guided the Lobos to a 5-7 record, marking the most wins by the program in eight years. Their season was highlighted by a 38-35 victory against No. 19 Washington State, snapping a 26-game losing streak against nationally ranked teams. The UNM victory was its first win over a top-20 team since 1994 and its first non-conference win against a top-20 opponent since 1940.
Under Mendenhall, New Mexico finished the 2024 season fourth in the FBS in total offense at 484.3 yards per game, fifth in rushing at 253.6 yards per game, and 28th in scoring at 33.5 points per game. The Lobos also had nine players earn all-Mountain West honors, including two first-team selections, which were the most for the program since 2014.
Mendenhall also guided New Mexico to its highest grade point average (GPA) in program history in his first semester with the team earning a 3.22 GPA for the spring 2024 semester.
Before New Mexico, Mendenhall spent six seasons (2016-21) as the head coach at Virginia, leading the Cavaliers to bowl eligibility in his final five years, the longest streak for the program since 1996-2000.
In his season second in 2017, he led the team to a 6-6 record and its first bowl game since 2011. That year, linebacker Micah Kiser won the National Football Foundation’s William B. Campbell Trophy as the nation’s top football scholar-athlete.
The following year, Virginia posted an 8-5 record and its first bowl win since 2005 as it posted a 28-0 victory against South Carolina in the 2018 Belk Bowl.
In 2019, Virginia went 9-3 and won the Atlantic Coast Conference Coastal Division with a 6-2 mark, playing Clemson for the ACC title, both of which were firsts in program history. The Cavaliers went unbeaten at home and defeated Virginia Tech for the first time in 15 years that season, earning a New Year’s Six Bowl appearance against Florida in the Capital One Orange Bowl, the program’s first-ever New Year’s Day Six Bowl Game. Virginia finished the year ranked No. 25 in the final Coaches Poll and set a school record with 449 points scored.
Furthermore, the 2019 team had 10 players named to the ACC All-Academic team, the most in program history, while linebacker Jordan Mack was named the ACC’s Jim Tatum Award winner as the league’s top football scholar-athlete.
After posting a 5-5 record in the COVID-shortened 2020 season, Virginia posted a 6-6 record in 2021 and qualified for its fifth-straight bowl game. That team finished the season ranking third in the nation with 515.8 yards per game and third nationally with 396.2 passing yards, both of which set school records.
Before he arrived in Charlottesville, Virginia football had not had a winning season in five years.
Following the 2021 campaign at Virginia, Mendenhall took a two-year hiatus from coaching before returning to the Mountain West as the head coach at New Mexico.
After a two-year stint as BYU's defensive coordinator, Mendenhall was named head coach in 2005. In his first season at the helm of the Cougars, Mendenhall led BYU to a 6-6 record, returning the program to a bowl game for the first time since 2001.
In 2006 and 2007, BYU went 11-2 each season and a perfect 8-0 in the MW, finishing the 2006 season ranked No. 15 in the final Associated Press Poll and No. 16 in the final Coaches Poll. In 2006, Mendenhall was named MW Coach of the Year and the Region 5 Coach of the Year by the AFCA and was one of nine finalists for the prestigious Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award.
In 2007, BYU finished 14th in both polls, its highest finish since 1996, and concluded the season as the nation’s 10th-ranked defense as it allowed 16 or fewer points in eight of the team’s 13 games.
The 2008 Cougars again won double-digit games, going 10-3, and Mendenhall became the first Cougar coach to ever go unbeaten at home over three consecutive seasons. BYU opened the season 6-0 to run its winning streak to 16 straight, moving as high as No. 7 in the polls. Additionally, three Cougars earned Academic All-America honors, a program first.
The following season in 2009, BYU went 11-2 and 7-1 in the MW, including a 3-1 record against nationally ranked foes. The Cougars earned a season-opening 14-13 neutral site win over No. 3 Oklahoma in Arlington, Texas. Once again, BYU excelled on the field and in the classroom as two more Cougars earned Academic All-America honors and tight end Dennis Pitta was voted a consensus All-American as he broke the NCAA record for most career receiving yards by a tight end.
BYU finished No. 12 in the final 2009 polls, earning the distinction of being one of only six programs nationally ranked in both final polls for four straight seasons.
In 2010, Mendenhall took over as defensive coordinator after a 2-5 start and BYU won five of its final six games, including a 52-24 thrashing of UTEP in the Gildan New Mexico Bowl.
