home jobs contact us
Our Clients:
Browse by Sport
Find us on ASAP sports on Facebook ASAP sports on Twitter
ASAP Sports RSS Subscribe to RSS
Click to go to
Asaptext.com
ASAPtext.com
ASAP Sports e-Brochure View our
e-Brochure

ACC FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: CLEMSON VS VIRGINIA


December 6, 2019


Bronco Mendenhall


Charlotte, North Carolina

BRONCO MENDENHALL: Welcome, everyone. It is amazing to be here representing the University of Virginia.

It's been four years of diligent, hard, methodical, intentional, progressional work to develop a quality football program. It is gratifying to see sequential changes, a pattern of unbroken growth and smiles on a daily basis at our football facility.

I'm really proud to be associated with this team, this group of young people and what they have accomplished and what they have overcome to reach this stage. While this stage is not the end, by any means, it certainly is a different chapter, a different opportunity and a different setting for us to continue to grow, learn and expand our program.

We are thrilled to be able to measure and compete against one of the premier programs in college football. I think Coach Swinney has done a remarkable job not only reaching the pinnacle but remaining there. I think what I understand -- maybe not, maybe it hasn't been documented quite enough -- how hard it is to stay once you're there. Clemson has done a really nice job maintaining when they have reached a certain level of achievement.

I look forward to everything about this game. I have enjoyed the preparation as it has advanced our program.

Again, I'm thrilled to be the head coach at the University of Virginia, all that it represents, the academic focus, the type of young people that we bring, and the ability to demonstrate what kind of football we're able to play.

Q. Have you ever had a quarterback who had as many touches as Perkins does in terms of obviously rushing attempts and passes?
BRONCO MENDENHALL: We ran a trajectory similar when I was the coach at Brigham Young University with Taysom Hill. Taysom's season became shortened because of injury, it didn't come to fruition, the same volume we would have hoped it would.

Q. Bronco, according to the status, Jowon Briggs didn't play against Virginia Tech. Was there a reason for that, and do you expect him back this week?
BRONCO MENDENHALL: He'll play.

Probably the stats were off. So there wasn't any reason that he shouldn't have been listed, and there's no issues with him.

Q. Coach Dabo was complimentary of you this week and almost seemed to think that the two programs from a culture standpoint kind of mirror each other and said he could see that in you from the beginning. How important is that to not only have the football aspect of it but the culture aspect, and do you see the similarity between the two programs?
BRONCO MENDENHALL: So addressing the question, maybe with most relevance first: I believe that culture precedes performance.

We spend an entire year our first year, our 2-10 season, of doing nothing other than trying to establish a culture that would gain some kind of traction. An analogy of planting seeds is fairly accurate, but really trying to push roots to gain something to build from which really had little to do with football.

We'll put it this way, I have no interest in building a program nor being involved with college football period unless it represents something more than football. And with that genuine and authentic belief, then it becomes something more than football which is cultural, and then there's relationships that can be formed based on depth and principle that yield a much different level of satisfaction, happiness, when success on the field actually does catch up to it.

I believe that each coach within his own principles and his own personality -- yeah, if they do it really well and intentionally and authentically, then there becomes an identity formed with that. And it seems to me that Clemson has done that as well.

In comparing the two programs, I can't say they're similar, but the focus culturally has been emphasized similarly and has manifested similarly other than Clemson is certainly further ahead and reaching a different level in terms of exposure and sustainability while we're becoming, I would say that we're in a different stage.

Q. Wanted to ask you about Isaiah Simmons. When you turn on the film, your first thoughts of him, and how different is he compared to most defenders you go up against?
BRONCO MENDENHALL: Well, when I turn on Clemson film there's a lot of players that are really good.

Just the sheer volume of capability by number is something Clemson has done a really nice job of, the talent selection process, certainly the metrics they're looking for. But then the ability to attract that many and maintain that many, keeping those kind of players happy.

Playing is more fun than watching. When you become an elite player as he is, then schematically there are things you have to do to account, but there are enough other quality players on the field where if you put undue attention on any one player, the trade-off really doesn't warrant it because someone else is very capable and I have been impressed.

Q. How often have teams been ready Perkins this year, and do you expect Clemson to do a degree with that tomorrow?
BRONCO MENDENHALL: With the volume of offense he's accounted for, it is almost every week, and rightly so.

Most teams approach is to have someone else be responsible for touchdowns, yardage than him. Our intent is just the opposite.

So we have been able to have enough success, especially the last five, six weeks of the season as our offense has gained its footing, has yielded different points, yardage and production.

Finishing really in the ACC second in scoring, but first in time of possession, and that's a really unique -- those are two statistics -- to lead in scoring but second in possession. Most of the time it is one or the other. You hold on to the ball and the scoring is minimal, or you can score a lot but the defense is on the field a lot because the tempo is so fast.

