ACC Kickoff: UVA football coach Bronco Mendenhall talks with reporters

UVA football coach Bronco Mendenhall talks with reporters at the 2018 ACC Kickoff.

BRONCO MENDENHALL: I’d like to say what Chris Peace has taught me. Chris has taught me the power of work ethic and example. I would consider Chris Peace one of the best practice players in terms of day in and day out work that I’ve seen and been lucky enough to coach, and it’s inspiring. I never have to wonder. He just works and he works and he works, and as you can tell, he doesn’t want to say a lot, and I appreciate that.

We have a saying, a guiding principle in our program, less drama, more work. He is that. I’m lucky to be at Virginia at this time with him, and he’s been a huge part of providing a tangible example for me to point to, to the team, and say, this is what we’re looking for.

Q. I wanted to go off of that with Chris and Olamide, but the team as a whole, what you’ve done for them, they answered that here this morning and they’ve answered the last couple years. Outside of Chris, in general, what has Virginia done for you?
BRONCO MENDENHALL: I appreciate the question. I’m lucky to be at Virginia. My wife and I talk about that all the time. I like the chance to make a difference. And to make a difference, it only happens if you’re allowed to make a difference, and the players have given me that opportunity, where they have taken myself and my staff at face value, have allowed their trust to be placed in me. I can feel that. And that’s a huge responsibility. And so to be trusted and relied on has been a powerful gift that they’ve given me, and I want more than anything for them to have success.

I remember the locker room after Georgia Tech; it was one of the most wild celebrations I’ve ever seen in my life, and that mattered to me. It was gratifying — not enough in relation to what we want to accomplish, but it was fun payback for me to see them that excited, and I want more of that for them. They’re allowing me to coach them, because it does take that. They’re allowing me to coach them. I’m appreciative of that.

I think just in general, what they’ve given me is this clarity that actually people want to improve. They want to be better. They want to be led, and they want to be dealt with honestly and openly, so it’s validated some of the beliefs that I had with just a brand new group of young people.

Q. Your first game ever as UVA football coach, y’all played Richmond, Richmond beat y’all 37-20. This season y’all open up against Richmond. Does this game have a little special meaning to you?
BRONCO MENDENHALL: I think it has special meaning more in relation to it being year three rather than the same opponent. Interesting because it’s year three in our program or in my tenure at UVA, but in some senses, it’s almost year one as we think about a new starting quarterback and now playing football without Micah and Quin, and so there’s kind of year three expectations with some year one reference points.

But I like the challenge, and I like the opportunity, and I like the expectations that our team has. I can’t say that you can measure year one against year three with a common opponent because so much has changed, but I think it would be fair for some people to do that just by the nature of it being the same opponent.

Q. You heard Chris say one of the goals that he has is to beat Virginia Tech. I think that’s an obvious goal, but maybe wouldn’t be spoken until November. I mean, is that something that you’ve emphasized, that that’s one of the things you really have to do to sort of clear that next hurdle?
BRONCO MENDENHALL: It’s clear. So clarity has come over time in my tenure at UVA, right. So I came not knowing much about UVA, some about the history, some about the expectations and some about the rivalry. But now that I’ve been at UVA for two years, it’s becoming clearer what has to happen for the program to advance, and there will be benchmarks along the way that if certain benchmarks are met, momentum will be added, which means the acceleration of the program will happen at a faster rate and maybe at a more meaningful level.

And certainly when you have a rivalry game that you haven’t won in a significant amount of time, that’s one of the things that has to happen, regardless of where you are, and so we’re open about it more so now that I’ve ever been, just because it’s clear that has to happen for University of Virginia’s football program. And I want that to happen for our players. It’s not a secret. We are open about it. We are focusing on that, as we need to, as well as the expectation of we expect to play post-season every year, not just occasionally, and we expect to win.

And so that’s part of the new standard that Chris talks about is those are expectations. Those aren’t things that we expect randomly or occasionally; we want a program that does those things consistently, and that’s part of the direction we’re moving toward. Still work to do, no question, but that’s the direction we’re moving.

Q. Olamide set a single season record last year for receptions at 85. He averaged 10.5 yards per reception. Is it important to your offense for him to increase that yards per catch average?
BRONCO MENDENHALL: He’s going to have to. So as strong as his numbers were a year ago, they’re going to have to be better for our team to have success. And the good news was from what I saw in the spring, I thought his spring was the best of any player on our team, and I think his preparation to this point in the off-season has continued on that. But he has to be a workhorse.

And knowing, as we’ve all seen him play, he’s a dynamic player, so it can’t just be number of touches, it has to be the number of yards that happen with each touch, that has to happen for our team. I think he’s training for it.

And what you also heard him mention is the team needs him to lead, the team needs him to be more vocal. Not only is he going to have to improve his own performance, which was strong a year ago, he’s going to also have to — for our team to have success, he’s going to also have to take on the next component of caring for other people, as well, right, which is more of a responsibility and takes more energy and time, and he’s doing that, and he’s learning how to do that. The bottom line is he’s going to have to do that for us to have success.

Q. I’m wondering how has the transition to the new athletic director Carla Williams impacted your football program?
BRONCO MENDENHALL: Man, I’m lucky that Carla is with us. What I was hopeful for — when a change in athletic director was being made, what I was hopeful for and what I asked for is someone that had a coaching background, that was an amazing person who knew what exceptional college football looked like, and we got all three. We got a former coach, who also knows what exceptional football looks like, who’s an amazing person.

Carla asks questions first, probing questions. She listens intently before she acts, but when she acts, she acts decisively. And she believes that the athletic department cannot reach its full potential without a healthy football program. I believe the same. Not for the sake of football but for the sake of the whole athletic department. And I think for Charlottesville and the Commonwealth in general, it would be cool to have another great program just for people to support and get behind.

