Table for 2 Season 3 Ep 7- UNM Lobo Football Head Coach Bronco Mendenhall

[Music] coach welcome to Frontier restaurant in Albuquerque good to see you thanks it's great to be here well um you know we were talking off camera about um a whirlwind uh in from the time this job came open to the time you were here for a press conference was just over two weeks so what was that like man uh it's hard to describe so in the world of College athletics right um in college football about 15 to 35 coaches turn over every year it's that volatile and man it just so happened we had just finished building our Ranch in Montana and I was contacted by two other schools that were doing searches so my alma mat Oregon State um and then there's a school pretty close by an arrival of ours Boise State and and so there were I was involved in those search is ongoing and really had just been uh cheering and CU I coached uh coach Gonzalez and so I Coach Danny through his career here and was really hoping and pulling for New Mexico to have success not intending on that being an option so I was thinking something else and and so I had mixed feelings uh New Mexico calls and so there is dang because of Danny and then um but also an Intrigue for a place that I cared about so much 25 years ago and Rocky and I gosh Rocky becomes the head coach and I'm his defensive coordinator and man we win three games our first year and then we work like crazy and we win four and then we work like crazy and win five the next year and then it doubles down to six and we went seven and the year I left we we went eight and um I just L that transformative process I loved Albuquerque and I just love doing hard things and helping programs transition but helping build young people so all all of that is in my mind while New Mexico calls and um like most cases the interviews aren't on campus they're kind of secretive they're off at another place and so um I go up to Las Vegas and I agreed to have an interview and 2 days later um maybe 3 days um the deal is done and I'm here being announced that in the press conference and man during that time um and it doesn't take long now in the world of the transfer portal um and the players love Coach G right so other players by then I think there were 19 that have already left in the portal by the time I arrived and so I was introduced to maybe a third of the team um welcome back to Albuquerque and then it was working to build the roster and here we are now the first day of school having our first team meeting yesterday with the whole team bringing in 21 new transfer players uh another one on his way having them integrate with our existing team getting them admitted to school finding housing and going through our first workout and then meeting with you so there's all right well there's there's tumult there for sure but the whole deal and you you alluded to it when you mentioned the transfer portal that every job you started prior to that there's no such thing and your roster was a little more certain you had a little you had control over it in in effect now the whole world's different so you can't even plan on uh a student athlete being with you for a couple of three years you really can't the world is completely different and during the um the time that I took off from University of Virginia I had a podcast called head coach University talked with maybe 50 of my colleagues that are other head coaches and all welln and very successful and each of them basically had the same sentiment that college football has changed more in the past two years than then their entire career right now um so if I were just to give some reference points in the Mountain West Conference unlb turned over 55 players last year meaning from the year that they hired a new coach to being in the Mountain West Conference Championship Game their roster was um basically half new players Utah state was about 48 new players so at the group of five level uh between 40 and 50 new players per year and my career has been um rooted in developmental players three star players that sometimes were a little bit late developing and they become became exceptional players 115 have had NFL contracts and have gone on no fourstar or five-star but the developmental process was something we we counted on right and the red shirting and and having a player through his whole career now um if a role isn't what an individual wants in one year there's a great chance that they're gone the next year or if a player has a great year then especially at the group of five level but even at the power five level now more opportunity either to play at a higher level or in today's market I'm being paid more right and so the the relationship developing process the development of an athlete process uh a roster management with succession planning it's really moving a lot really quickly to oneyear rosters and then what will the next year's roster look like it really won't resemble the previous year so it's a brand new era well what it brings to the to the business of coaching the organization of coaching is a need for great adaptability uh if you're stuck in the old world you're done Tot so you you're spanning you're kind of making this transition that must be somewhat exciting it's awesome I love the organizational design it's it's a passion I've had for a long time and mostly driven by institutions that were very unique so BYU right it's a faith-based institution with 98.5% all members of One Faith and a very specific recruiting pool so there's adaptability and some flexibility and you had to be nimble there to adjust an organization to have success University of Virginia where they average students of 4.3 GPA and then say okay now field an amazing football team and get us to the Orange Bowl so that's an amazing challenge which was awesome but now here with uh the chance to and revive and restore and have the transformation process happen at UNM that's a different now subset of what we just talked about totally as possible but really engaging and thrilling to be able to put design elements in place that leverage this place and and already it's it's been really uh profound and and