Ready, set, snarf! The Chris Long Special is made with rotisserie chicken, avocado, sprouts, tomato, cheddar cheese, and chipotle mayonnaise on a brioche bun. Photo: Tiger Fuel
With the UVA football team on an early winning streak this season, The Markets of Tiger Fuel—a favorite for game-day grub—look like marketing geniuses with the introduction of new sandwiches named for head coach Bronco Mendenhall and former University of Virginia and NFL star Chris Long. The service-station deli trend isn’t new in Charlottesville, but Tiger Fuel now works its made-to-order magic at five locations (tigerfuelmarkets.com). The Bronco Buster—turkey, pepper jack cheese, bacon, lettuce, tomato, and hot pepper relish on a seven-grain roll—is already on the menu, with a $1 game-day discount. Long’s eponymous sandwich—rotisserie chicken, avocado, sprouts, tomato, cheddar cheese, and chipotle mayonnaise on a brioche bun—debuted on Monday, October 7. A buck from each sale goes to Long’s charity, Waterboys, which works to deliver clean water to communities in need.
Artist Georgie Mackenzie’s work will be on display at Milli Coffee Roasters beginning with the exhibit opening, 5-7pm, October 12. Photo: Courtesy Milli Coffee Roasters
Cool beans
“Machines don’t make coffee, people do.” Those words of wisdom from Milli Coffee Roasters founder Nick Leichtentritt have guided new owner John Borgquist, who has carried on Milli’s tradition of building community with caffeine since Nick passed away unexpectedly earlier this year. A longtime customer and friend of Leichtentritt’s, Borgquist officially took the reigns June 1. Now, along with Leichtentritt’s sister, Sophia Milli Leichtentritt, Borgquist is taking things to the next level with a state-of-the-art new roaster that will enable Milli’s to expand its small-batch offerings. “It has a round drum and looks like an old-school locomotive, but in stainless steel,” Borgquist says. “I’ve kept with [Nick’s] philosophy, though it’s great to have the new tool.” The shop—which also offers Belgian waffles, panini, and wine—will use the roaster to produce an organic, fairly traded Guatemalan coffee grown at high altitude in Huehuetenango. (“It’s pronounced way way ten-ango, which I call ‘Hue-Hue All the Way,’” Borgquist says.) Another Milli’s tradition, displaying work by local artists, will carry on beginning October 12, from 5-7pm, with a show by UVA student/painter Georgie Mackenzie. The shop/gallery is at the corner of Preston Avenue and Ridge McIntire Road. millicoffeeroasters.com
Nuggets
In a run-up to National Vegan Day, on Friday, November 1, Charlottesville’s pizza-and-trivia haven Mellow Mushroom is celebrating with Meatless Mondays, on October 14, 21, and 28. Everyone likes a nice gooey pie, so the pizza joint has teamed up with innovative plant-based food producer Follow Your Heart to make its popular Veg Out Pizza fair game (oops, sorry) for vegans, using a non-GMO, soy-free mozz alternative. Prepared on a 10-inch platter of gluten-free dough, the pie is made with red sauce and fresh veggies like spinach, green peppers, mushrooms (not magic ones), sweet onions, black olives, and—oh, you get the picture. No pepperoni, capiche?! The price is $10.99, a savings of about $8, according to a press release. • Looking for a cool way to ease into the weekend? The Wine Guild of Charlottesville welcomes London-based writer Wink Lorch—author of Jura Wine and Wines of the French Alps: Savoie, Bugey and beyond—for a tasting and book signing from 5:30-8:30pm, Friday, October 11. In addition to having one of the best bylines ever, Lorch is a leading authority on wines of the French Alps and Jura, a little-known viticulture region on the border of France and Switzerland. Email wineguildcville@gmail.com to reserve a spot at the tasting, and indicate which book you’d like Lorch to inscribe for you. Book and tasting $40-45, tasting only $10-15. 221 Carlton Rd. wineguildcville.com • The UVA-developed technology that led to the launch of Ian Glomski’s Vitae Spirits is about to bear fruit again with the debut of another local boutique liquor producer, Monte Piccolo Farm and Distillery. The tech, which aids in identifying and quantifying flavor compounds in fruit brandy, has paved the way for Robin Felder, UVA professor of pathology and associate director of laboratory medicine in the School of Medicine, to produce an eau de vie-style pear brandy with his big copper still in Albemarle County. Monte Piccolo grows its own fruit to make the hooch, and Felder says he’s finalizing his bottling, labeling, and packaging for brandy that will be available soon. “With over 4,000 pounds of pears this year, I’ll certainly have enough pear eau de vie-style brandy to sell!” Felder says. montepiccolo.com
75th D-Day commemorates local hero whose name is misspelled
June 6 marks the 75th anniversary of D-Day, a turning point in World War II. Across the globe, veterans will gather for speeches, re-enactments, and celebrations.
The National Medal of Honor Museum is coordinating something a little more ambitious. The museum hopes to have churches in the hometowns of the 13 American men who received the Medal of Honor for their bravery during D-Day toll their bells at exactly the same time: 2pm.
One of those men is Technical Sergeant Frank D. Peregoy of Esmont.
On June 8, 1944, Peregoy single-handedly attacked a fortified machine-gun position, killing eight and forcing the surrender of over 32 German riflemen, allowing the 3rd Battalion of the 116th Infantry to secure Grandcamp-Maisy, France. Six days later, Peregoy died at the age of 28.
A historical marker for Peregoy was installed in 1994, following the 50th anniversary of D-Day, at the corner of Emmet Street and University Avenue.
Peregoy’s grave in in the American Cemetery in Normandy in May. Photo courtesy Sean McCoy
But the marker incorrectly spells Peregoy’s name as “Peregory” with an extra “r.” So does the armory named in his honor, and Peregory Lane near the National Guard Armory.
And that’s not all.
Historian Rick Britton noted in an article for Albemarle magazine that Peregoy’s date of birth is also incorrect. And Peregoy’s youngest brother, Don Peregoy, has said he was born in Nelson County, not Albemarle.
According to a fellow soldier, Peregoy falsified his birth date when he enlisted, and his name was spelled Peregory on his military papers.
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Esmont, and First Presbyterian, First Baptist, and St. David’s Anglican churches in Charlottesville will be ringing their bells in memory of Peregoy and his fellow fighters.
Quote of the week
“I will be asking for votes and laws, not thoughts and prayers.”—Governor Ralph Northam calling for a special session of the General Assembly following the May 31 Virginia Beach shooting massacre of 12
In brief
M.I.A.
Three defendants in Sines v. Kessler, the lawsuit stemming from the 2017 Unite the Right rally, face sanctions for failure to comply with discovery requests. Nor were Matt Heimbach, Eli Kline, aka Mosley, and neo-Nazi group Vanguard America in federal court June 3, when the plaintiffs requested sanctions, with Heimbach and Kline’s former attorney James Kolenich agreeing sanctions were appropriate. The judge will rule in the coming weeks.
