Virginia football: 5 replacements for Bronco Mendenhall after surprise resignation
Bronco Mendenhall announced his surprise resignation as Virginia football head coach, so who should the Cavalier replace him with?
Amid a coaching carousel circus, one Power 5 coach wasn’t fired but, instead, offered his shocking resignation on Thursday as Virginia football head coach Bronco Mendenhall stepped down as the head of the Cavaliers program and will coach the bowl game before stepping away.
Mendenhall came to Charlottesville in 2016 after 11 years with BYU and led the Cavaliers from a 2-10 campaign in his first season with the program to having Virginia football at .500 or better in every regular season since 2017, including leading the program to the Orange Bowl in 2019 — even if that resulted in a loss to Florida.
It should be noted that Mendenhall, in the wake of his resignation, noted that this was his decision and that, after three decades in football, he felt it was time to take a break.
#UVA football coach Bronco Mendenhall says "31 years of straight football." He and Holly celebrate 25th wedding anniversary this year.
— Mike Barber (@RTD_MikeBarber) December 2, 2021
"I need to step back from college football."
Says Carla Williams and President Jim Ryan asked him to stay. "This is 100% my choice."
With that said, Virginia football now needs a new head coach. And these five candidates would make sense for the Cavaliers in replacing Bronco Mendenhall.
Virginia football: 5 head coach candidates to replace Bronco Mendenhall
5. Robert Anae (Virginia offensive coordinator)
Though the 6-6 season for the Cavaliers this year was a bit disappointing to some degree, it wasn’t the fault of Robert Anae’s offense. In fact, it was remarkable that a team that ranked fourth in Offensive SP+ this season didn’t have a better season, though a look at the Virginia defense would quickly answer that question.
Regardless, Anae may not have head coaching experience but he’s clearly adept with maximizing the talent offensively with this program and familiar with how business works with several years in Charlottesville.
4. Charles Huff (Marshall head coach)
After spending two years as the running backs coach (and elite recruiter) with Alabama, Charles Huff took over at Marshall for Doc Holliday this past season and, though he failed to make the Conference-USA Championship Game, he still put together a solid 7-5 effort with the Thundering Herd.
Huff still has limited head coaching experience but has proven himself on the recruiting trail. Hiring him at Virginia could be getting ahead of the curve as he’s clearly still on an upward trajectory in terms of his stock on the coaching market.