Bronco, Patterson — 2 of a kind

There's an office in the Lobo football headquarters at the University of New Mexico that Bronco Mendenhall moved his stuff into back in 1998. This was the place he'd make his second home as days turned into nights and game video cases were the primary decoration.

The office belonged to New Mexico's defensive coordinator. The man who vacated it for Mendenhall was Gary Patterson, who followed Lobo coach Dennis Franchione to TCU, where he remained D-coordinator for the Frogs until 2000, when Franchione accepted the Alabama job. TCU then elevated Patterson to head coach.

Today, the two former occupants of that Lobo office and holders of UNM D-coordinator title meet in LaVell Edwards Stadium for what should be a real battle as the Cougars try to stay undefeated and hold on to a two-game lead in the Mountain West standings.

Patterson, whose team was voted as the preseason MWC favorite back in July, hopes to get TCU bowl-eligible, and he'd like nothing better than to do it in Provo, avenging a loss to the Cougars in Fort Worth a year ago.

The two men coach teams who have seen their offenses go up and down over the years. But one thing that's been a constant is the fruit from the tree in which both men are rooted: defense.

The Cougars and Horned Frogs have proven they can take opposing offenses to the mat.

Patterson's and Mendenhall's style is to apply pressure, elevate conditioning, demand hustle from players, make take-down tackles and hold big plays to a minimum. As head coaches, they've succeeded.

Only two coaches in the MWC have run through the league with 8-0 conference records — Patterson and Mendenhall.

Gary Crowton and Urban Meyer — who have have moved on to the SEC — had undefeated runs when the league had seven teams.

In short, Patterson and Mendenhall have proven themselves to be the coaches to beat in this league. No other head coach currently employed in the league has had championships in this decade except CSU's Sonny Lubick (2002) — and his team is now 1-8, soon to be 1-9 at New Mexico on Saturday.

According to published reports, Patterson is the highest-paid coach in the MWC, with a salary of $952,162. A Web site that tracks coaching salaries has Mendenhall a close second, a figure ($900,000) the BYU coach has publicly said is "inaccurate." Because BYU and TCU are private schools, details of their contracts are not public information.