Arizona Wildcats hire Brent Brennan as new head coach

College Football

Published Jan. 16, 2024 11:58 a.m. ET

Just a few days after losing Jedd Fisch, Arizona has found the next guy to lead its rising football program. It’s the same person the university nearly hired three years ago instead of Fisch.

San Jose State‘s Brent Brennan has agreed to a five-year deal to become the Wildcats’ head coach, ESPN reported Tuesday.

The 50-year-old Brennan heads to Tucson after seven seasons as San Jose State’s head coach, which was his first gig as a head coach. After three consecutive losing seasons to start his tenure, Brennan led the Spartans to a 7-1 record in the COVID-shortened 2020 season, winning the Mountain West title that season. He was then a finalist for the vacancy at Arizona, after the school parted ways with Kevin Sumlin.

Washington hires Jedd Fisch as their next head coach

San Jose State dropped to 5-7 in 2021 and slightly improved to 7-5 in 2022. The Spartans went 7-6 in 2023 and won a share of the Mountain West regular-season title. (They didn’t play in the conference title game due to a tiebreaker that was settled by a computer.)

Brennan went 34-48 over his seven seasons in San Jose while leading the program to three bowl games.

At Arizona, Brennan will be tasked to build off the success of Fisch, who gradually turned the program around in his three-year tenure. Following two losing seasons, the Wildcats enjoyed their first 10-win campaign since 2014. Fisch’s departure was a domino effect of Nick Saban’s retirement. When Kalen DeBoer left Washington last week to become Alabama‘s next head coach, the Huskies moved quickly to hire Fisch two days later.

Several Arizona players have already entered the transfer portal following Fisch’s decision, including standout running back Jonah Coleman. Redshirt freshman quarterback Noah Fifita hasn’t entered the portal but is worth monitoring following his breakout season.

Alabama hires Kalen DeBoer as Nick Saban’s successor

Brennan has spent his entire coaching career along the West Coast and the Pacific Islands. After a stint as a graduate assistant and tight ends coach at Washington in 1999, Brennan spent the next season as a graduate assistant at Arizona under legendary coach Dick Tomey. Brennan later worked as an offensive assistant at San Jose State for six years before coaching wide receivers at Oregon State from 2011 to 2016.

Arizona departs the Pac-12 for the Big 12 in 2024, joining Arizona State, Utah and Colorado as the latter conference expands to 16.