Any weirdness surrounding Bronco Mendenhall being Utah State football’s head coach should dissipate almost entirely after Thursday.
Decked out in Aggie gear at Mountain West media days in Las Vegas, Mendenhall has — by all appearances — fully embraced USU.
During an appearance on the Mountain West Network, he quickly — and correctly — cited Utah State football’s recent history, differentiating his current job from his old one (New Mexico).
He noted the Aggies’ successes over the last decade-plus, getting to bowl games regularly even with considerable turmoil in and around the program and athletic department, and he cited high expectations that exist in Logan after multiple 10-plus win seasons since 2012.
“The winning is different (at Utah State),” Mendenhall said. “The history is different. The expectations are different on a yearly basis.”
He unabashedly praised The HURD, Utah State’s boisterous, maybe even a little belligerent, student section.
“The HURD is unlike anything I’ve ever seen,” he said. “Unbelievable.”
He noted that two of his sons have transferred to Utah State since he took the head coaching job, with Breaker — a former Aggie player — back on the football team even.
Six months after taking the job, it really does look like Mendenhall is Utah State football, and because of that, there still isn’t much known about the Aggies ahead of the 2025 season.
Much like he did in the spring, when he closed practices to the general public, Mendenhall continues to want to keep a shroud over his program, at least for the time being.
In the spring the reasoning had to do with the NCAA transfer portal and tampering. Mendenhall didn’t want to lose players to other programs, players he needed to help quickly rebuild Utah State.
For the most part, the strategy worked. Utah State has brought in 87 players since Mendenhall took over, and the vast majority have remained with the program. Mendenhall did concede that not everyone was thrilled with his decision at the time, though.
“It’s always difficult because I was looking to connect with the community, looking to engage, looking to unite, and here I am closing practice,” Mendenhall said. “But I was transparent about the reason. As long as there is a transfer portal after spring practice, I won’t open spring practice simply because of the roster being protected.
“I’m the steward over (the Utah State) program. I think everyone understood that. … I think it ended up serving its purpose. Not everyone was thrilled about the decision, but ultimately, now, I think everyone can see the benefit of it.”
Now, lack of details coming out of the Aggie program and Mendenhall are about creating a competitive advantage for the upcoming season.
Mendenhall made it clear Thursday he expects USU to be capable of being bowl eligible in 2025, no matter that the team was picked to finish No. 9 in the MWC preseason poll and ESPN’s FPI currently predicts the Aggies will win between four and five games.
Mendenhall noted that he wanted to keep those outside of the program in the dark, particularly when it comes to the offense under offensive coordinator Kevin McGiven.
“I’d like to be unnameable,” Mendenhall said. “So what style do we play? I don’t know, which makes it harder to prepare and I like the creativity that comes with that, and Kevin is a perfect fit that way.”
Mendenhall did say he believes USU’s secondary, headlined by senior Ike Larsen and New Mexico transfers Noah Avinger, Bryson Taylor and Bobby Arnold, will be a strength of the team’s this season.
“It’ll be a strong suit of our organization,” he said.
Mendenhall noted that Larsen, a game-breaking star at times at USU, had a down season in 2024, but is capable of bouncing back in a big way this year.
“He’s anxious to re-link the upcoming year to what he’s truly capable of and what will be needed from him,” Mendenhall said.
Mendenhall also praised quarterback Bryson Barnes, Utah State’s starting quarterback for next season.
“His experience is impeccable, the type of leadership, the type of grit, the type of determination and he’s dual threat,” Mendenhall said.
“As a defensive coach, you run out of numbers pretty fast when someone can run and throw. … And with the head coach that loves tough, competitive people and style of play, he’s a perfect fit for us.”
Mostly, though, Mendenhall talked about the culture he is trying to establish at Utah State, which anyone who has followed Mendenhall during the course of his coaching career is familiar with.
“The foundation is the expectations,” Mendenhall said, “and there’s a lot of research that talks about how the level of expectations determines outcomes. Our program is demanding. It’s challenging. It requires a lot, but by giving a lot, there’s a sacrifice part, but there’s also a connection part that’s deeper and interesting.
“Many (in college football) are afraid to ask that much because their players might leave, but what we have found, and what research shows, is just the opposite. The more you ask, the more sticky they become to your organization, and so our team is becoming more resilient. They’re becoming stronger. They’re more united by doing hard things together and that’s always led to pretty strong outcomes, at least in my career.”
Mendenhall has, by all objective measures, had a highly successful coaching career at the Division I level, first at BYU, then Virginia and New Mexico, so while there are still a lot of unknowns about Utah State football in its Mendenhall era, precedence suggests there is reason for optimism for Utah State football, in 2025 and in subsequent seasons to come.
Washington State offensive linemen Brock Dieu, left, and Devin Kylany (70) block Utah State defensive tackle Gabriel Iniguez Jr. (10) during the first half of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Nov. 9, 2024, in Pullman, Wash. | Young Kwak, AP