Virginia Football: Bronco Mendenhall aiming to make Cavaliers relevant
It’s hard not to wonder if Virginia football coach Bronco Mendenhall feels as though he made a mistake.
There’s no way to deny the obvious. Bronco Mendenhall is a good football coach. He boasts a 101-53 record that spans 12 seasons. It’s still hard to be a true college football fan without questioning one of his most recent football-related decisions.
After leading the BYU Cougars to an eleventh consecutive bowl appearance, he decided to leave comfortable surroundings (and maybe the restraints) of being the head man at one of the NCAA’s independent programs to lead a struggling program in an improving conference.
On Dec. 4, 2015, Mendenhall was offered and accepted the position of head coach of the Virginia Cavaliers. While BYU isn’t what you’d consider an elite program nowadays, walking into Charlottesville could be seen by many as a step backwards. The eleven straight bowl appearances by the Cougars over the last decade plus match the total amount of bowl appearances the Cavaliers have in their history.
Mendenhall wanted a challenge seemingly, and he got a big one.
It all begins with the talent
The Cavaliers saw a 33 year streak of sending at least one player to the NFL end in 2017. Talent is scarce. So are top-tier recruits who’d actually seek out Virginia as the spot they’d like to spend their collegiate career. Recently, the Cavaliers actually beat out the Virginia Tech Hokies for a verbal commitment from in-state safety Joseph White. That made him the eighth commitment for Virginia’s 2018 recruiting class. There’s a long way to go and a lot of work to be done.
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No one expects the Cavaliers to land a top-ten class. Their 2017 class was ranked 56th and didn’t bring in one recruit that 247Sports.com saw as a five-star or four-star recruit. The ACC continues to improve all around them and is now, arguably, as good as it’s ever been. If Mendenhall is going to improve on last season’s 2-10 record and lead the Cavaliers to their first bowl appearance since 2011, he’s got his work cut out for him.
Then again, if anyone can get the job done, it’s him.