Bronco Put His Money Where His Mouth Is And Walked The Walk

Over the years, there have been some mighty impressive monetary gifts to Virginia’s athletics program.

During my three-plus decades of covering UVa sports, I’ve written in depth about many of them and personally known several of the donors. Most of them are former Cavalier athletes or alums that loved their university.

On Thursday, Bronco Mendenhall made a historic contribution when he and wife, Holly, pledged $500,000 in support of a new football operations center for UVa. It is the largest gift ever made by a head coach to the school in any sport.

Talk about a coach putting his money where his mouth is. Bronco just walked the walk.

When he was introduced as Virginia’s football coach in December of 2015, one of the first things Mendenhall told Wahoo Nation was that UVa needed a new football support building. Predecessors Al Groh and Mike London had said the same thing during the two ACC expansions, but those requests were ignored and Virginia football fell behind.

Hall of Famer George Welsh said two years ago that UVa needed a new building because it was behind the rest of the ACC.

When new athletic director Carla Williams came on the scene last December, she paid attention. Williams, who had witnessed big time football at Florida State and Georgia, recognized the need for not only a new football program home, but an athletic complex to house many of the school’s Olympic sports teams as well.

She recently announced that UVa’s Board of Visitors approved her proposed Master Plan for athletics including the football building. A fundraising kickoff for the facilities was held last Friday night at Farmington, sponsored by former Cavaliers star linebacker Charles McDaniel, who challenged Wahoo Nation on this site a couple of weeks ago to have the courage to support this new project.

Mendenhall, who rarely speaks about his program without mentioning leadership, took the initial giant step toward this $180 million project. To me, not only does this pledge show leadership but also demonstrates that he believes Virginia football is on the threshold of something big.

The Cavaliers’ upset win over 16th-ranked Miami last Saturday night couldn’t have had better timing for Mendenhall’s program. Not only did it excite the fan base and give Wahoos everywhere something to shout about, but it impacted the recruiting world _ gaining a commitment from coveted defensive lineman Ben Smiley over Alabama, Oklahoma, Miami, Virginia Tech and others _ but also came less than 24 hours after the meeting of heavy hitters at Farmington the night before.

This new building can help take Wahoo Football to another level, just like the Frank McCue Center did back in the early 1990s when former All-American Joe Palumbo and former teammate Carl Smith, among others, made the commitment to get McCue built.

At that point, Welsh and his coaching staff were operating out of double-wides sitting behind University Hall where recruits and the public couldn’t see them. While the future Hall of Fame coach was starting to turn the corner with Virginia football, he couldn’t show potential recruits that UVa was committed to a first-class football operation.

Heck, he couldn’t even get many of the state’s best high school football talent to even come for a visit. All that changed quickly when UVa announced the commitment to build McCue.

“It helped us get Terry Kirby, and that helped us get others,” Welsh told me in an interview years ago. “I think what helped us get [Kirby], because he came in ‘89, was that we had broken ground at that point for the McCue Center.”

Kirby was the national high school player of the year and pursued by every football power in the country. He chose Virginia along with star defensive end Chris Slade, both teammates at Tabb High School. They both made history at UVa before they left for lengthy NFL careers.

“We got ahead of a lot of the ACC when we built McCue,” Welsh told me. “We got ahead of North Carolina for the first time in terms of facilities. We got ahead of almost everybody else.”

Now, Virginia is behind much of the ACC, including North Carolina.

I thought it was interesting that UVa basketball coach Tony Bennett spoke at last Friday night’s event. While I wasn’t there, I’m guessing he told the donors that a new football ops center could do for that sport what John Paul Jones Arena did for his.

Former UVa associate AD Jon Oliver told me a couple of years ago that when a basketball recruit comes to visit Bennett and JPJ, there’s nothing else a prospect could ask for. The building is magnificent, the practice gyms, players lounges, dining facilities, locker rooms, weight room, training room, meeting room, are all first class.

That’s what Mendenhall needs to show recruits, that football is important at Virginia, that it is committed to success and needs the state’s best prospects to buy into what Bronco is cooking.

Tired of one winning season in the last 10 years? Tired of losing 14 in a row to your rival down the road? Tired of a lack of bowl trips?

Time to open up the pocket book just like many before you have done, guys like Carl Smith, Paul Tudor Jones II, Phil Wendel, John Grisham, Chris Long, Ryan Zimmerman, Palumbo, McCue and others have done.

Of course there was the Scott family for whom the football stadium was named back in the 1930s, and their commitment to refurbish and expand in the 1970s. There was also J.C. Herbert Bryant, for whom Bryant Hall was named. That was a $3 million gift from the Bryant family, Bryant having been the first player to score a point in Scott Stadium back in ‘31. There was also the David Harrison family.

I remember sitting at my cubicle at the 1997 U.S. Open at Congressional Country Club (Ernie Els’ championship), when I received a phone call from Carl Smith, who played alongside Palumbo back in the day. Smith, a great UVa supporter, gave me the scoop on his $25 million gift to take Scott Stadium to more than 60,000 seats and all the trimmings.

At that time, it was the largest single gift by anyone to a college athletic program.

I remember asking Carl, how big do you want the stadium to be?

He didn’t hesitate with his response.

“One more seat than Carolina,” Smith answered.

That was a significant, groundbreaking gift, just like Paul Tudor Jones’ gift for the basketball arena.

Jones, and his dad, John Paul Jones, were both Wahoo alums. Paul, in 1976, his father in 1948 (UVa Law). They were and still are huge Virginia basketball fans, and I’ve had the opportunity to chat with both over the years about their love of the Cavaliers’ basketball program. John was a huge fan of Ralph Sampson.

Virginia basketball legend Barry Parkhill took Paul on a personal tour of aging University Hall and showed him the poor conditions of the locker rooms, weight and training rooms, offices, etc., and Jones was appalled at what he saw. He didn’t want his Cavaliers having to live and work in those conditions.

He made a $35 million pledge in honor of his father to build the new facility. We think by the time he paid for the incredible video and sound systems, etc., it was probably closer to 50 mill.

Wendel has been one of the school’s largest contributor to athletics, particularly basketball and baseball, during his more than three decades of living in Charlottesville, although he would rather be anonymous in terms of his giving. Sorry, Phil, but you’re deserving of the credit where credit is due.

Chris Long kicked off the building of the George Welsh Indoor Practice Facility (a $14.5 million building) with a $300,000 gift when he was still with the St. Louis Rams.

Ryan Zimmerman, the face of the Washington Nationals baseball team, pledged a million dollars to improve UVa’s baseball stadium where he honed his craft.

There have been others, many anonymous, just like the other gift that improved Disharoon Park in honor of Les Disharoon. That person remains anonymous by request, although I know who it was, but sworn to secrecy.

Those were all huge, important gifts that have helped Virginia move its athletic program forward.

Now, Mendenhall has stepped up and leads the charge on a building that could help his program make a light years jump ahead of many of UVa’s rivals.

What better way to show confidence in what is taking place under Virginia football’s “New Standard” than to make a grand commitment … no, make that a 500 grand commitment.