In case you missed it, we hired Bronco Mendenhall as head football coach tonight.
The release and the name came out of nowhere. It was like D’Angelo or Wilco suddenly making a record available online with no buildup, banking on a big splash. I was en route to pick up my kid from day care when @VirginiaSports dropped this:
Big announcement coming in just minutes regarding #UVA Football. Check for it on @UVA_Football. #GoHoos
— Virginia Cavaliers (@VirginiaSports) December 4, 2015
I was inside the day care and then trying to prevent him from running full tilt into the parking lot when the news actually dropped, and then I had to drive to Charlotte last night, which is why you’re only now getting your reaction piece.
The entire hiring process was handled wonderfully. Hearing every machination an athletic department makes over the course of finding a coach seems to cheapen the process and can heighten the sense of desperation among fans and the media, so it was refreshing that Mendenhall’s name was one that I had never once heard associated with our job, because it means everyone involved — the principals and their various agents and underlings — acted with some discretion.
As for the hire itself, it’s hard to knock Bronco friggin’ Mendenhall and his perfect 11-year bowl participation record when we were only 24 hours ago trying to talk ourselves into 33-year old coordinators or guys with just a couple years of head coaching experience. Under Mendenhall, BYU has won 99 games in 11 seasons, six of their 11 bowl appearances, and has sent more than 60 players to the NFL (and notched 39 members of the National Football Honor Society, which recognizes players who finish their eligibility with a 3.2 gpa or higher). He’s excelled at winning games with slightly lesser talent and in developing that talent once it arrives.
The only real knocks on him are a lack of east coast recruiting connections (which will need to be addressed in his hiring of assistants) and that he’s 100% a defensive guy (he was a defensive backs coach and defensive coordinator before taking the BYU head coaching job). His choice of offensive coordinator (hopefully his choice, anyway) will say a lot about what direction he sees us taking.
Welcome Bronco Mendenhall, and welcome to what is hopefully a new era of Virginia football.