Divested
City Council voted4-1 June 3 to get rid of the city’s investments in companies producing fossil fuels and weapon systems. Mike Signer voted no, saying the military needed weapons in a dangerous world.
He’s back!
photo Matt Riley
Mamadi Diakite announced his return to UVA basketball for his senior year—less than an hour before the NBA draft deadline for players to withdraw May 29. The forward’s announcement was a sign of hope for the upcoming season, after star players De’Andre Hunter, Ty Jerome, and Kyle Guy declared for the draft.
EPIC endorsements
Not much has been heard lately from Equity and Progress in Charlottesville, a group founded in 2017 to challenge the Democratic grip on city government with Bernie Sanders-inspired progressivism. But last week EPIC announced it’s endorsing Michael Payne and Sena Magill for City Council, and Sally Hudson for the House of Delegates.
Screwdriver killing
Gerald Francis Jackson, charged with second-degree murder in the January death of his Belmont neighbor, Richard Wayne Edwards, was in court May 30 for a preliminary hearing. The Daily Progress reports officers found a red Phillips-head screwdriver believed to be the murder weapon. Detective Robbie Oberholzer testified Jackson threatened that if he was arrested, “I’ll kill you, too.”
Lumberyard fined
R.A. Yancey Lumber in Crozet was fined $24,000 for the July 2018 death of Floriberta Macedo-Diaz, 46, according to the Progress. The Virginia Department of Labor and Industry found four violations from the accident in which a stack of lumber pieces weighing 260 pounds each fell on top of Macedo-Diaz.
Two more years
UVA football Coach Bronco Mendenhall extends his contract through 2024. Since coming to Charlottesville in 2016, he’s taken the losing Cavaliers to two bowl games, and won last year’s Belk Bowl. Mendenhall’s base salary is $3.55 million.
Banderas monumentales
photo Amanda Maglione
John Kluge wants to raise a 100-foot flag to honor the relationship between Mexico and the United States—and to annoy his neighbor, Trump Winery. Kluge, the son of a billionaire, owns eight acres in the middle of the winery that his mother’s friend, Donald Trump, bought at foreclosure in 2011.
In 2013, Kluge sued Trump, claiming he’d been defrauded when Trump bought the 217-acre front yard of Albemarle House from Kluge’s trust. The suit was later settled.
Kluge has started a GoFundMe page to raise $25,000 to commission a design and buy the flagpole, and he says any excess will go “to support entrepreneurship opportunities for refugees, asylum seekers, and other forcibly displaced people in Mexico.”
At press time, he had raised $7,715, but had also earned some comments suggesting people donate to immigrant support organizations rather than run it up a flagpole.
As a local biologist and founder of the nonprofit Environmental Health Sciences, Pete Myers clearly knows a thing or two about environmental health. On Thursday, October 25, from 9am to noon, he’ll join three other experts at the Paramount to give us “The Real Dirt on Pesticides” (spoiler: it’s worse than you think).
If you can’t make the forum, where attendees will also learn alternative and sustainable methods of dealing with garden pests and weeds, here are three things Myers says you ought to know about the substances created to kill:
Because of wind, drift, water runoff from pesticide- sprayed fields, and the way that the sun’s heat evaporates the pesticide off the surfaces where they are sprayed, it is virtually impossible to limit their application to the pest they are being used to kill. This harms beneficial organisms, including people.
Almost no square inch on the planet is without measurable amounts of pesticides, and every human has measurable levels of pesticides in them.
The methods used by regulatory agencies to test for pesticide safety have deep and fatal flaws, so our understanding of what is safe, and what is not, is very limited. Among them:
Pesticide manufacturers submit test results, not regulatory agencies, and results are often withheld from independent scrutiny with claims of confidential business interests.
The tests are carried out on the ‘active ingredient,’ the one chemical thought to do the killing. But a pesticide is a mixture withmany other chemicals specifically added to the product to make it more powerful. The product as sold is never tested in the process of determining its safety.
Nikuyah Walker. Photo by Eze Amos
Quote of the week: “How civil and orderly were the community members who auctioned off black bodies in Court Square?” —Mayor Nikuyah Walker responds to a Daily Progress op-ed on bullying at City Council meetings
Mayor takes aim at Galvin… and Baggby’s?
In a Facebook response to the Progress editorial on heckling at City Council meetings, Mayor Walker accused Councilor Kathy Galvin of “white (civil) rage,” and described the “tyranny” that has ruled the city under the guise of civility: “I’m cruel and oppressive and unreasonable, but I do it in a suit and tie or a dress, while I eat Baggby’s. And I don’t yell…I slyly smirk.”
Big bucks from Bronco
Bronco Mendenhall. Photo by Jackson Smith
Bronco Mendenhall’s family ponied up $500K for new football operations center. UVA says it’s the largest gift made to the university by a head coach, but Mendenhall is also the university’s highest paid coach ever, pulling down around $3.5 million annually.
Free UVA tuition
Jim Ryan seems to be pretty popular among the students he now officially presides over, and he racked up even more brownie points at his October 19 inauguration, where he said in-state students with families earning less than $80,000 a year will be able to attend the university tuition-free.
Big tent replaced
A portable off-grid washing facility. Click to enlarge.
The bad news is that construction to replace the original fabric roof of the Sprint Pavilion will cut off all pedestrian access through the venue (and the tunnel under Ninth Street) until March. The good news is that the fabric will get a new life as a “portable off-grid washing facility,” which creates a reusable and environmentally friendly way to do laundry in refugee camps, according to Pavilion manager Kirby Hutto.
Deeds settles
State Senator Creigh Deeds settled a wrongful death lawsuit against former mental health evaluator Michael Gentry for $950,000 for allowing his son, Gus, to leave the hospital after determining he was a danger to himself and others. Gus stabbed his father multiple times before killing himself on November 18, 2013.
Need a ride to vote?
Don’t let a lack of transportation keep you from voting in the November 6 midterms.
An all-volunteer group called CAR2Vote, founded by Gail Hyder Wiley in 2013, provides free rides for voters to get an ID, submit an absentee ballot, or vote on election day. Approximately 75 drivers are on call this year.
Says Hyder Wiley about the upcoming election, “There’s a lot of pent-up frustration and polarization, and one of the best ways to make your voice heard is to vote.”
Sign up for a ride to vote at car2vote.weebly.com or call 260-1547.
The hiring of an interim city manager, an event that usually takes place behind closed doors, has become heated and public, with reports of shouting at a July 20 closed City Council session. Mayor Nikuyah Walker has gone on Facebook Live twice to express her concerns that the process is part of the old boys’ network because someone suggested a candidate for the position to Vice Mayor Heather Hill, which she calls a “white supremist practice.”