uh experience with so much momentum with this many players coming good players and the roster being built and developed gosh so in less than a month's time since myself and my staff have been here which by the way they were assembled in less than 6 hours um so we hit the ground running all of my staff are former players of mine and so they know the methodology they know the way but now they've been adapting already at different places to the world of nil and so best practices applied my history of UNM um the Mountain West Conference and the recruiting connections from all over the country which where these players are coming from it's come together really well for a great start well and that's amazing and and I'll tell you the public is really excited about what's going to happen but now let's just take a step back because your career and your lifespan has been sort of an incredible journey too you were here as an assistant coach you started your family here correct your first son was born here right so you were here as a young assistant coach now you go on to BYU Virginia you raise a family your your guys are all adults now right the three of them it's been crazy so my wife and I are looking for a house I'm still in a hotel right now as as are most of my staff members when we arrived here we were house huning for just Holly night hadn't started our family yet and here we are now 25 years later and it's just Holly night and so we're we're basically in the same housing market as we were then other than all my kids are grown and now they're all off of college and are they all three of are at college now they are where are they there so every one of them is at BYU so they all served missions for our faith but I have a 24y old a 22y old and a 20-year-old U my middle son played at Utah State for a year our rival one of our Rivals um my youngest son is in Rodeo and and then my oldest is in Performing Arts so man here's the Performing Arts here's college football and here's Rodeo Man we've been to every kind of event possible which is fun yeah your your kids also have unique names you want to talk about that cuz I I I know the names I don't know how you got your and you got your wife to agree to all those so negotiation recruiting so my dad was in the horse business so my my given name is Bronco and wow have I had unique experiences when I'm introduced there's that can go a lot of different directions so when I'm introduced to someone they can make a comment that might not be appropriate then I've got to have yeah that can be there can be a challenge right there um and so I really enjoyed uh kind of Defending but also living up to um having an occasion to rise to just with my name so I told Holly about that which kind of got the ball rolling but if you ride a cutting horse you're called a cutter I grew up in the cutting horse business my oldest son is cutter his middle name is Bron after after me next son uh famous horse trainer in Australia named breaker Moran middle son breaker uh I love to Surf as well blue color of the ocean breaker blue and my youngest uh Holly's father passed away and his name was Ray we already had cutter and Breakers so Raider not the open Raiders but Raider after him and then his middle name is steel um for hopefully who be who he becomes and how strong and steadfast so anyway the thought was though to give him an occasion to rise too with a name that um yeah was distinguished and might mean something more and so anyway Holly dialed that down I had some other ones that were wilder than that and she she claims she claims that I was pushing for Thrasher at some point and I I don't remember that but she claims that was one of them and so anyway now what would it happen if you had a a girl yeah would you have a name y her name was going to be Remington Remy we were going to call her Remy excellent all right so you had that planned out okay we did so then leaving New Mexico going to BYU for your head coaching job that was a natural progression so that that worked out very well for you gosh and so yeah what the folks need to know at UNM is I was Rocky's assistant head coach at that time and we were playing great defense and we the program was in really good shape and Holly I loved it here and so BYU calls they were struggling defensively and so they were looking for defensive coordinator and the head coach was a dear friend of mine and and I went probably more than than anything to support him but we had three CR no we had five criteria because we didn't want to go and so we presented those criteria those conditions to BYU thinking there's no chance that they would agree to them and sure enough they did and olly and I were like well crud we didn't think that was going to happen you know we we were good and um and so went to BYU as the defensive coordinator um head coach was still fired um and literally BYU was trying to find a head coach offered the job to at least two others um I think there might have been a third and no one took the job and so yeah the defensive players then go to the administration an interim ad at the time and they say we might as well give our coach a chance and I didn't want to be the head coach at BYU and that wasn't why I went and um I took the job but the way I was given the job was really like a placeholder where you're going to have it but we're going to look for someone else we don't think this is going to work and uh gosh we made it to postseason our first year Wyoming turns it over five times in the rain in laramy we become B eligible and then we go 11 and two 11 and two 10 and 3 11 and two in the next four years and I was there 13 years wow so so then since you're kind of at home in in in in in Provo Utah then wow AC cross country to Virginia a completely different deal that must have been difficult and you had a family yeah and so I was living on the property I grew up on the ranch I grew up on and and so no one really saw that coming but one one day about gosh in year 10 maybe year 11 Holly and I were reminiscing Holly's my wife and most of our memories that we were speaking most fondly of in our time at BYU were at the beginning when we