 The appointment was viewed by many as a surprise, following intense speculation involving Mark Richt, Jeff Brohm, and Sonny Dykes as candidates, and drew comparisons with the 2009 hire of Virginia's men's basketball coach Tony Bennett.Going into the 2016 season, the Cavaliers had accumulated losing seasons for four consecutive years under London, and a total of eight losing seasons in the previous ten.In the press conference at BYU following the announcement of his departure, Mendenhall made note of the similarities to the Cougars when he took over as head coach, having suffered three losing seasons under Gary Crowton at that time.