On July 23, councilors Hill, Mike Signer and Kathy Galvin issued a five-page response to Walker’s Facebook Live video. “We regret that our rules requiring confidentiality about closed session discussions for personnel choices—which are in place under Virginia law, to protect local elected officials’ ability to discuss and negotiate employment agreements—were broken by the mayor.”
The search for an interim city manager became more urgent when Maurice Jones took a town manager job in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, leaving the city without a chief executive as the anniversary of August 12 looms.
Chris Suarez at the Daily Progress reports that three sources have confirmed U.S. Army Human Resources Command Chief of Staff Sidney C. Zemp has been offered the job.
In the councilors’ response, all three say they’ve never met the candidate, and that review panels are not used when filling interim positions.
In her July 20 video, Walker walked back a comment she made on Facebook and Twitter July 19: “We might have to protest a City Council decision. Are y’all with me?” She said she didn’t want supporters to shut down a council meeting, but did want them to pay attention to the process.
Walker was back on Facebook Live July 23, blasting her fellow councilors for their “very privileged” backgrounds and questioning their integrity.
She says she favors an internal candidate—the two assistant city managers and a department head have been floated—which councilors Wes Bellamy and Signer initially favored.
Bellamy issued his own statement: “Elected bodies agree and disagree all of the time” and that can lead to “healthy debate.”
Will council actually vote for an interim city manager at its August 6 meeting? Stay tuned.
Mayor Nikuyah Walker expressed concern in a July 20 Facebook Live video about the hiring process for an interim city manager.
In brief
Too much heritage
The Louisa County Board of Zoning Appeals said the giant Confederate battle flag on I-64 must come down because its 120-foot pole is double the county’s maximum allowable height. Virginia Flaggers erected the “Charlottesville I-64 Spirit of Defiance Battle Flag” in March and argued that after putting up 27 flags across the state, they wouldn’t have spent $14,000 on this one without confirming county code.
Controversial hire
A petition with more than 2,000 signatures of UVA faculty and students objects to the Miller Center’s hiring of Trump legislative affairs director Marc Short as a senior fellow. The petitioners are opposed to Trump administrators using “our university to clean up their tarnished reputations.”
Presidential paychecks
New UVA president Jim Ryan commands a higher salary than his predecessor, but can’t touch Brono Mendenhall’s paycheck. Photo UVA
Outgoing UVA prez Teresa Sullivan’s base pay of $580,000 and total compensation of $607,502 last year makes her one of the higher paid university chiefs, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education. Her successor, Jim Ryan, starts with a $750,000 base pay, but to put those numbers in perspective, remember that UVA football coach Bronco Mendenhall makes $3.4 million—with a possible $2 million-plus bonus. At this week’s ACC Kickoff event, media members predicted—for the fifth straight year—that UVA will finish last in the conference’s Coastal Division.
New tourism director
Adam Healy, the former CEO of online wedding marketplace Borrowed and Blue, which closed abruptly last October, will now serve as the interim executive director of the Charlottesville Albemarle Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Standoff on Lankford
A state police vehicle on the outskirts of the standoff.
About 50 city, county and state police and SWAT team members were on the scene of a four-hour standoff with 29-year-old Alexander Rodgers, who had barricaded himself inside a Lankford Avenue home on July 19. Someone called police around 8am and reported shots fired. Rodgers, who has a history of domestic violence and was wanted on six outstanding warrants, eventually surrendered and was charged with three felonies and a misdemeanor.
Quote of the week:
“The fish rots from the head.”—Senator Tim Kaine, after U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security and UVA alum Kirstjen Nielsen said about last summer’s violence in Charlottesville at a July 19 press briefing, “It’s not that one side was right and one side was wrong.”
County crime report
The Albemarle County Police Department released its annual crime report for 2017 last month. Here are a few things that caught our eye.
-Police misconduct has been reframed in a new “cheers and jeers” section, where police complaints are compared side-by-side with commendations.
-Albemarle County had the second-lowest crime rate in the state while Charlottesville had the highest. Crime rate is measured by tallying the number of crimes committed per 100,000 people.
Fairfax: 1,273
Albemarle: 1,286
Prince George: 1,334
Arlington: 1,355
Prince William: 1,370
Chesterfield: 1,450
James City: 1,611
Roanoke: 1,638
Henrico: 2,548
Charlottesville: 2,631
-County police officers made 2,296 arrests and used force “to overcome resistance or threat” on 14 occasions.
-Assaults on police officers have gone up and down.
Will UVA produce another sports standout this year, like current NBA Rookie of the Year Malcolm Brogdon? Photo by Will UVA produce another sports standout this year, like current NBA Rookie of the Year Malcolm Brogdon?
Photo by Matt Riley.
UVA sports saw some big successes last year: The men’s tennis team claimed the NCAA trophy, alongside Thai-Son Kwiatkowski’s singles championship. And Malcolm Brogdon, men’s basketball alum, was named the NBA Rookie of the Year. Drafted by the Milwaukee Bucks in the second round of the 2016 draft, Brogdon defied the odds and became the first second-round pick to earn the award. But UVA teams had some disappointments too, with Bronco Mendenhall’s less-than-stellar first football season, and the men’s basketball team’s second-round departure from the NCAA tournament. The good news? UVA has added some promising players-to-watch, including a quarterback heir apparent and an undefeated high school tennis player.
Football
Bronco Mendenhall probably envisioned his first season at UVA ending a little differently, while, across the field, Virginia Tech players celebrated. Their quarterback got down on one knee and proposed to his girlfriend.
She said yes, of course. Why wouldn’t she? He’d just rushed for 105 yards, making it twice into the end zone against Tech’s favorite rival to beat.
The scoreboard read 52-10, a demoralizing defeat that marked Virginia’s seventh straight loss in a 2-10 season, the team’s worst record since 2013, and Mendenhall’s lowest since he began coaching at Brigham Young in 2005.
“I have a base philosophy, and that is a team plays the way they are prepared,” said Mendenhall in a post-game interview. “I’m responsible for how they prepared, and I’m responsible for how they execute. And clearly what the outcome today showed is that I didn’t prepare them well enough.”
Mendenhall brought six assistant coaches with him from BYU, introducing new blood to everything from the offensive coordinator to quarterback coach. But the staff overhaul wasn’t enough to give UVA the winning season it’s been looking for since 2011. And with many starters graduating, especially on the offense, 2017 looks like it might be yet another year to rebuild and regroup.
UVA’s first three games this year are home games, which is good news for the beleaguered program. The season home opener is against William & Mary, which puts some pressure on the team—a home game against the Tribe is very nearly a must-win—but if the Hoos can put together three wins to start off the season against manageable opponents (William & Mary, Indiana and Connecticut) then they will improve their 2016 win total.
Season highlight: Tailback Taquan Mizzell made ACC history in his final year with the Hoos, becoming the first player to record 1,500 yards rushing and receiving in his career. He rushed for 940 yards in 2016 alone. Although these accolades weren’t enough to get him drafted, making 2017 the first year in three decades that UVA didn’t send a football player to the NFL draft, the Baltimore Ravens signed him as a free agent this summer.