were turning it from not so good to good and we kind of looked at each other and there was this epiphany of wait we're we like transforming and building and and so we agreed at that point that we would do at least one more taking on a program that was really struggling that was the first criteria that had to be really struggling the program had to care deeply about something other than football meaning in terms of developing kids and they had to want they had to compete or want to compete at the highest level of college football line program so Virginia was really struggling man do they care about academics and leadership development and um they were in the ACC and appeared to really want to transform their program and so yeah uh we go from Provo Utah and I invite 14 families to go kind of the reverse Lewis and Clark expedition um lived in a hotel Holly and I and the boys for 4 months found some property lived in an RV for five 5 months and finally moved in at month 10 and we go 2 and 10 our first year and so we're wondering what the heck did we do and and I've never had a losing season as a head coach and just wondering man and I underestimated the deficit the program was in year two though we're back in postseason year three um shut out South Carolina in our bowl game and year four we're in the Orange Bowl and I really thought it would be three years not four but it was four um and that program we were both eligible five of the six years and that hadn't happened there in 22 years and it was a magical experience not only because of the program's success the relationship we built the staff that I brought and wow great success I'm also curious I know Virginia to be Horse Country how did that work out for you we lived Holly and I and the boys uh 30 Acres um 12 minutes from the office um my kids and I are into Team Roping and so we had a roping Arena on our property a fishing pond on the property a pool on the property it was UVA football Central and so we designed it for the players that were there the recruits that were there all the families had young kids and so it was so every Thursday um the entire organization came to our place for our meetings even in season and kids would swim and coaches would fish and others would ride and and it was just uh it was fantastic for our for everyone and really welld designed from a connectiveness and so the relationships were so deep with the staff and with the players and that made not only the results yeah you have to have results but that made that just come to life in a whole different way well that it sounds like an incredible experience obviously for football fans like us the record is we can see the record we don't know what goes on behind the scenes or internally but um it was a great experience and then you decide you had enough you know you know um so I used the word really um intentionally at that time and I used the word pause and so right at the end of that UVA our sixth year we just gone through the two Co years and man was was that a challenge um we're getting ready to go to to leave for our bowl game um the second Co year a third of our team tests positive the night before w we wake up the next morning another third test positive we have no players left we have to cancel the game and um anyway that was just coincidental my wife and I mostly me um not not to put anything on her um we've been a head coach 17 years our kids now are all gone and it just seemed like the right time for us to reconnect and redecide not decide for the first time but redecide just she and I now is this what we really want to do and and why would we do it and and what's the main motive now and is this is what we're supposed to do um no one saw that coming um Virginia certainly wanted me to stay and I I just um and my caught my staff off guard and that was really hard for me um so but I didn't think I could decide that while we were doing it it was too close and so it surprised even Holly um so I stepped back and we finished building um our home in Montana a ranch in Montana um a year ago probably three jobs that um I could have returned to and none of them felt exactly right Holly I think was eager then which was great for me to see um being a coach's wife and and a coaching family now that our kids were gone she and I we've always made all of our decisions together but it was fun for me to see and reassuring that she was an to do it she wanted to get back huh and so anyway I kind of I held that knowing I didn't think any of those jobs were there but then the next year it became really clear to me that it's not only what I wanted to do but I felt like it's what I was supposed to do and I it there was a purposeful part where it's what I'm what I'm designed to do and um and so we just we started racing back at that point and we were definitive and clear this is what we were going to do I had no idea it was going to be New Mexico which just makes it that much better well that's great for us but you touched on it and and and we see it here with your staff and the loyalty that you have so I could tell when you announced you were leaving that must have been tough and to tell these guys who would come with you a lot of them from across the country and they then they left and you know as the assistant coaches you know what that's like but now you get this job and it seems like you put this staff together these guys are eager to come back to work with you they they they are and and it's a different staff and that was that was the hardest part um because of how deeply I care about my staff members and and so some of them had been with well 13 14 15 16 17 years and yet um they knew kind of my way and maybe only my way and um this wasn't the motive but in those two years that um we were separated to hear the growth and the experiences and the challenges and some of the things they like better than the way I did it and some they didn't like as well some of the things that they missed and some maybe things that um they didn't the current staff that I have so my two coordinators have been with me either as a player or once started as an intern 19 years and every other and