Mendenhall led the Cougars into the uncharted territory of football independence from 2011-15, starting with another double-digit win season in 2011 as BYU went 10-3, winning a third-straight bowl game. The Cougars, who ranked 22nd nationally in points allowed per game at 20.4, finished the season ranked No. 25 in the Coaches Poll, giving BYU five seasons under Mendenhall in the final rankings.
The Cougars reeled off three straight 8-5 seasons from 2013 to 2015 under challenging schedules that saw BYU beat No. 15 Texas (40-21 and 41-7), Boise State (37-20), Georgia Tech (38-20 and 41-17), Cal (42-35) and Washington State (30-6).
In 2012, BYU finished the year ranked No. 3 in total defense, allowing just 266.1 yards per game, and won a program-best fourth consecutive bowl game.
In 2015, his final season with the Cougars, Mendenhall led BYU to a 9-3 record that included wins over No. 20 Boise State (35-24) and a season-opening win at Nebraska 33-28.
Under Mendenhall, BYU tied for seventh among all FBS programs for the most Academic All-American recipients and led all FBS programs with the most selections (39) to the National Football Foundation Hampshire Honor Society, which recognizes players for achieving a 3.2 or better GPA during their academic careers.
The Alpine, Utah, native got his start in the coaching world at Oregon State as a graduate assistant after finishing a two-year playing career as a defensive back in 1986 and 1987. His two years with OSU saw Mendenhall assist with the defensive line. He moved to the junior college ranks with the highly successful Snow College program, serving as the defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach in 1991 and 1992. He then spent two years at Northern Arizona (one as co-defensive coordinator) before returning to Oregon State in 1995 as a defensive line coach. He served as the Beavers’ defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach in 1996.
After a season at Louisiana Tech in 1997, he went to New Mexico as defensive coordinator, coaching five seasons from 1998-2002. UNM’s defense excelled under Mendenhall, earning a quick reputation as a hard-nosed, hard-hitting unit led by All-American safety and NFL Hall of Famer Brian Urlacher, whom Mendenhall served as position coach for two seasons.
After leaving New Mexico in 2002, Mendenhall spent two seasons as the defensive coordinator at BYU before being elevated to the head coaching position in 2005.
A Utah local, Mendenhall graduated from American Fork High School. He began his collegiate playing career at Snow College, where he was an All-American and team captain during the 1985 NJCAA National Championship season. From there, he played safety for Oregon State and served as captain his senior season before joining the staff as a graduate assistant.
Mendenhall and his wife, Holly, have three sons: Cutter, Breaker and Raeder.
BRONCO MENDENHALL FILE
Coaching History
2025- Utah State – Head Coach
2024 New Mexico – Head Coach
2016-21 Virginia – Head Coach
2005-15 BYU – Head Coach
2003-04 BYU – Defensive Coordinator/DB
2002 New Mexico – Assistant Head Coach/Defensive Coordinator/DB
1998-2001 New Mexico – Defensive Coordinator/DB
1997 Louisiana Tech – Defensive Backs
1996 Oregon State – Defensive Coordinator/DB
1995 Oregon State – Defensive Line
1994 Northern Arizona – Co-Defensive Coordinator/DB
1993 Northern Arizona – Defensive Backs
1991-92 Snow College – Defensive Coordinator/DB
1989-90 Oregon State – Graduate Assistant
Bowl Games (15)
Virginia (3): 2019 Orange Bowl; 2018 Belk Bowl; 2017 Military Bowl
BYU (11): 2015 Las Vegas Bowl; 2014 Miami Beach Bowl; 2013 Fight Hunger Bowl; 2012 Poinsettia Bowl; 2011 Armed Forces Bowl; 2010 New Mexico Bowl; 2009 Las Vegas Bowl; 2008 Las Vegas Bowl; 2007 Las Vegas Bowl; 2006 Las Vegas Bowl; 2005 Las Vegas Bowl
New Mexico (1): 2002 Las Vegas Bowl
Conference Championships (2)
BYU (2) – Mountain West: 2006, 2007
Division Championships (1)
Virginia (1) – ACC Coastal: 2019
Playing Experience
1986-87 Oregon State – Defensive Back
1984-85 Snow College – Defensive Back
Education
1990 Oregon State – Exercise Physiology (Master’s)
1988 Oregon State – Physical Education (Bachelor’s)
Family
Wife, Holly, and sons, Raeder, Breaker and Cutter.