Players to watch:
Lindell Stone
6’2″, 205 pounds
Position: Backup QB (to starter Kurt Benkert, fifth-year senior, making Stone UVA’s potential heir apparent)
Gahm: 6’3″, 225 pounds, 6.9 tackles per game in 2016; Snowden: 6’7″, 200 pounds, 28.3 receiving yards/game; Zandier: 6’4″, 215 pounds, 34.4 receiving yards/game
Position: Linebackers; because of UVA’s depleted depth, it’s likely some of them will see playing time
Status: True freshmen
Men’s basketball
In the 60-plus years since the Atlantic Coast Conference’s creation, no team has managed to hold its opponents to under 40 points for three games in a row—that is, until the 2017 Virginia men’s basketball team. They did it with three straight wins against St. Francis, Yale and Grambling State. It was a testament to the nationally ranked defense that helped them go 23-11 (and 11-7 in the ACC) on the season.
Unfortunately, what goes around comes around, and Virginia itself was held to under 40 points in the game that eliminated the Hoos in the second round of the NCAA tournament. For a team that only two years ago was back-to-back ACC regular season champs, it was a disappointing end to a successful year, especially for star senior London Perrantes. The Cavs also lost three key players—Marial Shayok, Jarred Reuter and Darius Thompson—who all decided to transfer to other colleges following the 2016-17 season.
Alum spotlight: In his five years at UVA, Malcolm Brogdon earned a master’s in public policy from the Batten School and the ACC Player of the Year award. Now, with his No. 15 jersey retired and hanging from the rafters at JPJ, Brogdon has collected perhaps the highest honor of his career: NBA Rookie of the Year. He’s the lowest-ranked draft pick to win the award since 1958. Brogdon was selected after a spectacular first season with the Milwaukee Bucks, where he started in 28 games with an average of 10.2 points per game.
Players to watch:
Jay Huff
6’6″, 16.3 points/game
Position: Guard
Status: Starting sophomore after a redshirt freshman year
Marco Anthony
6’6″, 11.7 points/game in 2016
Position: Combo guard
Status: True freshman (from Holmes High School, Texas)
Women’s basketball
The last game of the Virginia women’s basketball team’s season was a nail-biter. In a back-and-forth match that had everything you could ask for in a game—a dozen ricocheting lead changes, tie score after tie score—the Notre Dame Fighting Irish finally pulled ahead in the third quarter, eventually eliminating Virginia from the ACC tournament and ending a 20-13 season (7-9 in the ACC).
Alum spotlight: “Success will not come easy, but it will come,” Dawn Staley promised UVA graduates in her 2009 valedictory address. And for Staley, come it did. Before she graduated from UVA in 1992, she was the ACC Rookie of the Year and a key component in her team’s three Final Four appearances, although she never actually won an NCAA championship. Two and a half decades later, she finally hoisted the trophy as coach of the South Carolina Gamecocks, the 2017 NCAA champions.
Player to watch:
Amandine Toi
5’11”, 9.54 points/game in 2016-17
Position: Shooting guard
Status: Freshman (from the French National Team)
Women’s soccer
The Virginia women’s soccer team didn’t just begin 2016 with seven straight wins; it began it with seven straight shutouts.
In fact, the team held its opponents to nil in its first 10 wins (the Hoos went 15-5-2 on the season). The women outshot the other teams by huge margins, averaging 2.36 goals per game, while their opponents hovered at 0.82. Virginia’s shot accuracy was actually lower on average than its opponents, but the sheer bombardment of scoring attempts (395 total for Virginia, 125 for the other teams) led the Cavs to a winning season. They finished the regular season with a record of 15-5-2, and 6-2-2 within their conference.
Hana Kerner is a midfielder and striker on the UVA women’s soccer team, which started last season with seven straight shutouts. Photo by Matt Riley.
Player to watch:
Laurel Ivory
5’9″, starting keeper of U20 Women’s National Team and U17 World Cup team, member of West Florida Flames of ECNL
Position: Goalkeeper
Status: Freshman (graduating early from Miami Country Day School in Florida)
Men’s lacrosse
Lars Tiffany’s first season as UVA’s lacrosse coach probably wasn’t all he hoped for (Hall of Famer Dom Starsia’s contract was not renewed last year after 24 seasons at the university). In 2016, Tiffany guided his team at Brown to a 16-3 season. In 2017, Virginia only managed 8-7, dropping his win percentage from 0.842 to a less inspiring 0.533; the Cavs lost all four conference games. UVA hasn’t won a conference game since 2013-14, when it went 1-3 in the ACC. In the final loss of the 2017 season, an ACC showcase game, the Cavaliers ran into a problem that had plagued them throughout the season: They were outshooting, but not outscoring, their opponent.
Player to watch:
Matt Moore
6’2”, 156 goals and 173 assists in career
Position: Attacker
Status: Freshman (from Garnet Valley High School in Pennsylvania, where he holds records for playoff points, goals, assists and goals in a single game)
Men’s tennis
The Virginia Men’s Tennis team lost a match to Wake Forest on March 31. The team waited around for a two-and-a-half hour rain delay, only to lose 5-2. Why is that mid-season match important? Because it was Virginia’s only loss of the entire season.
The team went 34-1 in 2017, dominating their way through the postseason just as they did the regular to claim its third consecutive NCAA championship. It marked the fourth trophy in five years and was the final jewel in the crown of Coach Brian Boland’s 16-year tenure at UVA. The dust from engraving Virginia’s name into its third straight championship trophy had barely settled before UVA named Andres Pedroso, former associate coach, as the new head coach.
Season highlight: Less than a week after his team hoisted the NCAA championship trophy, Thai-Son Kwiatkowski beat out North Carolina freshman prodigy William Blumberg to claim the title of NCAA Men’s Singles champion. For Kwiatkowski, the championship is a cap on his senior year after he went 33-7 in singles matches.
Player to watch:
Matthew Lord
Went three years in high school without losing a match
Status: Freshman (from Connecticut’s Kingswood-Oxford School); verbally committed to UVA
Swimming
In early August, a new head coach was named to oversee men’s and women’s swimming and diving at UVA. Todd DeSorbo’s stacked résumé includes six seasons as associate head coach of the wildly successful program at North Carolina State.
Season highlight: If Leah Smith’s name sounds familiar, it’s because you heard it alongside Katie Ledecky’s in the 2016 Olympics, where Smith claimed two Olympic medals. Although 2017 marked her final year at UVA, she is still putting Virginia up on podiums. She won three medals at the 2017 FINA World Championships—gold on the 4x200m freestyle team relay and the 400m freestyle—and she had a bronze-winning 800m freestyle that broke her previous personal best by a whopping three seconds.
