LOGAN – Utah State’s 31st football head coach, Bronco Mendenhall, received a standing ovation from the assembled crowd on the third floor of the West Stadium Center by Merlin Olsen Field Monday. The crowd filled with boosters, fellow coaches, current and former players and quite a few fans were there to witness what is being billed as the next chapter of Utah State football.
But for all the questions that may end up being asked about what happens on the field, a lot more was asked about things off the field. Mendenhall has no plans to depart from his philosophy of prioritizing turning his players into those who will capable of “influencing (the) community in a positive way.” Mendenhall spoke proudly about having programs that would set new records for best grade point average and most service hours along with some of the best success on the field in school history.
“Many in the world of college athletics today think those are mutually exclusive. That there’s not enough time and all we care about is football. It will take everything our players have to keep up with the football demands. And quite frankly, it won’t be for everyone,” Mendenhall said, later adding, “I intend to have a team that represents us, this community, this institution in a way that you can be proud of, not only how we play, but who we are.”
Utah State President Elizabeth Cantwell and Director of Athletics Diana Sabau introduce USU football’s newest head coach Bronco Mendenhall
This may very well be for the best from an Aggie perspective. The recent 4-8 season aside (the third-worst win total in the last 14 years), there’s a lot hanging over the football program at the moment. The firing of Blake Anderson ended up revealing a dark underbelly of what had been a pretty undisciplined program. The Aggies were on thin ice with the NCAA because of academics, with potential post-season bans a realistic possibility. Accounts of players not taking Title IX and sexual misconduct training seriously also damaged the reputation of the program. Worst of all, the Department of Justice extended its period of oversight at Utah State because of the issues that ultimately led to Anderson’s firing alongside Jerry Bovee and Amy Crosbie.
A new, more disciplined and classroom-oriented approach is something Utah State really, really needs at this point in time.
“We needed someone at Utah State for our football program who would elevate our competitive excellence, who would prioritize our academic success and who would engage as good stewards in our community,” said USU Athletics Director Diana Sabau. “Bronco Mendenhall emerged as that leader.”
Utah State Athletics Director Diana Sabau speaks during the introductory press conference for football head coach Bronco Mendenhall
There was plenty more from this press conference, here are some of the highlights.
Decision to leave New Mexico
Mendenhall’s move to Utah State has led to a wave of resentment from the New Mexico faithful he left behind after just one season as head coach in Albuquerque. The Lobos won five games this year, the most since 2016, and also defeated a ranked opponent for the first time since 2003. That whole program was beginning to feel a rise in confidence and was hopeful of a turnaround for a team that has too often been a doormat for the rest of the conference in football.
All of that changed last week with Mendenhall’s decision. Any forward momentum was firmly halted by the sudden uncertainty the Lobos now face.
When asked about his decision and New Mexico’s reaction to it, Mendenhall said, “watching them be torn and hurt when they heard my decision” was something he “didn’t take lightly.”
“You can’t coach effectively without connecting deeply, it’s not possible — I guess it is but it’s hollow,” Mendenhall said. “Never was it on our radar [to leave] after one year, it wasn’t.”
The fact he chose to leave after one year is something Mendenhall wanted those listening to take note of, that he would leave New Mexico in that situation to join the Aggies.
“I hope you’re taking that as how significant this opportunity is for us. We think this is a life-changing moment for my wife and I and our family,” Mendenhall said. “That ultimately was the reason. To say there was another reason, there wasn’t. Our chance to continue to do this with our family so close. Who gets to do that? It’s just awesome. And it happens to be here in Logan at Utah State with this rich tradition, the recent successes, past successes and the trajectory in the future. Gosh, that just made a lot of sense.”
Mendenhall’s approach to NIL
The 17 years Mendenhall spent at BYU and Virginia, where he accumulated most of his 140 career wins as a head coach, happened prior to the onset of the transfer portal and Name, Image and Likeness (NIL). Those two things have driven many great coaches out of the sport and sent many others into a scramble to figure out how to retain continuity with rosters and maintain consistency in their programs. For several straight years, the Aggies have had 30-plus players, sometimes more than 40, enter the transfer portal within a single offseason. Many expected starters, even potential all-conference players, have left as late as spring, leaving Utah State scrambling to build on its success in the 2021 conference championship season.
That’s the newest challenge Mendenhall has to face and he has an approach in mind that he believes will work and live up to his philosophy as a coach.
“The way I’ve chosen to approach NIL, it’s with a very simple earned, not given mentality,” Mendenhall said. “That means that players by performance, players by marks in the classroom, players by the way they train in the weight room, players by what their character is, that qualifies them for a chance to benefit from their name, image, and likeness. And whose name, image, and likeness isn’t benefited more other than just football. If you’re a football player and an amazing student, if you’re an amazing person, all those things to me, which I think college football is missing, those all have value. I’m looking to acknowledge the entire person.”
College football has seen a lot of stories about players promised a lot of money up front to secure commitments (which sometimes leads to problems down the line if promises aren’t kept), but Mendenhall doesn’t seem to buy into that approach.
