The Utah State football program will seemingly be led by a coach very familiar with the state for the foreseeable future.

The Aggies are hiring New Mexico football coach Bronco Mendenhall, the former head coach of BYU and Virginia, according to ESPN college football insider Pete Thamel. Mendenhall, who coached the Lobos to a 5-7 record this past season, has reportedly signed a six-year contract to coach Utah State.

In Logan, Mendenhall will succeed interim head coach Nate Dreiling, who took over after the firing of head coach Blake Anderson over the summer. Under Dreiling, the Aggies went 4-8, the worst full-season record for the program since 2016. One of the eight losses came to Mendenhall and New Mexico, who overcame a 16-point second-half deficit to defeat Utah State 50-45 on the road.

Former BYU football coach Bronco Mendenhall becoming next Utah State coach

New Mexico football head coach Bronco Mendenhall watches play during second quarter at Arizona Stadium.
© Aryanna Frank-Imagn Images

Mendenhall, a native of Alpine, Utah, is returning to his home state as a head coach for the first time since 2015. The longtime coach has worked in the state at various points throughout his career — he earned his first defensive coordinator position at Snow College in Ephraim more than 30 years ago — but is most known for his 11-year stint as the BYU football head coach.

After the firing of Gary Crowton in 2004, Mendenhall, then the Cougars' defensive coordinator, was hired to become the next head coach at BYU. In his first season, Mendenhall led the Cougars to a 6-6 record, their first non-losing season since 2001. For each of the next four years, BYU won at least 10 games, a feat that had previously never been achieved in program history.

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Following a 9-4 season and an 11th consecutive bowl appearance, Mendenhall left BYU to become the coach of the Virginia football program, which had recorded just two winning seasons in the decade preceding Mendenhall's arrival.

While Mendenhall would not have the same level of success at Virginia as he did at BYU, where he won two conference titles and nearly 70% of his games, he did lead the Cavaliers in 2018 to their first winning season since 2011 and, the following year, reached the ACC Championship Game for the first time in program history.

Mendenhall shockingly resigned as Virginia football coach after the 2021 season, a six-win campaign for the Cavaliers. He remained out of coaching for the next two years before returning to New Mexico, where he had worked as the defensive coordinator from 1998 to 2002.

In Mendenhall's first and only season as the New Mexico football head coach, the Lobos won five games, the most for the program since 2016.

Utah State, currently a member of the Mountain West, the same conference as New Mexico, will be moving to the Pac-12 in 2026.