This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Monday was not a good day for BYU football coach Bronco Mendenhall.
Not only did Mendenhall's Cougars fall 55-48 in double-overtime to Memphis in the Miami Beach Bowl, then get into a wild post game brawl with the Tigers, a report surfaced that Mendenhall unsuccessfully applied for the vacant head coaching position at Wisconsin.
A Wisconsin television station filed an open records request to learn the job's applicants, and reported that Mendenhall applied, along with current UW offensive coordinator Dave Aranda and Army coach Richard Ellerson.
Not only is it surprising that Mendenhall applied at Wisconsin, of all places, it is strange that he thought somehow the school would give him the job after another Utahn, Gary Andersen, had ditched the position after only two years.
Andersen, of course, is the new head coach at Oregon State.
Wisconsin replaced Andersen with Pitt coach Paul Chryst.
The television report says that applicants can elect to remain confidential. However, Mendenhall apparently chose not to, and his name was listed among several bonafide candidates, and others not quite as qualified.
Mendenhall's career record at BYU dropped to 90-39 after Monday's loss, and he is now 6-4 in bowl games.