Bronco Mendenhall will be the next in line to be the new head coach of the New Mexico football program as he signed a five-year contract according to Pete Thamel of ESPN. He succeeds Danny Gonzalez who was the head coach of the Lobos for four seasons after having a record of 11-32.

There was a feeling that Mendenhall had successful tenures at his two previous head coaching gigs with BYU and Virginia according to a source from Thamel. This would be the third head coaching job for Mendenhall as he tries to bring the winning ways to the New Mexico football team.

“More than anything else, the success he's had developing programs,” Thamel's source said. “He's always been someone who wants to take a challenge and excel at it. He's a great person and always done it the right way. In the industry, people see him as someone with high character and high integrity.”

Mendenhall back in coaching since 2021

Coaches Bronco Mendenhall, Matt Wells, Rocky Long in the foreground. Background is a New Mexico logo.

There's no doubt that the Lobos need a jolt to their football program as they haven't won more than four games in a season since 2016 when former Notre Dame and New Mexico head coach Bob Davie was at the helm. Mendenhall has been out of coaching since 2021 when he personally resigned from the job, which he explained that the school wanted him back, but he needed to “step back” per ESPN.

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“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,” Mendenhall said back in 2021. “I was requested to stay by our athletic director, I was requested to stay by our president. It's my decision only.”

It won't be that new of an experience for Mendenhall as he was an assistant coach at New Mexico from 1998-2002. With him back in the college football landscape, the New Mexico football team is looking to bounce back next season after going 4-8 and 2-4 in conference play in 2023.