Former UVA film studies professor Walter Korte appeared in court November 28 and waived a preliminary hearing on the two possessions of child porn charges he faces. Korte was arrested in August, and after his release from jail September 6, he attempted suicide. His case goes to the grand jury December 5.
Requiem for a music teacher
Western Albemarle’s Eric Betthauser, 43, aka “Mr. B.,” died November 22 when his Mazda was struck by a Camaro on Fifth Street Extended. Aaron A. Johnson, 27, of Richmond is charged with involuntary manslaughter and DUI.
Copping a plea
Former Nelson County sheriff David Brooks, 54, entered Alford pleas November 28 for unlawful dissemination of images and malfeasance for setting up political rival Mac Bridgwater with a woman in a Lynchburg Econo Lodge and filming him. Brooks’ two-year sentence was suspended and he can’t work in law enforcement for five years.
Bronco’s debut season
UVA’s new head football coach Bronco Mendenhall ended an inglorious 2-10 season November 26 with a 52-10 rout by Virginia Tech.
Drinking age change
In a snafu publicized by the Market Street Wineshop & Grocery on Facebook, the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control handed out fliers that said “anyone born on or before today’s date in 1996” may not buy or consume alcohol. “A good editor is worth their weight in gold,” the wineshop posted. We wonder how this would hold up in court.
Leafy substances
They’re still here. As much as Charlottesville loves its green canopy, disposing of fall foliage can be a major pain. At least the city offers pickup options—in Albemarle County you’re on your own.
So for those of you who can’t just ignore the leaves and let them blow into your neighbor’s yard, or who don’t mow and mulch, here’s some tips when you stuff your free, city-provided plastic bags. And if you’re concerned about how environmentally appropriate it is to use plastic to
dispose of biodegradable materials, city spokesperson Miriam Dickler says the plastic bags are the thinnest that work, and once the leaves are dumped at Panorama Farm, where they’re composted, the bags are recycled.
Bagged leaves are collected weekly through January 27, 2017
Only clear plastic bags will be picked up
Fill them only ¾ full and keep them under 50 pounds
No sticks or stones or bones.
Loose leaves will be vacuumed twice during the season. The schedule depends on what leaf zone you’re in.
UVA quarterback Kurt Benkert set the passing school record during Saturday's game against Central Michigan.
Photo Pete Emerson
Another 90-degree football day and half the stadium seems to have forgotten there was a game. The hill, one of UVA’s two student sections, is decidedly more green than orange. The bleachers are half-empty. Today is not the day for Virginia to take home a win, no less a 49-35 win over Central Michigan. Today is not a good day for football in Charlottesville.
Regardless of the state of Scott Stadium, the captains flip a coin, the game starts, and the Hoos suffocate defensively, forcing Central Michigan to punt on their first three drives of the game.
The audience is grateful, cheering politely at every defensive stop, but their hearts aren’t in it yet.
How many games have we started well and lost later?
Nevertheless, the stadium sways left and right joyously and rings with the sound of Virginia’s unique fight song when quarterback Kurt Benkert connects to Olamide Zaccheaus for a Cavalier touchdown with 9:42 to go in the first quarter.
A 44-yard rush by Taquan Mizzel leaves the Cavaliers at first and goal. Another touchdown—6:02 left in the first quarter.
The song swells slightly louder this time. The hill seems slightly fuller.
Virginia has played 10 minutes of suffocating defense and scored twice before the Chippewas are even able to muster a first down.
Benkert outdoes himself for the Cavaliers, delivering them out of danger when the Chippewas land a punt on the 1-yard line, gaining 208 yards in the first quarter alone to CMU’s 43, and continuing to move the ball down the field to give the Hoos a chance to score.
Not even a full minute into the second quarter and UVA has its third touchdown of the game—this time courtesy of Keeon Johnson. Alex Furbank, UVA’s walk-on, Division III soccer-playing kicker, misses the extra point. But the fans don’t care. Too much good has happened already.
A sack by Zach Bradshaw to force a punt and suddenly the crowd goes wild. The weight of Virginia’s 21 points is starting to settle, heavy and comfortably, on the shoulders of their fans.
This is happening.
UVA’s next drive down the field and suddenly the fans are confident. “Touchdown!” a man yells, anticipating Virginia’s score while they’ve still got 4 yards to go. This time, Furbank doesn’t miss his extra kick.
Is this the same team? Is this the team that blew a game to Richmond?
Five minutes left in the second quarter and Central Michigan starts to break through. They’re one and 8 for the first time. They’re close. They score. 28-7.
A remarkable 85-yard touchdown later and suddenly it’s 28-14, 2:26 to halftime. The student bleachers look barren, about half-full.
Was it this empty at the start?
Another Virginia drive that leads nowhere—another punt—and then it’s halftime, 28-14 at the half. That’s good, right?
But what about after halftime? Will the same team run out of the tunnel that ran in when it was 90 degrees and not a good day for football?
CMU kicks off to Virginia and the second half begins. The stadium itself is a study in contrasts: half pulsing with color, half on life support.
The student section is virtually deserted. Empty water bottles litter the hill and used napkins and plates blow in the breeze. You wouldn’t know, by the looks of that hill, that the Cavaliers were hours away from winning their first game of the season.
The third quarter turns into a slew of bad plays for the Cavaliers. An unnecessary roughness call kills Virginia’s drive and forces them to punt early, and the Chippewas intercept Kurt Benkert’s pass for a 47-yard touchdown—it’s 28-21.
Is this where the tables start turning? Is this where the football gods turn their backs on Virginia?
Six seconds into the fourth quarter and the Cavaliers are back at square one. Rush throws a 14-yard touchdown pass to CMU’s Corey Willis and it’s 28-28. All tied up now.
The game is a blank slate. A 15-minute-long window of football.
With 9:36 left in the game, everything changes. Benkert is pressured inside Virginia’s 10-yard line. He runs, a throw goes up…and is caught. Eighty-two yards later and the crowd is electrified—brought back to life like Frankenstein’s monster.
Benkert hits his stride again, connecting short passes to push the Cavs down the field.
A collective shout—the loudest yet: 42-28 Virginia.
Just five more minutes. Just five more minutes of good football.
An interception gives Virginia possession and a well-placed ball to “Smoke” Mizzell puts the Cavaliers up 49-28.
Central Michigan scores with 48 seconds left to put seven fewer points between the teams. But it’s already done. It’s already won. First-year head coach Bronco Mendenhall has his first win of the season, yet it seems half the crowd is still waiting for this game to turn into Richmond, or UConn, or any number of losses in the past seasons.
“We’re not immune yet from that being past history and I’m not sure the stadium was…” Mendenhall says. “It felt like there was this cultural ‘Well, we know what this looks like.’ And I felt that.”
“Bronco’s office is under renovation,” I’m told as I walk into UVA head football coach Bronco Mendenhall’s temporary office in July. “They’re adding bookshelves.”
