CHARLOTTESVILLE, Virginia – There are two sides to Virginia football’s upheaval, the undeniable culture change happening in a year in which “culture change” is the favored buzzword in college football as dozens of new head coaches take over new programs, three in the ACC Coastal Division alone.

The first side is atmospheric change: an open-door policy in the football offices at McCue Center, a coaching staff of best friends led by new Coach Bronco Mendenhall and deep bonds forged between coaches and players. For instance, fifth-year quarterback Matt Johns, senior center Jackson Matteo and inside linebackers coach Shane Hunter have dinner together every Tuesday and Thursday.

“In terms of the entire staff and the relationships we’ve created with all these coaches,” Johns said, “it’s really unbelievable.”

The second side is disciplinary change: an extra nine weeks of brutal winter workouts that reduced players’ body-fat percentages, requiring players to earn everything from the right to practice to the right to wear a Virginia logo. An example: After a scuffle broke out in a spring workout, players were required to perform 100 up-downs – or burpees, depending on your preference – over a 19-minute stretch, and then the 20 more that are added on afterward, when players couldn’t get back in their positions in 30 seconds.

“It’s a complete overhaul,” offensive coordinator Robert Anae said. “I thought there would be more declaration that this was not for me. . . . It appears our players want the discipline and the accountability; they want a tough path.”

That’s the gist of Virginia football’s upending, orchestrated by Mendenhall, who backs up his methods with a record of 99 wins in 11 seasons at Brigham Young. Mendenhall paired an inviting coaching staff and a manic level of discipline, and it’s as though the clouds have parted in Charlottesville.

Gone is the foreboding gloom of former head coach Mike London’s last season, when the Cavaliers went 4-8 to post their fifth losing mark in six seasons. In its place is an energetic coaching staff and a fitter, faster, more unified and more disciplined team.

“If [Mendenhall] says run through that brick wall,” Johns said, “all 100 players will run through that brick wall.”

Fans will have the chance to see the new-look Cavaliers for the first time Saturday, at Virginia’s “Spring Football Festival,” which is not a traditional spring game. Fans will be able to watch the team practice, and live-game situations will be mixed in with youth activities.

Mendenhall and his coaches are taking incremental steps in instilling this new culture, which is why holding a spring game was always a long shot. Not that the players are complaining. They’ve embraced Mendenhall’s system, because every change is in direct response to the program’s past problems.

“I think we’re aware that, for whatever reason, this program has been close seven of the last eight years, but hasn’t won,” Mendenhall said. “I love detail, I love discipline, I love accountability, and I love development. . . . I love to develop people through football and that’s what we’re working on.”

So players strive to complete drills with mechanical precision – messing up means starting over – and they earn strikes for missing class or arriving late to meetings.

“Will development” is a station in practice that includes everything from timed runs with position groups to box-jump burpees. Mendenhall repeats the basics of football every day, turning them into mantras that have started to sound like math equations. Every day sophomore receiver Andre Levrone hears things like: “The team who has the ball more can score more points. More points win the game. Limit turnovers.”

“It’s all so elementary, but just creates a hunger to hunt the football,” Levrone said.

How quickly the players bought in to Mendenhall’s way surprised even the head coach, but Johns said it was easy to respect the new regime because the coaching staff balanced a culture of discipline and accountability with energy and openness, earning the players’ trust and respect.

“They really do care about you on a deeper level – like, a quarterback, a center and a linebackers coach having dinner together?” Johns said, bringing up his weekly dinners again. “We joke it’s the odd family, but it’s something I really value, something I wish I had more of.”

Levrone, too, loves the extra effort the coaches put in, and sees how it translates to on-field competition and camaraderie. But he’s not shy about the reason it was so easy to buy in from the get-go, to welcome these coaches and adhere to these strict standards in the first place: Virginia is sick of losing.

Mendenhall’s philosophy is “proven to have worked over an 11-year span at BYU,” Levrone said. “His message to us was, ‘The quicker you buy in, the quicker we start winning.’ The thing that made it even easier was that the majority of the strong-willed guys were on-board first. Our mind-set was, ‘We want to win. This guy’s a winner. Let’s go join him.’ “

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