Bryce isn't all that we have, and the nature of offense is quite different in that way, but a hold on to the football a lot of time and score it, which is ideal for our program at this time.

Q. You used the term unbroken progression. That's not often how it works. How have you guys been able to keep the arc going, trending up?
BRONCO MENDENHALL: Well, it has been the intent from the minute wheels touchdown in Charlottesville when my family and I arrived is to build a program that was not only rising to the top level of the ACC, but remain there meaning consistent and sustainable, and there are all kinds of temptations to take shortcuts along the way in the talent selection, and just in the daily ethical operations of the program. I think we see that through college sport and professional sport or maybe any business, anything that's competitive. I don't have any interest in that.

I just wanted something foundational that then could be built upon and measured. Easily in my job and in the world of college athletics, wins is the way it happens. It is not the only thing that's sustainable, but that's the way it is usually measured. And to go from two, and the next year's team was just framed what would you do to add upon the two and they made it to post season just barely, and then the next team was -- had the same framing from me. What would you do to add upon that? And then there were eight wins and a bowl victory, and the next team had the same framing from me, what will you do to add upon that?

So now this year we have beaten a few ACC opponents that we hadn't beaten yet. We're at the ACC championship game in year four. I think that's fairly remarkable.

There are very few programs that may have climbed to a conference title sooner than that, I'm not sure they have done it as methodically and consistently and in thoughts of sustaining and as intentionally. So I have been proud of them for that, knowing that we don't view just arriving here as the finish. We have come to compete and play our best football, and so this class and this program still would like to accomplish more in framing what it would be like for the next team to raise the bar even to a higher level.

We do expect each successive group to do something that the others haven't done, and as the air starts to be squeezed out, sqozen out, squeezed out -- someone that's an English major could help me with that -- it becomes more challenging but more fulfilling. And that's really fun as a head coach.

Q. None of your guys has ever played against Clemson, but most of your team was here in the stadium for the Belt Bowl last year. All things being equal, would you rather compete in a setting you're familiar with or does that not matter in a game like this?
BRONCO MENDENHALL: I think it does matter because it is a long-term memory that's facilitated by a number of things, one of them is a significant emotional experience.

I just walked out on the field and I felt good because it was associated with our win over South Carolina, and that's a positive thing. And it's a -- it has a level of confidence and takes away some of the unpredictability.

Now, we weren't playing Clemson. It is a different opponent. I haven't coached against Clemson nor has our team played, but the setting is at least one less unknown before we play the game and that's a good starting point.

Q. Not having your bio handy, have you had teams in conference championships before?
BRONCO MENDENHALL: So man, back in the days when I was in the Mountain West Conference, there wasn't a conference championship. The conference wasn't big enough, the different realignments hadn't happened.

And so the six years together with the other two top teams which were the University of Utah and TCU at Brigham Young we won twice, Utah won twice and TCU won twice in that six- year span and they split off and went off to different conferences and then we were independent and obviously there was no conference championship.

This is my first conference championship game, not my first conference championship. And I lack the format, and wow, do I like the extra practice. That one week extra, we'll take every one of those days we can get in terms of building a program. And that kind of caught me off-guard as to how valuable that would be and how much fun it is to be with my team one more week.

Q. When did you know you had a great team this year? After the two losses, won against Miami? Did you know after Louisville you had a great team that could rally around to get back together?
BRONCO MENDENHALL: That's a great question.

I think greatness is defined in a lot of different ways.

I knew I had a great team, and I have known I had a great team just by being with them every morning. We practice early. Most of our players are in the building between 5:30 and 5:45. Their resilience, their continence, their body language on a daily basis and resilience let me know they could be great on the field. I already knew they were great off.

I think everybody else is just starting to see and I'm not even quite sure truly understand what it has been like over four years of building a program at the University of Virginia. I'm not sure that's quite -- that coverage is quite deep enough yet. It has been very challenging, and they have been part of that.

I would have considered them great even before they played this year. They're just happening to play in a manner now that represents how difficult the challenge they have overcome has been.

Q. Bronco, after that first year of when you realized things were a little more challenging than you expected, did you think you could possibly get this far in this short of time span? How far ahead of schedule are you? How much did Bryce Perkins advance that?
BRONCO MENDENHALL: When I was hired as the coach of the University of Virginia Craig Littlepage and John Oliver were the athletic administration at that time.

At that point I remember making a statement that the fastest I thought it could be done was four years, and it be sustainable and consistent and have a chance to be lasting.

I had hoped it could be done in three. I didn't say that. Internally, I had hoped.

After seeing year one, I knew it wasn't going to be three, it would be a minimum of four, and I just -- someone else I'm sure of can do it faster or better, but in measuring my own capability, my staff's capability, what I saw as the existing metrics and points of reference in that program, that's what I thought.