Mendenhall sits at the end of a long table in a conference room, surrounded by pieces of paper. He looks every bit the part of a head coach in a Virginia shirt, Virginia athletic shorts and a Virginia visor. Mumford & Sons plays softly in the background.
As I approach, he gives me a friendly smile, but his tired expression and sun-beaten face are evidence of how hard he and his team have been working this summer.
What’s not so obvious about Mendenhall, 50, tall and broad-shouldered, is that he approaches the game with a unique coaching philosophy.
Those new bookshelves in his office aren’t for New York Times’ bestselling novels—they’re for his own personal research. Calling himself a “lifelong learner,” Mendenhall turns to books to guide him toward successful practices and methods, rather than relying solely on his own judgment.
Among his favorites are four “foundational books” that he bases his program on: Talent is Overrated by Geoff Colvin, The Talent Code by Daniel Coyle, Legacy by James Kerr and Wooden on Leadership by John Wooden. And Mendenhall himself is the subject of a book—Running Into the Wind, by Alyson Von Feldt and Paul Gustavson, which discusses the philosophy he developed as head football coach at Brigham Young University for 11 years.
“Everything we do is very well-researched,” Mendenhall says as he discusses the practices he has implemented at UVA since he was hired in December at a salary of $3.25 million for year one, to replace Mike London (London received $2.1 million in his first year), according to Streaking the Lawn. “What we do is often cerebral in nature, but it is always very well thought-out and very well researched. For example, there is nothing that our players are given. They have to earn everything, from their locker, to their V-sabre, to possibly their jersey number.”
While the methodology behind Mendenhall’s “earned, not given” policy was researched, he admits the decision to implement it was an impulse.
“This was all formed when I was standing in front of the team for the very first time,” Mendenhall says, explaining that the team lacked certain “foundational elements” necessary to “build a consistently strong program over time.”
A week before the Cavaliers face-off against the Richmond Spiders September 3, the whole team has earned the right to wear small V-sabres on their workout shirts. A total of 72 players will dress for UVA’s home-opener.
Mendenhall’s emphasis on proven coaching methods has been a staple in his career, evident since he began his tenure at BYU in 2005.
Then-quarterback John Beck, who played at BYU from 2003-2006 and in the NFL from 2007-2012, describes the young coach as “devoted and visionary,” constantly reading and studying.
“When Bronco took over as the head coach there, he was taking over a program that needed to be rebuilt. He was always trying to find the best way, the most efficient way to do things,” Beck says.
The first thing UVA football coach Bronco Mendenhall told his players was to “train, and if they had extra time, train. And in between training, train.” The team had to earn everything this year: from their lockers to the right to wear their V-sabres. Photo by Jackson Smith
During Mendenhall’s tenure, BYU did not have a single losing season. Barring his first season, in which the team ended with a 6-6 record, the Cougars posted 10 straight winning seasons and received 11 bowl invitations.
The ’04 Cougars and UVA’s current team look similar on paper. In ’03 and ’04, the Cougars recorded a 4-8 and a 5-6 season respectively, while UVA’s last two seasons left them 5-7 and 4-8.
In fact, in London’s six years at UVA, the Hoos had only one winning season, which came in 2011, during London’s second year with the Cavaliers. But after four subsequent losing seasons, calls for London’s resignation began to reverberate within the fan base, and they were answered at the end of the 2015 season when UVA lost to in-state rival Virginia Tech for the 12th consecutive year.
NUMBERS GAME
Mike London’s last season as head coach at the University of Virginia
Overall record: 4-8
Conference record: (ACC): 3-5
Points per game: 25.8 (opponents, 32.2)
Points off turnovers: 61 (opp., 81)
Average yards per rush: 4.1 (opp., 4.5)
Rushing touchdowns: 13 (opp., 15)
Average yards per pass: 6.9 (opp., 8.2)
Passing touchdowns: 21 (opp., 26)
Average yards per game: 383
(opp., 411.5)
Average yards lost to penalties per game: 63.8 (opp., 54.5)
Percent of third down conversions: 43 percent (opp., 37 percent)
Bronco Mendenhall’s last season as head coach at Brigham Young University
Overall record: 9-4
Points per game: 33.7 (opponents, 22.8)
Points off turnovers: 79 (opp., 83)
Average yards per rush: 4 (opp., 3.7)
Average yards per pass: 7.6 (opp., 6.4)
Average yards per game: 424.8 (opp., 345.7)
Average yards lost to penalties per game: 57.7 (opp., 58.7)
Rushing touchdowns: 28 (opp., 22)
Passing touchdowns: 26 (opp., 12)
Percent of third down conversions: 40 percent (opp., 38 percent)
Points per game
Mendenhall’s offense last season averaged eight more points per game than London’s did during his last season with the Cavaliers. The Cougars also allowed 10 fewer points per game from their opponents. More points per game plus fewer points scored by opponents equals more “W’s.”
Average yards per game
Mendenhall’s Cougars averaged almost 42 more yards per game than London’s Cavaliers, and they held their opponents to 66 fewer yards per game than Virginia. More yards per game plus fewer yards for your opponent equals more trips to the red zone.
The ‘X’ factor
A smile flits across Mendenhall’s face when I ask the questions he must have known were coming: Why leave BYU, where he had built such a successful program? Why come to UVA?
A search firm had contacted him last summer to gauge his interest in the head coaching position at UVA should it become open—not an unusual occurrence for a winning coach—but for Mendenhall, it wasn’t about the numbers. It didn’t come down to how successful BYU was or how unsuccessful UVA had been. For him, there had to be the “X” factor.
“There would have to be something more than just the game to get me to a different school and by that I mean a culture or an academic standard,” Mendenhall says. “I love to build and I love to do hard things—and so if there was a place that had an amazing academic environment and an amazing conference, then possibly I would leave.”
Mendenhall’s wife, Holly, who describes the BYU players as “family,” lists his love of a challenge as one of his top reasons for coming to UVA.
“Bronco’s really excited to be here,” she says. “I think he’s having a blast. He loves to fix things…” Holly says that fixer attitude carries over to broken items in their home.
The Mendenhalls aren’t what you’d consider a typical football family. When UVA’s new coach is at home, he generally doesn’t watch football on TV. It’s Holly who flips on the Thursday night game. And of their three sons, only one has pursued football so far, as Mendenhall says he “wants the motivation to be from them, not me.”
Breaker Mendenhall, 14, whose first season of football was last year, also plays baseball and basketball and hopes to pursue horse roping. Cutter, 16, doesn’t play team sports and was recently cast as the lead in his school’s production of Grease, while the youngest brother, Raeder, 13, has taken up tennis after watching the UVA men’s tennis team.
THE STORY BEHIND THOSE NAMES
Marc “Bronco” Clay Mendenhall isn’t the only family member with an unusual name.
