IT'S A MONDAY afternoon in late May, and for the first time in more than 30 years, Bronco Mendenhall isn't working the phones with recruits or planning staff meetings. Instead, he's in his truck, boots and spurs on, waiting out a rainstorm.
Mendenhall moved west this spring, a return to his roots after he abruptly resigned as head football coach at Virginia, trailering his cadre of horses and five truckloads of gear and supplies with him to Montana. It has been a whirlwind. He's overseeing concurrent construction projects -- a new home on a quiet lake that he and his wife, Holly, have dreamed of for years, and, about 20 minutes away, a sprawling, 80-acre ranch for those horses.