Will head coach Jedd Fisch’s departure from Arizona to Washington result in San Jose State football head coach Brent Brennan heading to Tuscon?
That’s the question that’s on the mind of Spartan Nation.
According to Wildcat Authority ($) Brennan and Arizona officials have had “preliminary contact” about him becoming the next Wildcats head coach.
This makes a lot of sense that these two are talking. This is not the first time that Brennan and Arizona have flirted in a similar situation. It was just a few years ago, after SJSU won the 2020 Mountain West Championship when Brennan was a finalist for the Arizona job before Fisch was named the head coach.
Then it was less than two months ago when Brennan was a finalist for the Oregon State job before the Beavers went with defensive coordinator Trent Bray to replace then-head coach Jonathan Smith who left for Michigan State.
Wedged between those two instances was 2022 when Brennan interviewed for Stanford’s head coaching vacancy before it went to Troy Taylor.
Brennan’s made it clear SJSU isn’t a long-term plan. So is this when he succeeds in taking that step up to the Power Five?
After all, the seventh-year SJSU head coach has the impressive track record of being the only skipper to lead the Spartans to three bowl games. He did so with a meager operating budget and laughably outdated facilities until last summer.
Although it may not be a deciding factor, it’s worth noting he was a graduate assistant under Dick Tomey at U of A in 1999. But Brennan’s ties ran even deeper with OSU — he coached receivers there from 2011-16 — and still lost out.
The reason why Brennan lost out then, could be why he loses out now.
OSU went with Bray, who had zero head coaching experience, for the sake of continuity and ambition to prevent a mass transfer portal exodus. This time around, U of A could do the same with its offensive coordinator Brennan Carroll who has no head coaching experience.
So what will be the difference? As opposed to the OSU scenario, the Wildcats don’t have the pressure of an upcoming bowl game and may feel it’s worth risking continuity and an exodus for a coach with a proven track record.
If it’s not Carroll, perhaps U of A goes with Brennan over UNLV head coach Barry Odom (one year of head coaching experience) and Texas State head coach GJ Kinne (one year of head coaching experience). Or Air Force’s Troy Calhoun, Liberty’s Jamey Chadwell and Washington State’s Jake Dickert.
Considering what Brennan accomplished at SJSU, he could be fit to continue the Wildcats’ rebuild as they head from the formerly known Pac-12 to the Big 12. After going 10-31 from 2019-22, Arizona went 10-3 in 2023 and capped the season with a 38-24 win over Oklahoma in the Alamo Bowl.
This article was updated at 11:49 am PST
