Prominent former college football HC nearing return to coaching

Bronco Mendenhall looks like he will be back in college football as a head coach.

ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported on Tuesday that Mendenhall is expected to become the next head coach at New Mexico. The Lobos went 4-8 this season and fired Danny Gonzales after four seasons on the job.

Mendenhall surprisingly stepped down as Virginia’s head coach two years ago after six seasons with them. He was successful with the Cavs too. After a shaky 2-10 season to begin his tenure with Virginia, Mendenhall’s teams went 34-28 over their next five seasons, including an Orange Bowl berth in 2019.

Prior to his time at Virginia, Mendenhall made his name as the head coach at BYU for 11 seasons. Mendenhall went 99-43. He had five double-digit win seasons with BYU, made a bowl game in each season and never had a losing record.

According to Thamel, the challenge of building up New Mexico is what appeals to Mendenhall, who has not coached for the last two seasons. The 57-year-old is from Utah and coached at New Mexico from 1998-2002 in assistant roles. Mendenhall became BYU’s head coach in 2005.