Cutter Bronco Mendenhall
“If you ride a cutting horse you’re called a ‘cutter,’ so that is my oldest son’s name. If you go back to cowboy days, a cowboy on a cutting horse would cut through the herd and cut one cow out of the herd. That was usually to buy time for another cowboy to come up to grab the cow to brand it.”
Breaker Blue Mendenhall
“There’s a famous horse breaker named Breaker Morant, so he’s sort of named after him. Then for his middle name, I love the ocean and I love surfing, so I chose blue.”
Raeder Steel Mendenhall
“My [late] father-in-law’s name was Rae. We honored his name with ‘Rae’ and then we added the ‘der’ to make it ‘Raeder.’ We chose his middle name as Steel because we liked the idea that it was sort of steadfast and immovable.”
The move to Charlottesville required the family to sell their 12 cows and chickens, pack up their lives and move their five horses and four dogs 2,081 miles from Provo, Utah, and live in a hotel for three months and in an RV on their new property for four months while their home was being renovated. But Mendenhall says each of their three sons has individually thanked him for moving to Charlottesville and that the family is excited to be a part of the community—“and not just on Saturdays.”
“We are just excited for the Eastern experience, not as much sports-wise as history and culture,” Holly says. “We’re excited to have an adventure out here and soak up and experience all that we can.”
Mendenhall was raised in Alpine, Utah, and grew up on a ranch, breaking horses and working with animals throughout his childhood. Everything from his sons’ names to his lifelong role models is based on his experiences growing up.
“I never aspired to be a coach,” Mendenhall says, explaining he had to change his career plans when he realized he was not good enough for the NFL (he was a two-year starter at safety at Oregon State University). “I went to the two things I loved, and one was breaking horses and the other was football.”
Mendenhall cites his father Paul, whom he worked side by side with at the ranch, as a major influence.
“I never saw or heard him act in a way that was anything but exemplary,” Mendenhall says. “There was always an answer to a question, there was always time for me. Most importantly I could see what a man of substance was through his actions. He, more than anyone, has shaped my life.”
Much in the same way that Paul Mendenhall influenced his son, Bronco Mendenhall has shaped the lives of the student-athletes he has coached.
BeyondX’sandO’s
“When I see Bronco, I see him with a baseball cap, yelling at players to get their mind right,” John Beck says, recalling a key phrase from Mendenhall’s days at BYU. “He would always tell everybody to ‘have your mind right.’”
What Mendenhall meant, according to Beck, was to make sure players were mentally prepared for every practice or football game before stepping on the field. In a team sport like football, “you have to have everybody with their mind right.”
Andrew Rich, a defensive back who playedfor BYU from 2008-2010, similarly admired Mendenhall’s ability to give players the mental motivation necessary to succeed, even if they “maybe physically didn’t belong in the game.”
“His ability to get the most out of every player is kind of uncanny. He has the ability to draw everything from you if you’re willing to do it,” Rich says.
Although Mendenhall exerts a certain authority over his players, Rich stresses that his approach differed from previous coaches he’d had.
“He’s naturally an introvert so he’s just typically a little more quiet and a little more reserved type of coach,” Rich says. “I’ve had a lot of coaches who are really outspoken and loud and always yelling just to yell, and he’s definitely not that way.
For Rich, who experienced a difficult period at BYU, Mendenhall was more than just a football coach—he was a mentor.
“One day he drove an hour and 15 minutes to my house just to see how I was doing,” Rich says. “And it wasn’t because he was interested in me because I was this great football player because at that time I hadn’t had much success. It wasn’t always about X’s and O’s with him.”
Along with the individual care Mendenhall gave his players, Beck felt that he always knew what the team needed as a whole, evident even from one of his first acts as head coach at BYU.
“There was a moment where he took the entire football team up a canyon and we wrote down all of the frustrating things about why the team hadn’t been winning…and then he took a football helmet with the old logo on it and we chucked the helmet and all the papers into a fire,” Beck says. “And he said, ‘That’s done and we will never ever be that again.’”
A similar philosophy has manifested itself in Charlottesville, where Mendenhall says he’s “anxious” for the team to start over—not just on the field, but with their community of fans as well.
“I think our fans appreciate excellence,” Mendenhall says, referencing the UVA men’s basketball team fans. “Our fans are knowledgeable…and that, to me, is a great place to start from.”
Something else Mendenhall hopes Cavalier football fans will appreciate is a game day that looks a little different than in seasons past. In addition to revamped uniforms, spectators will notice the return of diamond overlays in the end zones and free programs. Missing this year, though, will be the Wahoo Walk, which allowed fans to cheer on the team as it made its way from Engineer’s Way to Scott Stadium two hours before kickoff, and the animated pregame video featuring Cav Man.
No more sitting homein December
Of course, it will take more than just a supportive fan base to jump-start UVA’s football season, and Mendenhall has not shied away from enforcing discipline on his team.
“I love fanatical effort, but first and foremost I love very high standards and very clear expectations,” Mendenhall says. “Rarely do I raise my voice, but what I say—we are gonna do. And we’re gonna do it exactly as I said. There are only two ways to do things in my book: We do it the exact right way or we do it again.”
Although Mendenhall’s policy may seem uncompromising, wide receiver coach Marques Hagans, who has been a part of UVA’s coaching staff since 2011, says the team is more than up to the challenge.
“The players have really bought in to what’s being asked of them and one of Coach’s biggest things is the power of choice. …The guys who are left really want to be here and really want to do everything that’s asked of them,” Hagans says, emphasizing that the players have been responding to challenges as a team and that he has seen an improvement in camaraderie and team chemistry.
Hagans notes especially how hard UVA’s student-athletes have been training leading up to this season, something Mendenhall has stressed since day one. In fact, Mendenhall’s message at his first meeting with the team included little more than “train.”
“I told them to train, and if they weren’t sure what to do, train. And if they had extra time, train. And in between training, train,” Mendenhall says, smiling. “And then I stood at the entrance to the team room and I shook every player’s hand as they left and I just tried to get a feeling for where every player was at.”
Junior Kurt Benkert, a transfer from East Carolina University, will take the field as starting quarterback this season. Photo by Jim Daves/UVA Media Relations
After four consecutive losing seasons, Hagans says both the players and the coaching staff are ready to see this team succeed, saying it’s been “tough” to watch UVA football recently. The team recently picked its starting quarterback—junior Kurt Benkert, a transfer from East Carolina University. Senior Matt Johns, last season’s starting quarterback, remains on the team.
“I want this team, these players, to have success and be able to say that they were a turning point in UVA’s history under Coach Mendenhall,” Hagans says. He adds with a sigh: “You get tired of sitting home in December.”
The big question on many fans’ minds is whether UVA will go to its first bowl game in four years—and, better still, whether the Virginia Cavaliers will record a “W” against Virginia Tech.
