Bronco’s return to BYU will stir emotions, but it’s still all about football

By Jerry Ratcliffe

The obvious sidebar to Virginia’s visit to BYU on Saturday night is Bronco Mendenhall’s return to Provo, where he was head coach of the Cougars for 11 seasons (assistant for two).

Most of BYU Nation was stunned when Mendenhall exited to come east for another challenge six years ago. I clearly remember that day. My source called to give me the break on the story, but first asked me to guess who the coach was going to be.

I struck out on all my choices. When my source revealed it was Bronco Mendenhall, I was blown away because I didn’t think Mendenhall would ever consider leaving BYU. At the time, I wasn’t aware of how frustrating it was for Mendenhall to try to put together a solid schedule as an independent.

Bronco wanted BYU in a conference, preferably a Power Five league, but the school resisted.

“I was probably the most aggressive in the push for the Big 12 in my time, and probably told to tone it down a little at some point, but I thought it would be the exact right fit, the exact right match, and besides planting seeds, I was trying to harvest seeds at the same time,” Mendenhall said Monday during his weekly UVA press conference.

“I remember Utah leaving to the Pac-12 and TCU going to the Big 12, and we (BYU) chose to go independent, and I remember at that time saying this is not sustainable, and I was kind of doing my own personal lobbying behind the scenes for the Big 12.”

BYU has announced that it has now accepted an invitation to join the Big 12.

That was part of Mendenhall’s frustration while at BYU, but all water under the bridge.

I remember that when I broke the story on my Twitter account, I was surprised how stunned BYU fans and supporters were of the news. Apparently, while I had posted the story, Mendenhall was informing the BYU team that he was leaving.

I was immediately contacted by BYUtv, a global network that has 65-million cable and satellite subscribers in the U.S., and asked to come on live and talk about the story.

Certainly it had to be a difficult decision for Mendenhall to make the move. Later, when he found out that UVA had a future four-game series lined up with BYU, he expressed that he didn’t want to play any of those games, but BYU would not back out of Saturday’s game.

Both teams are 6-2, BYU having beaten four Pac-12 teams already this year, moving back into the AP Top 25 in the last spot.

What made the move so difficult was that Mendenhall was asking his staff to move from their roots in Provo, all the way across the country. When you’re moving families, it is always tough.

“I invited 14 families … and all 14 accepted, and we have, from the statistics given me, the most stable staff in college football, and at that time we had the most little kids in college football, so it was the giant reverse Lewis-and-Clark migration,” Mendenhall said Monday.

“Man, there were some hard transitions. Young moms with little kids, and their moms, the mom’s moms are still back in Provo and that’s tough, because that’s the babysitter, and that’s a huge thing.

“There hasn’t been anything easy, but wow, has it galvanized our relationships. Myself and my staff were really close before, but not like this, and making this move together.

“And then in my faith, a local congregation is called a ward, and all but one of my staff members is in the same ward, so we’re teaching Sunday school classes to others’ little kids and primary, and I’m teaching adults in gospel doctrine, which is the adult thing, and they’re the same guys I’m working with and their wives. It has absolutely transferred our relationships in a way that I couldn’t ever have imagined.”

Mendenhall said he was thankful they came, or otherwise he would have had to hire a new or partially new staff. Because he will not work with anyone he doesn’t like, that could have become challenging.

“These are my friends, and I think that’s pretty rare in college football, that you get to work with people that you are friends with, so I consider myself lucky.”

Lots of times, Mendenhall will open his press conference by going straight to questions. This time, he figured he would get all the “return to BYU” stuff out of the way early with an opening statement.

“BYU is near and dear to my heart,” Mendenhall said. “They gave me an opportunity to be a head coach … 13 years I was at Brigham Young University.”

His father played at BYU. His brother played at BYU. He has two sons serving missions as BYU students.

He has no idea of what kind of reception he will get when Virginia takes the field late Saturday night (10:15 p.m. Eastern time), although BYU coach Kalani Sitake said Monday afternoon that he and his coaching staff would personally give Mendenhall and Virginia’s staff a warm welcome back to Lavell Edwards Stadium, and hopes BYU fans will do the same.

“There’s a lot of BYU guys on that staff,” Sitake said. “We watch a lot of UVA games and support them to win. We still consider all those guys BYU guys. I have tons of respect for Bronco.”

Mendenhall said he doesn’t think it will be an emotional return, but how could it not be?

“It’s an amazing experience to now be able to return, but it’s been six years, and I’m the coach of the University of Virginia and so thankful to be here and to continue to learn and grow and progress,” he said. “I’ll always be thankful for the opportunities I was given for the institution — I’m talking about BYU — and for the unique set of values that align with my faith and the development of young people.

“My wife and I, my kids, we love Charlottesville. We love this institution. We love everything about this journey we’re on and all the hard work that it’s taken to restore and build and return a program to what it once was and hopefully continue to add value in that way.

“I think that’s what all of us want to do, is make a difference that lasts. I love doing the best I can for a place, for an institution, for a community, and it continues to thrive after, and that to me is kind of the most rewarding part.”

Several present-day Cougars were recruited by Mendenhall and his staff, although none of them played for Mendenhall. 

“I know that I’m one of the few on the team that was actually recruited by Bronco,” BYU defensive lineman Uriah Leitaua said Monday. “I love Bronco, love his staff, but this is our team now. I love Kalani, I love everything he’s done for us here.”

BYU quarterback Jaren Hall was also recruited by UVA’s current staff.

“I mean, just love and respect, the steeple of BYU football,” Hall said of Mendenhall. “Coach Mendenhall spent a lot of years here in this program and did a lot of great things. You know, love and respect and appreciation for the time he spent here.”

Las Vegas isn’t laying down that kind of respect for Bronco’s return home. BYU opened as a 1-point favorite, but that has grown to 2-½ points.

BYU owes a measure of gratitude to Mendenhall, as he served for two years as defensive coordinator to head coach Gary Crowton, who ran the program into the ground. Under Crowton, the Cougars suffered through three straight losing seasons in addition to honor-code issues that embarrassed the university and the church.

Both teams are bowl-eligible, and a win in this game for either program could launch them to bigger things.