Utah State is expected to hire New Mexico coach Bronco Mendenhall, ESPN’s Pete Thamel is reporting. The 58-year-old coaching veteran is coming off a 5-7 record in his first year with the Lobos and has a 140-88 record across 18 seasons.
The hire marks Mendenhall’s return to his home state of Utah after he previously led BYU to a 99-43 record, two Mountain West titles and bowl appearances in all 11 seasons he was at the helm of the program. After BYU, Mendenhall took a job at Virginia where he was 36-38 with a 22-27 mark in ACC play over six seasons. When he stepped down from the Cavaliers in 2021, Mendenhall did not rule out a return to coaching but sounded like a man who needed a break.
“I’ve been a head coach for 17 years in a row. I was an assistant 11 before then, and I was a graduate assistant two years before then,” Mendenhall said at the time. “That’s 31 years straight of football. My wife and I will have been married 25 years in March. All we’ve known together is the rhythm of a football season.”
Mendenhall would return…
