Utah State hires Bronco Mendenhall to be football coach

LOGAN, Utah (AP) — Bronco Mendenhall has agreed to a six-year deal to become the football coach at Utah State, the school announced Friday.

The 58-year-old Mendenhall comes to Aggies from New Mexico, where he guided the Lobos to a 5-7 mark in his first and only season at the school. New Mexico led the Mountain West Conference in total offense under Mendenhall, generating 484.2 yards per game.

Before coaching at New Mexico, Mendenhall spent six seasons at Virginia and 11 seasons at BYU. He has a 140-88 career record in 18 seasons as a head coach.

My passion is developing young people and transforming football programs to reach their full potential,” Mendenhall said in a release. “Utah State provides a great opportunity to do both and allows a family focus that is essential to me and (my wife) Holly. We look forward to adding to Utah State’s rich tradition and striving for football excellence.”

Mendenhall joins a Utah State program that has had three straight losing seasons since winning its only Mountain West Conference championship in 2021. The Aggies went 4-8 this past season under interim head coach Nate Dreiling. Dreiling took over the program after head coach Blake Anderson was fired in July after three seasons for alleged non-compliance with university rules regarding the reporting of complaints of sexual misconduct.

Mendenhall gained a reputation for quickly turning around programs during previous stops at BYU and Virginia. He guided the Cougars to back-to-back Mountain West titles in 2006 and 2007 during his second and third season in Provo. Then, after going to Virginia in 2016, Mendenhall led the Cavaliers to their first Orange Bowl in 2019.

Mendenhall took a two-year hiatus from coaching after stepping down at Virginia in 2021 until signing a five-year deal with New Mexico last December. He quickly guided the Lobos to their most wins in a season since 2016.

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John Coon, The Associated Press