Former BYU and Virginia head coach Bronco Mendenhall has been a popular name thrown out as a potential candidate for various college football coaching vacancies over the past couple months.
On Thursday, though, he was eliminated for one such opening, as The Athletic’s Stewart Mandel reported the Utah native is no longer being considered to replace David Shaw as Stanford’s coach.
Mendenhall was one of several coaching candidates who reportedly talked with Stanford but are “no longer in the running,” according to Mandel.
Who are finalists for the Stanford job?
Among the finalists are former Dallas Cowboys coach Jason Garrett and former Utah offensive coordinator Troy Taylor, Mandel reported.
ESPN’s Pete Thamel later reported that Garrett and Taylor are Stanford’s “top coaching targets,” adding that Taylor visited the school earlier this week and Garrett is scheduled to do so later this week.
Garrett, who coached the Cowboys from 2011-19 and was the New York Giants offensive coordinator from 2020-21, is currently a TV analyst for NBC Sports.
Taylor is currently the head coach of Sacramento State at the FCS level. In his four seasons as the Hornets’ head coach, Taylor has twice been named the Big Sky Conference Coach of the Year and was the 2019 Eddie Robinson Award recipient, given to the top coach at the FCS level.
Taylor’s Sacramento State team is 12-0 this season and the No. 2 overall seed in the FCS playoffs. The Hornets play Incarnate Word in the quarterfinals Friday.
Taylor was Utah’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach from 2017-18.
What is Bronco Mendenhall doing now?
Last year, Mendenhall resigned after six years as Virginia’s head coach.
Prior to that, he was BYU’s head coach from 2005-15.
He has amassed a 135-81 record as a college head coach, including 99-43 at BYU.
Since stepping away from Virginia, Mendenhall has expressed interest in returning to coaching.
“Really, the genesis of the idea, or the motive for this pause, is what it is, and it’s just a pause, and I look forward to recapturing the hearts and minds of young people, right, and helping them develop, and most likely, right, through the game of college football,” Mendenhall said on the “HeadCoachU” podcast back in September. “I’m not sure there’s something more impactful.”
Shaw resigned as Stanford’s coach after the Cardinal’s 35-26 loss to BYU in their regular-season finale
Mendenhall’s name came up repeatedly in early coaching candidate lists from national media for the Stanford job.
“He is a culture and program builder; in other words, just about a perfect fit for Stanford,” CBS Sports’ Dennis Dodd wrote about Mendenhall’s fit at the school.