As Bronco Mendenhall shared time with the media early Thursday evening, an impromptu press conference to discuss a sudden and shocking decision to resign at Virginia, one of his shortest answers may have been the most telling. It came when asked how his own children took the news.
Mendenhall said: “Ironic but they basically said we like this version of you better. So I guess I’m different already somehow.”
Those 18 seconds in a 40-minute media session spoke volumes. Mendenhall didn’t look like someone who knew what exactly was different, but he did look like someone who knew what they meant.
Over the span of five days this week, he got a feeling that maybe it was time to leave coaching, tried different paths that would keep him on the coaching course, and then ultimately decided that it was time to step away. As someone who meticulously plans a course of action, who even in this very press conference spoke of sequentially letting various parties know of his decision, he made that choice without a plan. Mendenhall will coach Virginia through an upcoming bowl game and then he’ll retreat to his ranch as a soon-to-be empty nester with his wife Holly. And then they’ll figure it out.
While the timing and speed of Mendenhall’s decision is shocking, it may not be all that surprising. Not in the current state of the world during an ongoing pandemic. Mendenhall had spoken many times about the challenges of coaching these past two seasons and he discussed that, the changing college football landscape, and more during his answers Thursday. Those things influenced the decision in some way.
It fits into a greater shift outside of college football as well. Many pixels have been spent discussing “The Great Resignation” around America and beyond in 2021 as many people have voluntarily left their jobs. For someone as introspective as Mendenhall, it certainly seems to fit his personality to be among that group.
Throughout the 2021 season, some message board fans have commented on Mendenhall’s demeanor as being slightly off. Almost visibly heavy in a way. I think we’ve all seen someone in our lives at a similar moment, in a moment of significant change when it looks like a weight has been lifted. That’s what Bronco Mendenhall looked like during those 18 seconds Thursday. Maybe that’s a bit of what his children saw too.
Mendenhall did not completely rule out a return to college coaching after a pause for renewal, reframing, reinventing, and reconnecting as he put it. It seems more likely, at least in my opinion, that he won’t return to a Division I head coaching role, though. He may not know what that looks like specifically, but he’s at least thought about it. Asked if he thought he’d be a coach that would coach college football well into his 60’s or if he always thought maybe he’d be done sooner, the 55-year old pointed to the latter.
“I think it’s more of the second,” he said. “I remember saying along the way that I would like the end of my life to add so much value that people forgot I was a football coach. And they’d have to go back and look it up, oh, wait that guy, he coached football at some point. I’ve tried to add that value at the same time through football. But I would love for the next part to be helpful to others, impactful to others, inspiring to others, to do things of real value and substance. And maybe someone will remember if I’m wearing an old ball cap or something, oh, wait, you used to be in football, right? And, yeah, I used to be in football. And that doesn’t mean – I don’t want to say because I don’t know. Like after some time if I don’t say, you know what, that’s the very best platform I could do, and I’m needed now maybe more than ever. I could have the biggest impact there. I don’t know. So I’m not ruling that out. But there’s something. And I’m going to find it.”
As Mendenhall shared those thoughts and more, as I reflected on his press conference, three things popped into my mind. Thursday’s Heroes. HB3. Camp Holiday Trails.
Thursday’s Heroes is a community outreach part of the Virginia football program. Mendenhall started the tradition at BYU and then brought it with him to UVA. The program hosts families facing difficult hardships, health issues, and difficulties at Thursday practices and then showers those children with love, attention, and gifts. During those videos, Mendenhall looks his most content and most grateful.
HB3 is the name given to the family’s ranch, which was established when Mendenhall crossed the country to take the Virginia job six years ago. It’s the initials for Holly and Bronco plus the number three representing their three sons. It’s there that Mendenhall lives a bit of a cowboy life as he tends to horse and chores and where he usually finds time for solitude and renewal.
Camp Holiday Trails is a local non-profit organization originally founded by three pediatricians from the University of Virginia. The camp, which has medical professionals on site for all in-person sessions, has hosted children with many diverse medical diagnoses since 1973. Children come stay in cabins and experience many camp activities, yes including work with horses.
Mendenhall may not travel a path that leads to something like that, as he said he doesn’t know what the next journey will look like, but I wouldn’t rule it out. That’s the type of rewarding ride into the sunset that a retired cowboy would enjoy.
A superb article Kris.
Well said. Wish him the best.
Very well reported Kris. An inspiring man. We, as UVa alumni and fans, are blessed to have had him as football coach for 6 years. Godspeed Bronco.
I can only see Bronco returning as a head coach in a situation where the focus is on education and developing young people and not on wins and losses. I don’t think there is a Division 1 level program that fits that mold. It costs too much money to sustain Division 1 level football programs and having a program that is not competitive will not generate the fan and alumni support/revenue needed to sustain it.
Many fans fear that Tony Bennett will jump to a NBA team. I think there is a greater fear that he will follow his heart like Bronco. Bennett is already talking about becoming the Coach that doesn’t care as much about wins and losses as the effort of his players and their development. He too is a person of deep faith as is his wife. I would not be surprised if one day he too decides to pursue a path of renewal with his wife and leaves college basketball for a higher calling.
The concept you are speaking of is something like Athletes in Action or Church Leagues. If you keep score, it’s about winning or losing. Why keep score otherwise. I’ve played tennis with friends where we played games to keep it real but we didn’t do sets where a winner is declared. It allowed both of us to improve weak areas versus playing to our strengths in order to ‘win’.
Hey Kris! Thank you for the mention of Camp Holiday Trails. Being around since 1973 has afforded us the opportunity to welcome so many into camps “walls” and we are so grateful for the support of the community/region we serve. Please come by or check us out online to see what we’ve been up to!
Nice article Kris. Thank you.