Brent Brennan 

Staff, Players Laud ‘Genuine’ Arizona Football Coach

By Steve Rivera

It was a tough first season for Arizona’s head football coach, Brent Brennan. But it didn’t diminish the attraction for coaches and players to come to Tucson and help him build a winner.

“He’s the main reason I am here,” said Seth Doege, an up-and-coming offensive mind who left Marshall to be the offensive coordinator under Brennan. “This wasn’t on my radar until I came to Arizona and met Coach Brennan. He is the most genuine person I’ve met in this profession. I knew right away that this person is going to care about me, my family, daughter, kids.

“I want to be around someone who cares about his staff, his players. I want to be a head coach one day, so I want to be around a mentor that does it the way I want to do it.”

And so, after his first season, with a dismal 4-8 record and no bowl game, Brennan moved on to the task at hand for 2025 – winning football games at Arizona.

“Even when it didn’t go well last year, he was always composed,” said UA quarterback Noah Fifita, who resisted any temptation to take his talents elsewhere through the transfer portal. “He never changed who he was. He’s a guy that you want to play for. He’s a guy that you believe in.”

One senses this season will be different – at least in attitude and aggressiveness. The man who loves to be competitive will get them to compete – and win.

At the podium at the Big 12 Conference Media Day, the seemingly mild-mannered Brennan didn’t mince words. Last season, he felt like he was “kissing everyone’s ass, asking them to stay.”

It had to be said. Was it cathartic? 

“I was just telling the truth,” Brennan said. “I felt coming in here was a unique situation. Jedd (Fisch) did a great job in 2023 and won games. Everything felt magical.”

But Brennan said he knew it would be hard to sustain that magic. “That’s the hardest part because we want to build a sustainable, winning football program.”

Last year, it was a team absent of strut and belief, but all that has changed. This is his team, with players who have committed to him, the UA and the team. 

“We redefined what we were looking for,” he said. “We brought people into the program who are tough, who have to love football, and have to want to be at the University of Arizona.”

That includes himself, who just over 18 months ago was chosen to be Arizona’s new head coach. The Northern California kid who grew up watching San Francisco 49ers games with his father and family was named the coach where he was once a graduate assistant under one of his mentors, Dick Tomey. Tomey, like Brennan, was a player’s coach. He showed little emotion on the field, but had plenty of it.

“I can be a real hard ass, but I don’t need to be a hard ass for the public to see,” Brennan said. “I don’t think people respond to that. No one likes to be publicly humiliated, no one likes to be undressed in front of thousands of people.

“If I’m going to get the best out of a young man or a coach, where I totally lose my composure in front of everybody…I don’t believe in that. You must be authentically who you are as a coach.”

Arizona VP and Director of Athletics Desireé Reed-Francois said she loves that Brennan is personally connected to the university, engaging with other Wildcat teams and making himself available.

“For us to succeed as an athletic department, we all have to be in alignment,” she said. “It’s critically important. I appreciate that from Brent. He’s a team player.”

There’s also the critical element of winning. After all, coaches are measured on wins. Is there pressure to succeed? “There is always pressure,” Brennan said. “You’re not in this position if you don’t put a ton of pressure on yourself.”

Reed-Francois agreed.

“Every football coach across the country feels pressure. We play at the highest level,” she said. “We keep score for a reason and if you are, we might as well win. When you play in this league, you’re going to have to embrace that pressure. I know I do, and I know all the players do.”

Pictured above – Arizona’s head football coach, Brent Brennan. Photo by Chris Mooney