Florida football: Just who is Bronco Mendenhall?
When Florida football and Virginia strap it up Dec. 30, Gators head coach Dan Mullen will be across the field from Bronco Mendenhall. But what do we know about the Cavaliers’ head coach?
In some respects, Florida football drew a bit of a difficult opponent in No. 24 Virginia for the 2019 Orange Bowl in Miami.
Not necessarily because the Cavaliers are a juggernaut because they really aren’t.
But more so because of their head football coach — Bronco Mendenhall.
Outside of having a cool first name for a head football coach, Mendenhall comes into the Orange Bowl with some pretty impressive chops.
They aren’t Florida football head coach Dan Mullen chops, but they are chops.
For example, the fact that before coming to Charlottesville, Mendenhall made a name for himself as the head football coach of the BYU Cougars.
In those 10 seasons, he had a coaching record of 99-43, which isn’t all that bad considering you are recruiting to BYU and you play in the Mountain West Conference.
Mendenhall led the Cougars to a bowl game in each of those 10 years — most of which was the Las Vegas Bowl (six times) — and won six of those games.
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He was the Mountain West Coach of the Year in 2006 when the Cougars went 11-2 and were ranked as high as 16th. Brigham Young won 11 games in three of his 10 seasons and 10 wins in five of them.
Again, not Florida football head coach Dan Mullen special, but not too shabby all things considered.
Now, success has been a work in progress since he left Utah to coach at Virginia. For one, the Cavaliers have had to battle Clemson in the ACC as well as Virginia Tech in their own state. This was the first season Mendenhall won nine games with the Cavaliers.
Just as a reminder, Florida football has posted 10-win seasons in each of Mullen’s first two seasons — the only Gator head coach to accomplish that feat.
But the Cavaliers have improved every season under Mendenhall and they are just waiting for Clemson to slip up to dethrone the Tigers — which could happen in about two or three seasons … or not.
While we’ll get more into the matchup as we get closer to the Orange Bowl, one thing to remember is not to take Virginia and Bronco Mendenhall too lightly.
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No. 6 Florida will take on No. 24 Virginia on Dec. 30 in the Capital One Orange Bowl in Miami Gardens, Florida.