Bronco Mendenhall has yet to coach at game at New Mexico, but he is nonetheless considered one of the best coaches at the Group of Five level.
At least according to The Athletic’s Chris Vannini, who yearly ranks the best college football coaches who who lead non-Power Four programs.
Mendenhall comes in at No. 9 in Vannini’s rankings, ahead of the 2024 season, second among Mountain West Conference coaches.
Of Mendenhall, who pledged when hired in early December that he would get the Lobos to a place of “sustained success, continued success and excellence,” Vannini had high praise.
“This might have been the sneaky-best hire of the coaching carousel, all things considered,” he wrote. “Mendenhall is 135-81 as a head coach, regularly won eight-plus games at BYU and took Virginia to an Orange Bowl before stepping away from the game. New Mexico is one of the toughest jobs in the FBS, but he’s been there before. There’s reason to be excited in Albuquerque.”
The top-rated MW coach was Air Force’s Troy Calhoun, who came in at No. 4.
Other MW coaches that garnered mention were Fresno State’s Jeff Tedford (No. 5) and UNLV’s Barry Odom (No. 15).
Utah State’s Blake Anderson, fresh of a second straight 6-7 campaign, was included in the just-missed category, along with San Jose State’s Ken Niumatalolo and San Diego State’s Sean Lewis.
Per Vannini, the best coaches in the Group of Five, a moniker that may soon go away with the expansion of the College Football Playoff and the demise of the Pac-12, are Liberty’s Jamie Chadwell, UTSA’s Jeff Traylor and Tulane’s Jon Sumrall.
Other notable coaches included in the rankings were Jacksonville State’s Rich Rodriguez (yes, that Rich Rodriguez), Florida Atlantic’s Tom Herman and Army’s Jeff Monken.
Vannini’s task of ranking G5 head coaches was made difficult by significant upheaval in the coaching ranks, a reality he himself recognized.
“The position of a G5 head coach has become more precarious, with three leaving for assistant jobs over the last two years,” he wrote.
Thirty-one FBS head coaching jobs were open this offseason, 18 of those at the G5 level. In the Mountain West alone, six coaches were either fired, retired or left for greener pastures, while both the Sun Belt and Conference USA experienced significant change as well.
Anderson told the Deseret News that the coaching changes seen in the MW were unlike anything he’d previously encountered during his coaching career.
“This is probably the most (I’ve ever seen),” he said. “You’ve got guys retiring and those that were fired. I don’t know if I’ve seen that many guys let go at one time, at any given time.”
Still, the G5 coaching ranks include some notable names and well-respected head coaches, all of whom will try to lead their programs to the expanded College Football Playoff this fall. The highest-ranked G5 champion is guaranteed a berth in the playoff, a first in the history of a sport that has often catered to the blue bloods and traditional powers.
And if Vannini’s ranking of coaches is any indication, it will be Chadwell’s Flames who represent the G5 in the CFP at the end of the year.
“He has won at least 11 games in three of the last four seasons,” Vannini wrote. “And the Flames will continue to be a G5 force.”