Bryce Perkins: We're not here without Bryce Perkins in this timeframe.

Now, that was an intentional choice. We knew we had to have a quarterback that was dynamic, that could run and throw to make up for a talent deficit elsewhere. If we had been conventional, every other player would have to perform at a conventional level in comparison to components. We needed at least one player that was capable of helping others raise their play on what the demands of their job was. Thank goodness, but intentionally we found Bryce.

And he needed us, not many were interested in him, and we needed him. So it's been a great fit.

Q. Coach, Bryce Hall is loving every minute of this run that you have had, but it has to be tough for him to watch from the sidelines tomorrow night. How tough was it to overcome his loss, and how much does he remain an influence for your team in the secondary both on and off the field?
BRONCO MENDENHALL: The statistics play out really clearly.

We were at the top of the league in almost every category defensively prior to him getting hurt and our pass defense currently ranks 11th in the ACC, you could just put because of Bryce Hall next to that.

We have had to adapt, overcome and adjust schematically and leadership wise to account for him, and we won't ever be able to compensate fully for him. However, he's become unofficially titled our assistant secondary coach.

He's responsible for developing every new player that's out there. Our entire backup group of five defensive backs are all first years which he's basically in charge of.

He gives the speech, the pregame speech, every week as well before the game. He certainly can do that better than I, and it is a way as a team captain, someone that cares so much about the program that he can contribute and he does a masterful job with that. Our success is still tied to him.

Q. Coach, when you look at Clemson on the page, on film, they're dynamically offensively, but what schematically steps off the page offensively when you look at them?
BRONCO MENDENHALL: I would say simplicity.

I think the most masterful coaches are the ones that keep asking the question what don't we need?

It is really easy based on hours to keep adding things and to keep adding things and let's do this, let's do that, let's do this. I think the very best coaches are the ones that we don't need this, we don't need this, but they have enough to complement which means as a defensive coach if you defend this you already know the trade-off you're making and you're giving up something else, and if within the scheme they have a complement to that trade are-off they make you pay. And Clemson does just that.

As soon as you shift balance to a different player, a different play, a different formation, they're going to make you pay immediately and they have the players to had do it. I think simplicity is -- it is refreshing to see, but they have the players and the coaching and the execution to make those trade-offs so clear that you know and you just hope they don't see it when you adjust.

Q. I know you probably have seen this scenario before maybe from both sides, they're not only a very talented team but a very experienced team. They have been through this, the roster has been through this. You guys are the newcomers. Has there been a mental challenge for you and the staff this week to try to make sure that your guys don't walk in the stadium like you did and maybe be wide eyed and kind of coach them to this moment, so to speak?
BRONCO MENDENHALL: They're so full of optimism and hope and excitement. I'm not getting in the way of that. This is a moment they have earned. I don't intend to taper it.

I intend to have them channeled into their assignments and position mastery.

Their mindset is so pure in relationship to excitement to play a college football game in a conference championship format it is so refreshing. In this day and age where conference championships in many cases are just now a warm-up for something else to come.

Conference championships are why you play in my opinion. Anything else comes after that. It is just refreshing. I think it is healthy for college football.

Q. Bronco, you were very open after last season's disappointment against Virginia Tech that maybe you had gone conservatively in that game were there lessons learned there that you then used. This season in terms of your offensive scheme?
BRONCO MENDENHALL: Sure. Not only offensive scheme but just game management strategy.

Conventional wisdom is not -- conventional metrics is not what allowed us to get to the conference championship, nor is it rarely what happens with under-resourced, under-funded businesses, armies, sports teams. Convention with lack of resources or under-funded resources you rarely match.

Unconventional, usually atypical, innovative, that's the path that usually matches when you don't have as much. And so we have simply made an intent to do that more. We're not perfect, but we did learn from that.

And we fell into tradition and what and how maybe close games should be managed, what the book says. The book isn't coaching at Virginia and hasn't spent the last four years building, and so we have acknowledged the book and we're just trying to write our own chapter.

Q. Coach, can you give a couple of specific examples about that sort of unconventionality, whether it is going more often on fourth down, what are you speaking of exactly besides Bryce Perkins?
BRONCO MENDENHALL: Bryce Perkins, it is hard to eliminate him because most everything goes through him.

The number of attempts or possibly when we go for it on it fourth down, possibly the number of either fake punts or fake field goals, possibly the use of personnel or atypical personnel in relation to situations, really anything we can do that would break a trend that we have either had through the course of the year or what the trend of that moment or situational football might mean, we just simply acknowledge that and try to do the opposite as a starting point rather than the adjustment.

Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP sports

tech 129
About ASAP SportsFastScripts ArchiveRecent InterviewsCaptioningUpcoming EventsContact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297