Thus far, however, the odds are stacked against Mendenhall’s Cavaliers, with the sports media choosing the team to finish last in the ACC Coastal Division via a poll at the season kickoff conference in July. Mendenhall has just one thing to say in response to the team’s last-place ranking: “They couldn’t have written a better script. In my entire life, I have never been picked to finish last, nor have I ever finished last—and as a head coach I’ve never been part of a losing season and I’ve never not gone to postseason play. They’ve provided a great storyline to start a very intriguing plot.”
BRONCO’S LIST
UVA’s head coach tells us which players we should be watching this season
Quin Blanding. Photo by Jim Daves/UVA Media Relations
Quin Blanding
Junior, free safety
“Quin Blanding is incredibly smart, fast, experienced, tough. Exactly what we want at safety.”
2015 stats
Solo tackles: 68
Total tackles: 115
Tackles for loss: 1 (4 yards)
Interceptions: 1
Forced fumbles: 1
Recovered fumbles: 1
Pass break-ups: 3
Doni Dowling
Junior, wide receiver
“Doni Dowling is a fierce competitor, plays with tons of emotion, and when channeled correctly he can be a huge big-play asset.”
2015 stats
Solo tackles: 3
Micah Kiser
Junior, inside linebacker
“Micah Kiser is absolutely reliable in every way and is the heart of our defense.”
2015 stats
Solo tackles: 64
Total tackles: 117
Tackles for loss: 13 (58 yards)
Sacks: 7.5 (48 yards)
Forced fumbles: 3
Fumbles recovered: 2
Pass break-ups: 2
Jackson Matteo. Photo by Pete Emerson/UVA Media Relations
Jackson Matteo
Senior, center
“Amazing leader and an excellent football player that has been leading from the front in everything we’ve done since the moment I arrived.”
Taquan “Smoke” Mizzell
Senior, running back
Mizzell goes into his senior year as the leading receiver from the 2015 season, tallying 75 receptions and an average of 60 receiving yards per game, despite being a running back. He hasn’t slacked off as a running back, though: He leads the Cavaliers with 163 carries and 723 yards gained. Mizzell can also fill in as a returner, which makes him a player worth watching—he’s a threat in three categories.
“Smoke is a big play threat at any time from multiple positions on the field.”
2015 stats
Rush attempts: 163
Yards gained: 723
Average gain per rush: 4.1
Average rushing yards per game: 55.9
Longest rush: 36
Rushing touchdowns: 4
Receptions: 75
Average yards per reception: 9.6
Average receiving yards per game: 60.1
Receiving touchdowns: 4
Kick returns: 7
Average yards per kick return: 13.7
Total touchdowns: 8
Average total yards per game: 124
Eric Smith
Senior, offensive tackle
“Eric Smith has a tremendous future. He’s a very good football player with great experience, and he’ll play a pivotal role in defending our quarterback.”
2015 stats
Solo tackles: 2
Donte Wilkins
Senior, defensive tackle
“Donte Wilkins is where 3-4 defense starts and that’s at the nose tackle.”
2015 stats
Solo tackles: 6
Total tackles: 11
Tackles for loss: 1.5 (2 yards)
Sacks: 0.5 (1 yard)
Olamide Zaccheaus. Photo by Rich Schmidt/UVA Media Relations
Olamide Zaccheaus
Sophomore, running back
Olamide Zaccheaus is another triple-threat player, making his mark in rushing, receiving and returns for the Cavaliers last season. As a freshman, he recorded 33 carries and 275 yards, as well as posted 21 receptions and an average of 18 receiving yards per game. The returner for the Cavaliers also averages 19.3 yards per kick return and 6.8 yards per punt return. Look for him to step up into a larger role this year on many potential fronts.
“Olamide is a dynamic, versatile player—thrives in space.”
UVA’s new football coach Bronco Mendenhall moved from Utah and is living in an RV in Ivy.
Photo Cara Salpini
UVA’s football team starts spring training this week under new head coach Bronco Mendenhall, who is residing in an RV in Ivy with his wife Holly and three sons, Cutter, Breaker and Raeder.
The family of five is adjusting to life in an RV while they await a renovation to their new home that could take up to four or six months, according to the Daily Progress.
The new digs in Ivy were listed on Zillow for $1.4 million and feature 28 acres, a nearly 5,000-square-foot house, a six-stall horse barn, a pond and “magnificent mountain views,” according to the listing.
While the coach is roughing it, so is the team. Unlike past players, the current Cavaliers enter spring training with no numbers on their backs, no Virginia gear to sport around grounds and a coach who says they have to “earn” their time on the football field.
.“What I have learned relatively quickly is that this team is not resistant,” Mendenhall says at a March 21 press conference. “They’re eager, they’re hungry. I didn’t know really where they would be and I’ve been really impressed with how hard they want to work, how willing they are to embrace the level of detail that we’ve asked for.’”
Under Mendenhall, each player will have to earn his right to have a number on his back, to wear Virginia gear and even to participate in spring practice.
To qualify for spring training, each player had to complete a tempo run within a timeframe set by Mendenhall. He estimates that 90 per cent of the team qualified, but the remaining players were given an additional opportunity to meet the requirements this past Saturday.
“Eighty percent of the team or more showed up to support the guys that hadn’t made their times,” says Mendenhall, who emphasizes the camaraderie building in the team. “The guys who then qualified, there was dogpiling and it was like fans charging the field after a win.”
He says, “So if you put it in context, these guys are fighting like crazy actually to get to work harder once they put on gear and that’s the paradigm shift I’m hoping for. Football is supposed to be the reward.”
Spring training for the Cavaliers began Tuesday, March 22.
Bronco Mendenhall, former BYU head football coach, will take the reins at UVA. Photo by Matt Riley
Just days after former University of Virginia football coach Mike London resigned, Brigham Young University’s Bronco Mendenhall snagged the title December 4, becoming UVA’s 40th head football coach.
At BYU, Mendenhall coached the Cougars for 11 seasons with an overall record of 99-42 and ranked 12th in total wins among all Football Bowl Subdivision teams during that time. He also ranks 13th in winning percentage among all active coaches with at least five years of FBS experience, and 10th among those with at least 10 years of experience, according to a press release by Virginia Sports.
The Cougars are one of 11 teams to advance to a bowl game each season over the last 11 years, with Florida State being the only team to win more bowl games—seven—than BYU’s six.
Mendenhall played football for Utah’s Snow College for two years and finished his career as a starter at Oregon State, where he played both linebacker and safety. He began coaching as a graduate assistant at Oregon State, coached at Snow College and Northern Arizona, and returned to Oregon State as defensive coordinator. He also coached at Louisiana Tech and New Mexico before beginning his stint at BYU as defensive coordinator in 2003. He was promoted to head coach in 2005.
Mendenhall’s compensation for the next five years is $3.25 million annually, which does not include additional performance or longevity bonuses that he may earn.
He and his wife, Holly, have three sons—Raeder, Breaker and Cutter.
