Breaking Down the Candidates: Bronco Mendenhall & Kyle Whittingham

Our look at the candidates to coach the Cards continues today with head coaches from the Mountain West conference, Bronco Mendenhall of BYU and Kyle Whittingham of Utah. As before, we will look at the stats for each coach in their area of expertise as well as their recruiting stats. Here we go:

Bronco Mendenhall

BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall, LOVE. THAT. NAME.

Bronco Mendenhall became head coach at Brigham Young University in 2005 after serving as defensive coordinator for three seasons. Mendenhall is an Oregon State alum and has coached on the defensive side of the ball since he started in coaching. He has to recruit kids to Provo, Utah and here is how his recruiting looks:

2005 – 63rd ranked class, 16 total commitments, 0 five-star, 1 four-star, and 3 three-star recruits
2006 – 67th ranked class, 26 total commitments, 0 five-star, 0 four-star, and 5 three-star recruits
2007 – 56th ranked class, 26 total commitments, 0 five-star, 1 four-star, and 10 three-star recruits
2008 – 83rd ranked class, 23 total commitments, 0 five-star, 1 four-star, and 10 three-star recruits
2009 – 50th ranked class, 21 total commitments, 0 five-star, 2 four-star, and 14 three-star recruits
2010 (not yet completed) – 26th ranked class, 27 total commitments, 0 five-star, 4 four-star, and 13 three-star recruits

Mendenhall played defensive back at Snow College, then Oregon State before getting into coaching in 1989. He has coached solely on the defensive side of the ball, including coaching the defensive backs as well as being defensive coordinator at Northern Arizona while Tom Jurich was athletic director. Here’s how Mendenhall’s defenses have looked, stats wise, during his time as head coach at BYU:

2005 -  57th against the run at 147.8 ypg, 104th against the pass at 269.3 ypg, and gave up 29.3 ppg
2006 -  31st against the run at 114.1 ypg, 65th against the pass at 205.1 ypg, and gave up 14.7 ppg
2007 -  9th against the run at 97.5 ypg, 32nd against the pass 210.4 ypg, and gave up 18.1 ppg
2008 -  60th against the run at 140.3 ypg, 74th against the pass at 215.6 ypg, and gave up 21.9 ppg
2009 -  24th against the run 112 ypg, 64th against the pass 219.1 ypg, and gave up 21.7 ppg
 

Kyle Whittingham

Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham

Whittingham took over the Utah program when Urban Meyer left for Florida in 2005. Prior to serving as head coach, Whittingham was the defensive coordinator for the Utes since 1995. Whittingham should be familiar to Louisville fans since he has defeated the Cards in 2007 and 2009. He has to recruit kids to Salt Lake City, Utah and here’s how his recruiting looks:

2005 – 59th ranked class, 24 total commitments, 0 five-star, 1 four-star, and 5 three-star recruits
2006 – 55th ranked class, 25 total commitments, 0 five-star, 1 four-star, and 9 three-star recruits
2007 – 71st ranked class, 25 total commitments, 0 five-star, 0 four-star, and 8 three-star recruits
2008 – 60th ranked class, 15 total commitments, 0 five-star, 1 four-star, and 9 three-star recruits
2009 – 44th ranked class, 25 total commitments, 1 five-star, 2 four-star, and 14 three-star recruits
2010 (not yet completed) – 40th ranked class, 14 total commitments, 0 five-star, 3 four-star, and 10 three-star recruits

Kyle Whittingham has always been a defensive coach and here is what his defenses have looked like since he became head coach:

2005 – 61st against the run at 150.2 ypg, 67th against the pass at 223.7 ypg, and gave up 24.1 ppg
2006 – 22nd against the run at 106.5 ypg, 80th against the pass at 215.7 ypg, and gave up 19.8 ppg
2007 – 52nd against the run at 144.3 ypg, 11th against the pass at 184.2 ypg, and gave up 16.8 ppg
2008 – 11th against the run at 99.2 ypg, 33rd against the pass at 190 ypg, and gave up 17.2 ppg
2009 - 59th against the run at 141.3 ypg, 13th against the pass at 172.9 ypg, and gave up 19.7 ppg

There are the numbers. So far, we have examined Charlie Strong, Kevin Sumlin, Chris Petersen, Butch Jones, and now Bronco Mendenhall and Kyle Whittingham. I feel quite certain the next head coach of the Cards will come from this group, but Tom Jurich always has an ace up his sleeve. Who that may be is anyone’s guess.

It will definitely be an interesting next several days as we get closer to finding out who the next coach will be at Louisville. Keep checking the Pinkie as we are following this around the clock.