College Athletes, Is There a Lot of Space in the College Experience?

Bronco Mendenhall is one of the more interesting sports coaches I’ve interviewed on this podcast. What makes Bronco interesting is not that he was the Head Coach of Brigham Young University’s football program from 2005-2015, and not that he was the Head Coach of the University of Virginia’s football program form 2016-2021. It’s not that he went 135-81 and appeared in multiple bowl games with those programs. It’s not even that he turned those programs around from losing seasons to winning seasons and has helped multiple players play in the National Football League. What makes Bronco so interesting is that he intentionally walked away from the University of Virginia football program to take a year off. He essentially has gone on sabbatical this past year. And he did it in the prime of his career. He was 55 years-old when he stepped away and things were really going well at the University of Virginia from certainly the outside looking in. But Bronco’s going to share why he walked away in our conversation today and what he’s learned from taking a year off from football. A lot of people walk away from football and then they retire. But Bronco’s not done yet. He still has a masterpiece that he’s working on and hoping to craft as early as next football season. Bronco is someone who cares deeply about developing young people, and he’s leveraging football as the best vehicle that he’s found to be able to do that. At his core, Bronco is a learner. He’s someone that is constantly growing and is super curious to learn from others. And so, he’s taken this time off to really dive deep into what he wants to create when it comes to a college football culture and how he can impact young people.

Bronco had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include:

“There was success from an outcome perspective, but there wasn’t impact of lasting value… that was resonating with me” (7:50).

“I started thinking that the game can’t be played without the people. And then the people became everything” (8:20).

“Having a fierce passion for performance and intentionally becoming is amazing, and it’s facilitated by outcome” (10:25).

“If all of identity is measured only by outcome, that becomes a dangerous space to live” (10:35).

“I love programs that value something in addition to football” (11:30).

“It was my intent from the moment I woke up to the time I went to bed every single day to try to provide a model that demonstrated ‘and’” (14:30).

“I’m not only an optimist but I’m a realist at the same time” (20:20).

“When I go back [to coaching], I wanted it to be with the perspective and the learning and the renewal and a relaunch that might even be more intentional” (26:15)

“Driving the individual relationship one-on-one is really what these kids have remembered. It wasn’t the outcomes, it was the relations” (29:00).

“You only get to do your job if you’re successful at it” (29:45).

“After 17 years of being a head coach, the feedback from the guys that I’ve coached, the players, are all about the relational moments” (30:00).

“I never feel as good as when I’m serving, when I’m actually helping others” (31:00).

“You manage energy, not time” (32:20).

“The singular, most powerful piece [of coaching college football for me] is the daily interaction, development, and inclusion in the lives of young people to help make a difference” (37:00).

“I’m not sure there’s a more powerful platform to develop motivative learners and young people than the world of college athletics” (38:00).

“I love, and will let them, fail” (41:00).

“What I promise my team is I won’t save you, unless necessary” (46:15).

“I worry that we might be prolonging adolescence” (47:30).

“I worry that with the structure we’re providing, we could be limiting growth” (49:50).

“I’m a research driven individual. I don’t like presenting anything to my team that I don’t have at least 3 sources of” (50:20).

“Work expands the boundaries you set” (51:15).

“Organizations are perfectly designed for the results they get” (52:50).

“I love trust” (53:45).

“The more homogeneous the staff was, the more average performing the group was” (56:35).

“Those are the kind of people I want to be around, that are open-minded to listening and seeing value in a different way” (1:00:20).

“I do believe there’s a shelf-life at each place” (1:12:15).

“I don’t believe that I’m the only one who can make a difference” (1:15:55).

“I’m craving to impact lives of young people” (1:16:30).

“So many times we get defined by what we do” (1:17:20).

Additionally, you can check out the podcast Head Coach University, which Bronco is a co-host of.

Thank you so much to Bronco for coming on the podcast!

I wrote a book called “Shift Your Mind” that was released in October of 2020, and you can order it on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Additionally, I have launched a company called Strong Skills, and I encourage you to check out our new website https://www.strongskills.co/. If you liked this episode and/or any others, please follow me on Twitter: @brianlevenson or Instagram: @Intentional_Performers.

Thanks for listening.