Bronco Mendenhall

Marc Bronco Clay Mendenhall (born February 21, 1966) is the head coach of the Virginia Cavaliers football team at the University of Virginia. Previously he was a highly successful head coach of the BYU Cougars football team, leaving for Virginia with the second-most wins in school history, eleven consecutive bowl invitations, five 10-win seasons, and regular national Top 25 rankings. He won a total of 99 games in his eleven years there. Mendenhall is known as a turnaround specialist. He is also known for his unorthodox methods and "Earned Not Given" motto, even making players earn their jersey numbers each season. He selects a Virginia player after each win to smash a giant stone with a sledgehammer. In 2019, Mendenhall became the first Virginia coach to bring both the Commonwealth Cup and Jefferson-Eppes Trophy to Charlottesville at the same time, and his Cavaliers also won the South's Oldest Rivalry in that same season. More than 60 of Mendenhall's players have been signed to NFL contracts since 2005 including Ezekiel Ansah, the #5 overall pick in the 2013 NFL Draft. Mendenhall is also known for graduating his players, and his program ranked seventh for most Academic All-Americans during his tenure of over a decade. Mendenhall comes from a notable football family. His father played defensive end for BYU in the 1950s, while Bronco himself played safety for Oregon State where he was named team captain his senior season. His brother Mat Mendenhall started at defensive end for the Super Bowl Champion Washington Redskins in Super Bowl XVII.