Sources: Mendenhall set to leave New Mexico for Utah State

Utah State has finalized a six-year deal to hire New Mexico's Bronco Mendenhall as its next football coach, sources told ESPN's Pete Thamel on Friday.

Mendenhall just finished his first season with the Lobos, guiding them to a 5-7 overall record and a 3-4 mark in the Mountain West -- the same conference record as Utah State.

He has deep ties to Utah, having served as the coach at BYU from 2005 to 2015. He led the Cougars to 11 consecutive bowl games and five seasons of 10 or more wins.

He left BYU in late 2015 to take over at Virginia, which he built into a contender in the ACC, including a 9-5 Orange Bowl season in 2019, before he stepped down after the 2021 season.

After two years off, he was named New Mexico's coach, taking over a program that hadn't won more than four games since 2016. But that changed this year, the highlight being a 38-35 win over then-No. 18 Washington State that kept the Lobos' bowl hopes alive entering their final regular-season game. But those hopes ended with a loss to Hawai'i.

Overall, Mendenhall is 145-95 in 19 years as a head coach at the three schools.

Utah State went 4-8 overall this season under interim coach Nate Dreiling, who took over after Blake Anderson was fired in July. The Aggies will leave the Mountain West for the Pac-12 starting in the 2026 season.