Brent Brennan won the optics war within weeks of his arrival at Arizona back in 2024.
The Arizona Wildcats head football coach worked quickly to build a staff and retain several key players from a 10-win team shocked by the departure of coach Jedd Fisch, who dipped to lead the Washington Huskies.
Brennan lost the optics war for the rest of his first year in Tucson.
The Wildcats finished 4-8 despite quarterback Noah Fifita and eventual top-10 draft pick Tetairoa McMillan bridging the coaching change. With McMillan off to the NFL heading into 2025, Brennan was on thin ice to begin his second year on the job.
He did not double down on decisions made upon leaving San Jose State to lead Arizona.
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“(The Wildcats) were coming off a 10-win season. Myself and the staff, we spent the first six months just kissing everybody’s ass, begging them to stay, hoping they wouldn’t leave,” Brennan said Wednesday on Arizona Sports’ Bickley & Marotta. “None of those players came to Arizona to play for me or the staff. There was so much pressure and attention placed on retention of the roster.
“I just felt like it was a terrible foundation for a football program, and it never felt right. I had to check myself constantly during that (2024) season, just like, this doesn’t feel right. This process isn’t how I want to coach this team, what I believe in, what I believe wins.”
The honesty with himself has worked out pretty well.
Arizona went 9-4 last season, riding the arm of Fifita and closing the regular season on a five-game winning streak before a loss in the Holiday Bowl to SMU.
Brennan’s self-assessment needed for the turnaround was done beyond the personnel decision-making.
He also found three new coordinators.
Danny Gonzales moved from special teams to defensive coordinator, a more natural fit considering his resume. And Brennan hired up-and-coming offensive coordinator Seth Doege from Marshall to replace Dino Babers, who had lost play-calling duties in the middle of the 2024 season.
Fifita, plus defensive backs Dalton Johnson and Treydan Stukes, were among the key returnees. All three finished 2025 as All-Big 12 First Team members.
Doege meshed well with Fifita, and the quarterback became the first first-team all-conference player for the program in 50 years, something that Brennan believes should define his legacy. Fifita’s commitment to staying allowed him to break a school record for touchdown passes as well.
“I think the biggest thing is we came out of the ’24 season, obviously, really difficult, really frustrating. We just decided we’re going to move forward with people who want to be at the UofA, and people that are going to be totally committed to living the red-line and playing football and attacking the process the way we do,” Brennan said. “And if you’re not going to do that, there’s the door and you can get out. That’s kind of the way we moved and the way we’re still moving a year later.
“We made great choices.”
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