Bronco Mendenhall resigned as UVA's football coach today. There will always be speculation as to reasons but UVA hired a female AD and many of the men's sports have been affected. Lars Tiffany has won 2 consecutive lacrosse National Championships but was not offered a raise on his new contract offer. The football team has been dressing in portable trailers as University Hall was torn down. The football facilities are evidently well behind the times. Mendenhall has Utah roots and Charlottesville is no longer the idyllic town that it once was. He is a quality coach and will probably land on his feet
Bronco Mendenhall Resigns
- Thread starter docrugby1
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Bronco is a fantastic coach. It would be hard to see him not landing a power 5 gig in the next two years.
Good coach, but never won 10 games at UVA which he did four or five times at BYU. UVA seemed stuck in the middle of the ACC. I think UVA was happy to have him, but expected more. Especially with basketball winning a recent national championship and Clemson being “down” this year the ACC seemed wide open.
Very good coach. UVA’s loss.
I doubt he’d be interested in CO St job, but they sure could use Bronco.
I doubt he’d be interested in CO St job, but they sure could use Bronco.
Mendenhall may have never won 10 games at UVA, but he won a division title and took them to the Orange Bowl. Considering the state of the program prior to Bronco taking over (two bowl appearances in 10 years) and the football “facilities” in Charlottesville, they should have been over the moon to have him as coach.
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Shoot why not? My Uncle went there to finish his CFB coaching career. Gorgeous part of the state. He could turn around CSU like my Uncle did.
I live in Virginia. Maybe I’ve just been talking to die hards, but “ecstatic” seems like a stretch. They were 6-6 and finished the year on a 4 game losing streak. They were 5-5 last year. But def. agree that he’s a good coach and this is a loss for them.
I get it. I live in Maryland and from afar Mendenhall appeared to be the second coming. Don't know what you have until you lose it.
"Wormers"! Man, I love that post. It is about as politically incorrect as possible. My apologies to all the ladies on the board.
First thought I had when Mendenhall resigned was the CSU job. My memory is that a big part of why he went to Virginia was because of the horse culture. I know that sounds different but if you are into that type of thing, the big boys are in Virginia. CSU might be just the right fit. Newish stadium, past history of success, rural but close to Denver. Only thing is he suggested strongly he is sitting out for awhile. Right now, however, with all the openings his leverage couldn't be better.
He's a P5 caliber coach. I bet he could build CSU into a Mountain West power that regularly beats the Buffaloes, but the P5 money at a school like Washington or Texas would have to be far too tempting.
So was my uncle(Earle Bruce). He probably will go for the money, but if he doesn't want the stress, CSU would be perfect. He could turn the program around and be given the Fitz treatment.
But the hunting is better around Fort Collins. Didn't we once lose a recruit to CSU for that very reason?
I follow UVa sports and Bronco had nothing but good things to say (and a lot of them which did not sound like lip-service) about the AD. I think he was just burned out after 31 years of coaching. That's what he said and I will take him at his word. He will coach again but probably not next year.
I wonder if Fitz needs a sabbatical? He may be burning out too. He could spend a year at Nick Saban's home for damaged coaches and get some fresh ideas. He'd also not have to watch the train wreck that is his defense in 2022......
That would be wonderful.
Let Long have the team (is he the oldest assistant?) for a year, and let Fitz have a good think.
That's my impression too. The guy has made his money, let him enjoy it for a year or two stress free. If he wants to come back in the next 3 years or so, someone will take him, he's too good to be out of a job if he wants one.
I always viewed UVA football like Illinois basketball, a sleeping giant. Great school, great academics, beautiful campus, good weather, good conference but not the guantlet that is the SEC, and the DMV and the Atlantic coast have some really good recruits. And of course the basketball team proved that you can win big there. Not sure what it will take though to take the next step. Big time facilites upgrade probably.
He would never do it, but a sabbatical would be perfect for a guy like Fitz who has not had serious time away from NU in 20 years. If he could spend a year learning and observing how other programs do it, I bet he would pick up some great ideas and tips.
No, I just mean that U of I is a sleeping giant in basketball Chicago hoops has so many talented recruits, if they could figure out a way to keep them at home they would be a force. And U of I is actually a pretty nice campus IMO, the weather not so much.
They are, but they "only" have a Final Four in 1989 and 2005. Chicago produces an absurd amount of talented recruits who don't go to U of I. Imagine if they had landed D-Rose, Anthony Davis, Juwan Howard, Evan Turner, Okafor, Eric Gordon, D-Wade, Isaiah Thomas, Jabari Parker etc. The list goes on and on and on.
And if you expand to the burbs you could even throw in our own Chris Collins and the new head coach of Duke.
They are light years ahead of NU and you're right they are pretty darn good, but with the elite talent in Chicago they could be even better.
He is getting kinda red-assed. Some time at the Saban lake compound might do him some good!
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I can understand burnout. But I predict that there will be a ton of job openings after or during the 2022 season, and he will be in a position to jump on anything that opens that he likes. I suspect there will be several openings as attractive as CSU.
LOL. (To coin an ancient phrase.)
Hey, the mother of my threes sons is a female. (But I am definitely not Fred MacMurray.)
The conditions Doc reports sound pretty dreary for a P5 institution.
Sounds like a leadership issue not a gender issue.
FWIW, Vandy's AD is a women. I would hire her in a heartbeat. The football team still sucks. But she is everything you would want in an AD at an academic institution. A former high level college athlete who gets all the nuances of "student" and "athlete."
I mean our current AD was a high level athlete in the SEC and at an academic university. We really don't hear much out of him, and that was his MO from his days at Tulsa. He needs more time to establish his fingerprints on this program, but I was always concerned he left the AD business for the NCAA. Then came back to the AD biz at a P5 school.
Well, we can hope it is an improvement over the interim period.
"Northwestern linguistics professor Robert Gundlach will continue to serve as interim athletic director until July 1."
Linguistics professor. I was wondering why I never saw my linguistics professor and my Athletic Director in the same room at the same time. Only at NU.