one of those played for me every other member of my staff other than one who was a graduate assistant for me are my former players so this is an entire staff of my former players Andor graduate assistants and I it basically is the the 3.0 version my BYU staff was one version my new uh my UVA staff that staff was the 2.0 but man deep and and just so relationship driven all of these guys basically were playing for me at University of Virginia under that staff so this is 3.0 so these last couple years when they were all graduate assistants or former players they've been launched at the FCS level just carving their way into the business and I call and here they all come and I'm I'm just so lucky I every single morning morning these guys um I don't know what time they get there they're there before me and I get there about 6:30 right now now that our players are training I get there at 6 and the weight room is full not of players of my staff and they are eager and excited and fit and driven and hungry and they're just a joy to be around and motivating and uplifting just cuz they're so fast and um so there's experience at the coordinator level and then here's all this Youth and Young professionalism and eagerness and gratitud ude and that's a huge thing gratitude to be here gratitude to be at UNM gratitude to be with these players and to make a difference and it it's so far I've only been with the players one day so so far that's been clearly the best part W I've been lucky to meet with a bunch of your players about 20 and uh a great group um one of the my um Associates remarked how they're all bigger than last year so that's a good start um and I just want to say before I I want to get into the New Mexico thing but we are in front restaurant we are being hosted by the ranex big UNM football supporters green chili cheeseburger was good it is like so if someone is hearing this and they don't come to order it I don't know what their problem is cuz this is clearly and man from 25 years ago I still remember the cinnamon rolls I mean this was a foundational spot for me then yeah well it's great it's my 51st year of eating green chili stew at the fron like got it's key all right so now you're at UNM you're in a um an evolving landscape the Pack 12 disappears overnight you're in the Mountain West what's there's a lot of challenges at this job what how do you look at it where do you start I I love the entire thing so I always believe it's who first and then what and so the staff was assembled so quickly but so intentionally and so on my computer I've had Staffing options um and probably six different versions based on what type of place um that Holly might return to and here's the New Mexico version so it was intentionally crafted for this place with the skill set the design the experience and and the diversity needed to to recapture and build on the work that's been done here so that that was first is the who part as a leadership team then it is okay um what environment now does the organizational design have to be crafted in into what things is have to acknowledge what things can be leveraged how how can we compete on differentiation at UNM so looking at the strengths we have and with this world of nil uh I think we've crafted an amazing structure that's unique and specific only to New Mexico and and I think it's going to drive and be a catalyst not only for Player Development and retention but team culture which seems to be being lost in this business um at this time and so Innovation then not only through the organizational design but the schematics right to make us um a place and and a team nobody wants to play that's um I Envision right that when people see UNM on the schedule they just like just oh man we got those guys and and I'm certain that's possible I think the Mountain West Conference is wide open um and I look at the parody that's a great strength if you look at the possibilities of return UNLV just demonstrated that from a program I've not been successful for a long time and in a matter of one year so is it possible it's absolutely possible is the history is The credibility um the consistency in the record does that say that it's going to happen 16 of the 17 years I've been a head coach says that we're going to be in the postseason and so my myself and my staff and the team is becoming certain we're certain right they're becoming certain and so I think the Mountain West is wide open the scheduling agreement now and where it goes it'll be interesting so we have Washington State at home but Oregon State and Washington State have a collective scheduling agreement for at least a year um what happens with them and the Mountain West um I'm hopeful for emerger I think both those communities would be great would fit that elevates our league also elevates the um the possible revenue generated but also it makes the league harder which is great um and there's zero reason that we can't be um at the table for for all of those um discussions when it comes to championships and success in football well we're excited and our group here our 505 Sports face guys are awesome yeah yeah they're all right they're all right they're right you got some of your staff in the back um we're looking re forward to working with you and obviously the nil component has changed the whole game it it has and and it's even it's even an understatement saying that that it's changed the whole game um the way that players are selected and assessed if if nil isn't being considered it's really an oversight on the leadership part if if nil isn't considered for the retainment of the players that's just not realistic if you're considering your roster and any succession planning and consistency and you haven't considered nil then that's an oversight and so really it's how to intentionally do it to gain a competitive advantage on our peers that means you have to know the market but it also means you have to know young people and relationships are still foundational to the whole thing and I think that's being lost at a really high level and so blending amazing relationships with um an amazing and fierce culture that people want to be