ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Nothing is official yet – but ESPN and multiple other media outlets are reporting that Bronco Mendenhall is likely to be the next head football coach for the Lobos.

Mendenhall coached at BYU and his last stop was at Virginia. He led BYU to 11 straight bowl games and five seasons with 10 or more wins. He also helped turn Virginia into a contending ACC team in 2019 when they went 9-5 – then the 57-year-old coach stepped down from UVA in 2021.

New Mexico has not won more than four games since 2016 and they have not seen a bowl game since then either.

Mendenhall’s resume is promising because he’s coached for 17 seasons – and in 16 of those, his teams were bowl-eligible.

There are also some local ties. Mendenhall was the defense coordinator under former Lobos coach Rocky Long from 1998 to 2002. During that time, he coached Hall of Fame Lobo Brian Urlacher.

Fans are saying on social media that this could be a big hire for the Lobos.

We could expect to have an announcement this week. KOB 4 reached out to UNM Athletics Tuesday but they did not confirm or deny these reports.

Mendenhall would succeed Danny Gonzales, who was fired last month.