And Carla, after asking probing questions, to her credit, has delivered on everything that I’ve asked for and supported, and she’s supported those initiatives in terms of building an infrastructure that will actually allow us to get to industry standard before we show what we can do on the field, and I’m grateful.

More than anything, I’d love for the results to reflect that in terms of payback to her for the support that she’s given us to this point, even though it’s early in the process.

Q. You lost Quin Blanding in the secondary, but there’s still some playmakers, Thornhill and Nelson. Just talk about that group, getting beyond Quin Blanding.
BRONCO MENDENHALL: Yeah, so our secondary a year ago led the ACC in pass defense, which is part of defense. Quin was our best tackler of that group, and so we have a unique set of players that we can put in a variety of combinations right now, and I’m still kind of moving and seeing where that might fit, but there’s a great chance that Juan Thornhill will replace Quin, meaning that he’ll be in that position.

And then between Brent Nelson and Joey Blount, you’ve got another nice set of safeties there. And then when you consider Tim Harris coming back with also Bryce at the other corner, not even to mention Chris Moore, there’s potential that that unit could again be a really strong unit for us, as long as we address the tackling totals that Quin had.

So I like the potential, and it’s one of the few positions currently on our team where I see not only the quality of player but depth. And as we’re talking about that position, that’s more like what I would like the majority of our positions to look like. So it’s a good point of reference for us.

Q. From the cheap seats, it would appear that you made a very large move when you came to Virginia, leaving a program that was very, very successful, among the nation’s best for decades, to take over a program that had been less successful, and you came to an entirely different part of the country and a new conference. Now as you begin year three, what’s this like for you? What’s been the biggest challenge or challenges?
BRONCO MENDENHALL: Yeah, I think you would have to say challenges. But to be clear, that’s exactly what I was looking for. So I was intentional, and I wanted challenge and I wanted change, and I wanted growth. And certainly we got all those things.

Inviting 14 staff members to come with me, we basically did Lewis and Clark backwards and came across the country. It’s been a galvanizing experience. I’ve learned and grown maybe in the last two and a half, three years in working with Virginia than I have over my career, and I want desperately for the program but more importantly for the people to have success.

I’ve become friends with a lot of new people. I’ve become captured by the type of young people that come to UVA, and I’m driven to see this to fruition, meaning consistent and successful football year after year at UVA.

After year one, there was an entire recalibration that had to happen from where I thought the program was to where it really was. I was significantly off.

After the recalibration of year one, that got us to some success in year two, right. We’re back to postseason. There’s still another recalibration that’s just happened after then playing in our bowl game and seeing our current level of preparation for what that looks like.

And so now after a second recalibration, and this might happen multiple more times, it gives us a better chance for year three, but I love the challenge. I love the — kind of the all-encompassing nature of what that requires, as does my family, and all the coaches that came. It is galvanizing to take on something difficult, but that’s what I love. I love challenging things, and that’s certainly what we have.

But I love to see complete effort and commitment in pursuit of something like that, and the team is starting to do that. They’re starting to realize this is worth it, and that’s gratifying.

Q. What is Bryce Perkins’ potential, and where is his leadership level right now?
BRONCO MENDENHALL: Yeah, that’s a great question. His leadership level, I’ll start in reverse order, Bryce’s leadership level, what I have most appreciated as he came in not being the guy but wanting to be part of the team and do everything possible to show that he was willing to follow rules, to possibly — to be in the background and let his actions talk before his words.

And then over time as his actions and his work ethic showed and as the team started to identify this is going to be our quarterback, then he appropriately and kind of reflecting maturity started to then lead in a more visible way. And he’s going to have to. Even though he’ll be our starting quarterback for the first time, what the requirement will be is it will — for us to succeed, it will have to be as if he’s been our starter longer than that. And he knows that. But I think his work ethic will allow that.

And then we have to design the system and the play calling in a manner that gives him his best chance to do what he does well to reflect consistency.

What was the first part of the question? I’m sorry.

Oh, his potential, wow. He’s one of the strongest and fastest and best athletes that I’ve coached. There isn’t a play where when if he’s running the football, it can’t go all the way. He can throw the ball effectively, and I think he’s a solid decision maker.

And so to me, point number three, if the decision making maturity increases at a faster rate or an accelerated rate, there could be pretty remarkable things happen in his tenure at UVA. But I think that will control it, not the physical skills. I think the leadership and playing ACC football and the decision making at that position, that will, I think, determine his potential or the result.

Q. You talked earlier about the rivalry of Virginia Tech, but you have a new rival that you’ll be playing for the first time just down the road in Liberty. Touch on that rivalry or what could be a rivalry so close distance-wise. What does that kind of close in-state rivalry do to perhaps convince in-state recruits to come to Charlottesville?
BRONCO MENDENHALL: Well, first of all, the scheduling philosophy is pretty simple. We have four non-conference games per year, one of which has to be a Power Five opponent. But the other three, I love the idea of intriguing and regional, right, and that’s both. So Liberty is intriguing, right, because they’re on a brand-new path in Division I and an independent, which I’ve traveled that road at Brigham Young. They’re right down the road. So there’s immediately an intrigue, and it makes complete sense.

So when you consider teams like that, besides the FCS opponents in our state, besides Old Dominion, there’s a lot of options that make a lot of sense. And I think it’s good for the state, and I think it’s good for the players in the state.

I think it fits exactly within a scheduling philosophy that I have for the program at this time, and I think it’s good for the players, also, so I’m looking forward to the game.