Brent Brennan is leaving SJSU for Arizona. What did legacy did he leave behind?
SJSU reporter Matt Weiner weighs in on Brent Brennan leaving SJSU.
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The news Spartan Nation always braced for, but never wanted to face
After seven years at San Jose State, head coach Brent Brennan is heading to Arizona to takeover for newly minted Washington head coach Jedd Fisch, according ESPN’s Pete Thamel.
Source: Arizona and Brent Brennan have agreed to a 5-year deal to make him the school’s next football coach.
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) January 16, 2024
Few can fault any Spartan fan who finds this news difficult to stomach.
Brennan was arguably the most successful only head coach in program history to lead SJSU.
He was the first head coach to make three bowl games which marked the program’s first time reaching three bowl games in the span of four years.
Each of those bowl appearances, however, forced SJSU fans to face the gutting reality they face today.
In 2020, after SJSU celebrated an undefeated regular season and won the Mountain West Championship, Brennan interviewed with Arizona for the head coaching vacancy before it went to Fisch.
And after SJSU went 7-5 in 2022 and made the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, Brennan interviewed for the vacancy at Stanford.
Then last month, Brennan was a finalist for the vacancy at Oregon State before it went to Beavers’ defensive coordinator Trent Bray.
That last one felt like a particularly close call.
For starters, Brennan was fresh off leading SJSU from the abyss of a 1-5 start to a 7-5 season that included a co-Mountain West Regular Season Title.
The moment the Spartans found out we’re headed to the EasyPost @HawaiiBowl on Dec 23rd!🤙🏽#ClimbTheMountain | #AllSpartans pic.twitter.com/AqpRcNMILH
— San José State Football (@SanJoseStateFB) November 30, 2023
Furthermore, Brennan coached wide receivers at OSU from 2011-16. The ties ran so deep he named his dog after OSU’s mascot “Benny” and filled his current staff with former Beavers’ coaches like SJSU offensive coordinator Kevin McGiven, defensive coordinator Derrick Odum and defensive line coach Joe Seumalo.
So now the question is: Who will Brennan take to Tuscon?
Is it McGiven? Odum? Wide receivers coach Eric Scott? Running backs coach Alonzo “Zo” Carter?
After all, Fisch brought his entire offensive staff to Washington.
Better yet, who will take over for Brennan?
And who ever that head coach is will be the latest interwoven in the domino effect of Nick Saban retiring unexpectedly.
Let’s trace how wild this is.
On Jan. 10 Saban retired from Alabama. Then on Jan. 12 Kalen DeBoer leaves Washington to fill in for Saban. Which results in Fisch heading to Washington on Jan. 14. Now, on the lord’s day of Jan. 16, 2024, Brennan is heading to Arizona. A place he was a graduate assistant at under Dick Tomey in 1999.
Some Wildcat fans may see Brennan’s 34-48 overall record at a Group of Five, 0-3 bowl record and feel as is the resurgence is over. So much for winning as many games last year —10 — as it did from 2019-22. And so much for fleeing the formerly known PAC-12 for the BIG-12.
But those people should take a deeper look. Not just at how Brennan went 3-22 in his first two seasons. Rather, the resources he had to work with for what followed.
𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐧𝐚𝐧 𝐄𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭
2️⃣6️⃣ wins in the past 4 seasons
2️⃣0️⃣ conference wins
5️⃣th winningest coach in Spartan football history#ClimbTheMountain | #AllSpartans pic.twitter.com/GzAaWhZvEP— San José State Football (@SanJoseStateFB) November 29, 2023
Brennan went to those three bowl games without an NIL presence, laughably outdated facilities until last August and a meager operating budget.
Those shortcomings are the results of the incompetency of previous administrations who treated deep-pocketed alums like ghostly afterthoughts.
The nadir came in the early to mid-2000s when SJSU academics and brass formed a coalition called ‘Spartans4Sanity’ that —insanely enough — campaigned and petitioned to axe the football team because of the money it was losing the school.
In other words, 34-48 and three bowl appearances, albeit zero wins, is pretty damn good.
U of A fans should at the very least give him a shot. SJSU fans, meanwhile, are left with mixed emotions.
What about SJSU players and recruits? On Sunday, 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy’s younger brother, Chubba, announced he was transferring from Nebraska for SJSU. Does this mean he transfers elsewhere and a mockery is made of those great storylines and press?
Beyond Purdy, who else will transfer or decommit?
Any starters transferring doesn’t bode well for a team that won’t return its starting quarterback, running back, four offensive lineman and safeties.
Though Brennan never said it outright, SJSU was as a stepping stone to a Power Five. If it wasn’t, he would’t have interviewed after his best seasons.
That’s not an indictment of a poor character. During his time at SJSU, Brennan hired a sports psychologist and got each player the meditation app “Headspace” because he knew the stresses that weigh on the minds of student-athletes.
Rather, Brennan using SJSU as a stepping stone is the indictment of a man with ambition, success and the agency to do what he feels is best for him.
Even if it that stone crumbles into debris and irrelevancy.
