Virginia introduced new football coach Bronco Mendenhall on Monday and his message on his vision for the program rang crystal clear. “I want and.”
Within minutes of starting his first words as the new coach of the Cavaliers, Mendenhall looked calmly and confidently into the faces of the crowd before him and finished his mission statement with those three little words. But he spoke them with intensity and passion after a step by step explanation of what drew him to Virginia in the first place.
Turning to the backdrop behind him to reference the words printed there, he stated simply that uncompromised excellence, the department’s calling card, is what he’s all about. From football to accountability, from practice to preparation, from academics to character, from family to community, he does not want to take a single shortcut as he tries to re-establish Virginia as a winning program and culture.
“I remain uncompromised and am drawn to the words of uncompromised excellence, because we’re not going to compromise anything,” Mendenhall said. “I like the idea of ‘and,’ not ‘or.’ We will have fantastic students, fantastic people, and a fantastic football team, and it’s not ‘or.’ You’re not going to just have academics or football, and it won’t just be football or character, and it won’t just be character or being woven into the fabric of our community. It’ll be ‘and.’ I want all of that. … I want my coaches to have a life. There’s nothing that matters to me more than being a dad for [sons] Cutter, Breaker and Raeder and a husband to Holly, and you can do both. A cot will not be in my office. I won’t be sleeping there. But when I am there, I’ll be working fiercely and efficiently to help this program and the student-athletes in my care achieve their goals and success, and I want ‘and.’ I want to be a great dad and a great father and a great husband and a great man of faith and contributor to our community and a teacher and a great football coach at the same time, and that’s what I am aspiring to be.”
For UVA fans starving for success after 8 losing records in the last 10 seasons, those words have drawn rave reviews. Seeing a program in need of fresh ideas, accountability, and discipline, Mendenhall’s arrival as a no-nonsense, ranch-tough coach breathed excitement into a program in desperate need of it.
That Mendenhall embraced the core of what Virginia’s athletics department believes is no accident. With a long-term search firm in place, UVA prepared for this ‘what if’ scenario ahead of 2015’s losing record. Candidates were researched and vetted in advance so when it became clear that a new direction was needed, Mike London resigned and the search accelerated quickly. The Cavaliers requested the opportunity to interview Mendenhall and by Friday, an offer had been extended and accepted.
Director of Athletics Craig Littlepage said it was clear in that interview that Mendenhall fit everything the school was looking for with this hire. UVA wanted an experienced and successful coach with a vision and plan both on and off the field, someone that could honor the football and academic demands of the University. Littlepage and company entered that interview with the belief that Mendenhall fit the criteria and when it became more clear who he was as a person – “intelligent, innovative, hard working, purposeful … competitive,” Littlepage said – the decision came easy.
“When we had the chance to meet with him individually face-to-face last week, we listened and listened intently as he talked about his vision, he talked about a strategic plan,” Littlepage said. “He talked about successful leadership in organizations actually outside of sports and outside of football, and then he was able to connect and translate all those things into how that would help in terms of developing a successful football program. And once he was able to do that, we had the opportunity to ask a lot of questions. It became increasingly evident that our new head coach was sitting right in front of us.”
Sitting in front of a packed crowd in the John Paul Jones Arena dining hall just one week after that interview, Mendenhall explained some of that vision and strategy. It is rooted in organizational efficiency, something he studied for more than “500 hours” in designing a specific plan for BYU. He drew inspiration for that manner of running a program from BYU alumnus Paul Gustafson.
It is also based in statistics and analysis. In studying why BYU was successful under LaVell Edwards, his BYU program focused on the things that most often led to wins and losses. It carries over to recruiting where the academics and conduct code of places like BYU and UVA are seen as attributes not barriers. It is drilled into the players through repetition, accountability, and high expectations. It’s all tied together with daily effort.
That vision led to a 99-42 record with the Cougars – and Mendenhall will go for win No. 100 in the Las Vegas Bowl on Dec. 19 against Utah – and 11 bowl bids in 11 seasons at the helm. While he has his critics at BYU like most any coach does, the Cavaliers are starved for any level of consistency. It’s what George Welsh, in attendance at Mendenhall’s introductory press conference Monday, delivered. Mendenhall’s message and plan sounded very Welsh-like in that regard.
“Very few people try as hard as they can at any one moment of their life, and when you do, you recognize it when it happens, and first and foremost, we will develop the will of our student-athletes,” Mendenhall said. “Skill will come along, the position mastery will come along, the execution will come along, but only after they learn to try hard. I don’t know how long that will take. Hard to me is as hard as you can go. That might be different from what we currently think is happening. I believe in a practice format that you earn your way to the next period. We might not practice. We might not make it out of period one for a while until that’s done exactly right. But this will be sequential, planned and progressive, not only on a daily basis but a yearly basis to reach our potential.”
With his intensity spilling into his words, Mendenhall proved self-aware during Monday’s introduction too. He hardly has a corner on the press conference confidence market after all. He understands there may be skeptics among his new team and among fans as well.
“I came in and I was pretty nice to start, and conversational,” Mendenhall said. “I was reading body language, and it shifted toward the end to train and be ready. That was just from what I saw. I believe in the language of body language, and I see even in this room those already fiercely committed and can’t wait to come and support and see how this goes, and others are skeptical. I get it. I will outlast you.”