part of and then the inclusion of and having that um comprehensively um including the nil component now you start to have a program that is more than what a lot of competitors are and that's what we're trying to well we're looking forward to uh getting with you our group uh local leaders Business Leaders like our host today and getting you out in the community because the message our message at 5 5 SCF we have the three Rs recognition of the student athletes uh retainment and recruitment but retainment is our big deal now clearly because once you set a program in motion and you have a good foundation to student athletes you want to keep them well and and so we're going to take you out into this town and and get this thing going I'm looking forward to it and the momentum already generated around um the niil possibilities I've been humbled and grateful for and if you think about when you start putting names and faces to who we're going to retain it makes it personal and that to me is is what this is about right so these opportunities now allow really good players that our community loves um and they love being here in in in Albuquerque there's a relationship and a community um connection there that starts to be really fun and when the winning occurs and the stands fill that's a fulfilling uh experience for everybody and I see that happening no out about it in a town like this where the growth uh potential is is huge and we've got a beautiful facility you can sit in that stadium and see the Vista the mountains and it's going to be packed and the excitement that we're going to have here is going to be great my staff and I we just were um so Eddie nun is our athletic director opened his box and let our football staff um sit in that during the last our basketball game versus San Diego State and it was great for me but also my staff um who's learning about Albuquerque to see um this community and this fan base connect with a team that's playing well trying so hard diving on the floor playing with such passion and to see that connection and man when when I was here with Rocky before um this was a hard place to play and people did not want to and it was becoming full and it was becoming rockus and it was becoming connected to a group of people man that are they love physical um football they love winning football they love violent football um but they love exceptional football and man that Vision creation is what we see and for my staff to experience it in another sport just made it even more likely cuz there's a reference point that is just going to be right across the street and right across the street the place was rocking so on a beautiful fall day in Albuquerque we have I think we've discussed all sorts of uh areas where you're going to take this program uh what if you were you're recruiting a kid uh top 100 player out of California what are you selling him on to come to University of New Mexico opportunity and so our our staff is so accomplished at the development process of helping these kids become exceptional not average not good exceptional football players in terms of their craft and we love kids that are passionate about football um and so want someone that really wants to Excel and exceed in their craft we are Masters at that the opportunity couldn't be better um UNM has is not coming off recent success the need is off the chart so the development plus the need but needing players isn't the same as wanting them and so the relational component yeah we can help you but we can not only help you specifically CU we need you but we actually want you specifically as a person and so we're talking about relationships for a lifetime in the posit I've taken the number of texts and emails and phone calls um it's changed my life and they're talking not about the games they're talking about the moments the relationships and so the depth of relationship with the ability to play amazing football and then go on and play if they want to which is this 115 guys in my career I mean there could be the next one of them and truly making a difference at a place that's craving that and their value and impact would arguably be larger then that or larger here than it has been anywhere um and it it feels great to make a difference and so our ability to innovate then when you put the players that come under that um uh that guideline knowing that they're going to have to work hard and earn their way into their future right which is blue collar and it's just how this world Works who they become through that experience and then to have a staff that's so Innovative I love the idea of not being able to name what our offense is once you can name it you can defend it I love our ability to name what what kind of defense I don't know what that is what what and so by the time they hit Thursday they might start to get an idea it's too late and then special teams wise is that another fake like what like how many risks they going to take so the the style of play Then becomes another magnet you put all that together and it's a pretty cool place to be well uh I can speak for many many UNM football fans we are craving success uh we look forward to the future uh we'll do it one day at a time uh I'm feeling very very confident about uh uh our upcoming season and and the whole process and working with you uh we at 505 svf work very closely with the program uh and I'm getting very confident of the success I am our staff is we're also realistic about exactly where we are the clock is ticking right now and so with these just to be clear we have 22 new players that are arriving and the rest of my staff I've chosen for them because we're almost at scholarship capacity before we go into the offseason in the spring I've chosen to keep my staff in with this team the clock is already going and we need results and so that's unheard of at this time of year um you can't go faster than we're going right now and so for this community for UNM there's no one wants there's no one that wants success more than we do right now and yeah I want to be worthy of my hire okay thanks for coming coach let's get it done yep okay one last thing we want to do