File:Bronco Mendenhall, BYU Head Coach, Michigan Stadium, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan (21718683726).jpg

Marc Bronco Clay Mendenhall (born February 21, 1966) is the head coach of the Virginia Cavaliers football team at the University of Virginia, having been hired on December 4, 2015.

Previously he was the head coach at Brigham Young University, where he had the second-most wins in school history and guided the Cougars to eleven straight bowl invitations, two outright conference championships and regular national Top 25 rankings.

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. He is also known for graduating his players, and ranking his former program seventh for most Academic All-Americans during his tenure.

He won 10 or more games in five seasons at BYU, winning a total of 99 games in eleven years. Twice inheriting programs with multiple consecutive losing seasons (three at BYU and four at Virginia), Mendenhall has never had a losing season as a head coach.

Mendenhall comes from a football family. His father played defensive end for BYU in 1953 and 1954, while Bronco himself played safety for Oregon State where he was named team captain his senior season. His brother Mat started at defensive end for the Washington Redskins in Super Bowl XVII.

Bronco Mendenhall graduated from American Fork High School in 1984. In 1990, he served as a graduate assistant coach at Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon. From 1991 to 1993, he was the defensive coordinator for Snow College, a junior college in Ephraim, Utah. From 1993 to 1994, he was the defensive coordinator for Northern Arizona University. From 1995 to 1996, he served as the defensive coordinator for Oregon State. After the 1996 season, he was fired from Oregon State. In 1997, he served as the secondary coach at Louisiana Tech. From 1998 to 2002, he was the defensive coordinator for the University of New Mexico, where he and head coach Rocky Long developed a blitz-happy 3-3-5 defensive scheme that produced NFL first-round draft pick Brian Urlacher, who played in New Mexico's "Loboback" position, a cross between a linebacker and safety.

In 2003 Bronco Mendenhall accepted the defensive coordinator position at BYU under then head coach Gary Crowton. Crowton resigned at the end of the 2004 season which was his 3rd consecutive losing season and Mendenhall was named head coach.

BYU opened the 2015 season playing away at Lincoln Memorial Stadium of Nebraska, coming away with a hard-earned victory against the Cornhuskers, 33–28. They followed up the win with an impressive home victory against #20 Boise State, 35–24. However, a heartbreaking 23–24 loss played in the Rose Bowl against the #10 UCLA Bruins lingered with the team to the following week, when they were blown out, 0–31, at Michigan Stadium against the Michigan Wolverines. The team would recover though and win 7 of its last 8 regular season games to earn a 9–3 record and an eleventh consecutive bowl invitation, all under Mendenhall.

This season would be Mendenhall's last as the BYU head coach. As he had alluded to in his 2011 contract negotiations, it was soon time for him to move on from BYU and its unique situation, opportunity, and restraints. While his brother and father had played for the Cougars, Bronco himself had played at a public university in a major conference, Oregon State. BYU held a joint press conference with AD Tom Holmoe and Mendenhall for his departure, in which BYU thanked him for his many successful years as head coach, leaving with the second-most wins in school history at 99. Mendenhall also thanked BYU for the one-of-a-kind opportunity and agreed to coach the team in the 2015 Las Vegas Bowl against #20 Utah.

On December 4, 2015, Mendenhall was named the head coach of the Virginia Cavaliers, after Mike London resigned on November 29, 2015. Mendenhall had previously turned down the head coaching job at UCLA several years prior to accepting the one at Virginia. The hire gained attention across the sports spectrum, as Boston Celtics president and BYU alumnus Danny Ainge voiced his congratulations to both Mendenhall and UVA on the hire.

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