Virginia football coach Bronco Mendenhall announced Thursday he will step down after the team’s upcoming bowl game.
Mendenhall, 55, said it was solely his decision to leave.
“I would love to say there’s been this buildup and a long amount of epiphanies and thought, but clearly this week there was a sense of clarity to me that I needed to step back from college football and reassess, renew, reframe and reinvent — with my wife as a partner — our future and the next chapter of our lives,” he said. “I was requested to stay by our athletic director. I was requested to stay by our president. It’s my decision only.”
The Cavaliers have gone 36-38 in his six seasons, including a 2019 Coastal Division championship and the team’s first New Year’s Six appearance in the Orange Bowl.
Virginia finished 6-6 this season, the fifth straight year the Cavaliers are bowl eligible.
“It has been a privilege to have Bronco Mendenhall direct the Virginia football team over the past six seasons,” Virginia athletics director Carla Williams said in a statement. “He has done an exceptional job of not just transforming the program, but elevating the expectations for the program. He has established the necessary foundation to propel our football team upward. He is more than a football coach and the impact he has had on these young men will be a positive influence for the rest of their lives.”
Before arriving at Virginia, Mendenhall spent 11 seasons at BYU, going 99-43 with 11 bowl appearances.
In 17 years as a head coach, Mendenhall has gone 135-81, ranking eighth among current FBS head coaches in winning percentage (.625).