“What I found, too, is anything given upfront usually diminishes its value over time,” Mendenhall said. “What I’ve learned is when someone sequentially has to chip away and work, and chip away and work, and chip away and work but can qualify for increasing amounts, it’s amazing to see their growth and development.”
On-the-field style / New OC Kevin McGiven
Utah State identity under Blake Anderson, and largely carried through Nate Dreiling’s interim stint, was that of a tempo offense and a defense that might bend, but wouldn’t break and would play with its hair on fire, aiming for turnovers and tackles for losses at a high rate. That style had its positives and negatives, its successes and not-so-successful times.
With a new head coach, a new style on the field is expected. What will Mendenhall bring? Well, that’s not something he can fully explain yet as he’ll base it on what the roster looks like after the portal and recruiting windows run their course.
“Most bring schemes and recruit to the schemes. I’m a who-first-then-what person,” Mendenhall said. “We’ll see exactly who we have, who we draw and will maximize all resources we have with enough scheme knowledge from all these different ways to do it.”
There was one small nugget from Mendenhall’s comments when he spoke about the offense, noting what Kevin McGiven will bring as offensive coordinator (McGiven hasn’t technically been officially announced as the OC, but it had been reported before Monday and Mendenhall had no reason to pretend otherwise).
“(McGiven is) innovative, and he’s creative, and points go on the board running and throwing,” Mendenhall said. “I love the chance to have all players on the offense be involved, including the quarterback.”
McGiven, who was most recently the wide receivers coach and passing game coordinator at San Jose State, has had two previous tenures as an assistant coach at USU, first in 2009 as the quarterbacks coach. That year, Diondre Borel had by far his best season, with his best marks for completion percentage (58.5), passing yards (2,885), passing TDs (17), total TDs (23) and fewest interceptions (four) among other stats (most related to those four or a combination of them).
In 2013, McGiven returned to Utah State, becoming the OC under Matt Wells who’d taken over for Gary Andersen. Wells took a leading role in the offense, though, taking the play-calling responsibilities for the unit with McGiven being more co-OC along with quarterbacks coach. Figuring out his quarterback room turned out to be plenty to occupy McGiven’s time.
For both of the seasons McGiven spent at USU, he had to deal with injuries to quarterbacks, often multiple. In 2013, he had to get true freshman Darrell Garretson up to speed quickly after Chuckie Keeton suffered a season-ending injury. Garretson went on to become the first Aggie freshman QB to win in each of his first five career starts. He went on to set several other records (though none of these upcoming ones still stand as records today), including the most passing yards by a freshman both in a single game (370) and in a single season (1,446) along with career completion percentage (63.1).
As if that wasn’t crazy enough, in 2014 the Aggies went through several QBs as injuries stacked up. First Keeton, then Garretson went down, even the third string senior Craig Harrison got injured. That left another true freshman, Kent Myers, to pick up the pieces. And even throughout all this insanity in the QB room, Utah State still ranked 51st in the nation in passing efficiency. That level of success in that situation led to McGiven being named FootballScoop Quarterbacks Coach of the Year at the end of the 2014 season.
BYU brought up more than a couple of times
For a university that had very little to do with this whole process, Brigham Young University had an odd role in the press conference, with the Cougars being brought up in questions and stories more than once. But it’s understandable, given the rivalry feeling fans of Utah State have toward BYU. Even more to that point is the fact Mendenhall has a deep connection to the Cougars, having been their head coach for 11 years and being responsible for the program’s turnaround after a post LaVell Edwards slump. Mendenhall’s legacy as a head coach is still deeply tied to what he did in Provo.
Though, in a moment that likely endeared him to the USU crowd, it turns out that at one point in his life, Mendenhall embodied a pettiness toward BYU that Aggie fans can truly appreciate.
Coming out of high school as an accomplished football player at American Fork High School, Mendenhall didn’t get offered by the Cougars, despite his father and brother both playing for them. Instead, he went to Snow College, where he won a national championship. Even with a better resume after two seasons with the Badgers, BYU still wasn’t interested. So Mendenhall vowed to prove something to the school that didn’t think he was good enough.
“So, we just won a national championship at Snow Junior College. It’s clear that I’m not gonna be recruited by Brigham Young University, and I then looked at the offers that I had and looked at their schedules. My college choice was predicated on which of the schools remaining had BYU on their schedule,” Mendenhall said. “Short-sighted, I know, maybe supported by this group, but short-sighted. Went to Oregon State University. Of my remaining choices, they were the only team that had BYU scheduled. We arrived in Provo, beat BYU when I was at Oregon State. I was on the 50-yard line on the Y, doing like a snow angel on the grass, just, I don’t know, maybe to prove that I was capable to them.”
Another notable question Mendenhall fielded was whether the Aggies and Cougars would meet on the field again. The in-state rivalry game had been played annually since 1922 with few exceptions, but the two sides haven’t met since 2022 with no future matchups scheduled. Mendenhall said he’d have “some influence” in getting more consistent games with not only BYU, but also Utah (though there are two future games against the Utes to be played in Salt Lake) and said it is “important” to play those games, “and the outcome of that matters.”
