On Brent Brennan, the state of Arizona football and a lasting 1st impression | Michael Lev

The Brent Brennan era is at a crossroads.

Will he and his Wildcats make it safely to the other side of the street? Or will they become roadkill?

Arizona’s upcoming game at Colorado is critical — as important as any during his tenure.

A victory would staunch a two-game losing streak and bring the Wildcats to the doorstop of a bowl berth. It would be their first since 2023 and only their second since 2017.

A loss would drop them to .500 after a 4-1 start and make that objective increasingly difficult to attain. It also would stymie the momentum Arizona built early in the season and further dampen enthusiasm among UA fans who already were wavering. It’s not hard to envision another disappointingly small crowd for the Nov. 8 game against Kansas — homecoming, no less — if the Wildcats fall to the Buffaloes.

The irony of all this is that Arizona has made genuine progress this season. It’s just difficult for some people — the Never-Brennans — to acknowledge that.

Brennan gets it. As far back as December, he understood the reality of his situation. Winning would be the only way to win over a fanbase that’s still bitter about the 2024 season — an indisputably disappointing 4-8 follow-up to a 10-3 breakthrough the previous year.

A defeat in double overtime to an unbeaten, ranked BYU squad is still a defeat. A walk-off loss to a Houston program that was 6-1 when it touched down in Tempe on Friday is still a loss.

How do you convince the players — and the fans — that your program is going in the right direction when you don’t have the results to back it up?

“That’s the trick. That’s the hardest thing about it,” Brennan said Monday. “When you look at those last two games, when you lose two games that way, it’s so hard and so challenging. The thing that we talked about with the players is: What choice do you have? I mean, really, what choice do you have? You want to choose to believe you can — or you can’t?

“This team believes they can. That’s the way they showed up for work yesterday, and that’s the way they’ll show up for work tomorrow.

“I understand everyone’s frustration because everyone here is frustrated, too. No one puts more into this thing than the players and coaches that are in the building. The care factor in this space right here is incredibly high, and so are the disappointments when you don’t get the results you want.

“But helping our players navigate that and doing those things the right way, continuing to live ‘redline’ and continuing to dive into our process is what’s given us a chance to play better football. We’re playing better football.

“If we stay the course, we will get it. We have to keep pounding the rock. Eventually, it’s going to break.”

I hope he’s right.

If they can do it ...

I’ve gone on record multiple times in support of Brennan and what he’s striving to create here — a sustainable, steady winner built on a foundation of toughness and togetherness.

I believe he has the program pointed in the right direction.

But I will concede: If Arizona doesn’t get to six wins — especially after starting 4-1 — the case to bring him back becomes much harder to make.

I’ve also wondered, as college sports have evolved, whether 6-6 is setting the bar too low. Does Arizona have to settle for that in a world where Indiana and Vanderbilt entered this weekend ranked in the Top 10?

One could argue that, historically, Arizona has been a better football program than either of those two — and therefore should have an easier path to prosperity. Yet it’s the Hoosiers and Commodores who’ve risen while the Wildcats remain stuck in mediocrity.

How did it happen at Indiana, a fellow “basketball school” that has the most all-time losses in Division I football?

Head coach ignetti" target="_blank">Curt Cignetti just might be one of one. He just might be that good.

Before guiding Indiana to an 18-2 record entering Saturday’s game vs. UCLA, Cignetti went 52-9 at James Madison while steering the Dukes through their transition from FCS to FBS. Thanks to the current rules of the game — unlimited, unfettered transfers — Cignetti was able to bring 13 JMU players to Bloomington. They included star receiver Elijah Sarratt, who had 96 catches for 1,560 yards and 17 touchdowns in his first 20 games as a Hoosier.

Indiana also benefited from conference realignment. The Big Ten now has 18 schools. Every team misses half of them. IU didn’t face Oregon or Penn State last year. It doesn’t face Michigan or Ohio State this year.

But credit where it’s due. The Hoosiers went to Oregon earlier this month and beat the then-No. 3 Ducks. They also demolished an Illinois team that was ranked ninth at the time (and is currently 23rd).

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Indiana had three winning seasons in 29 years — including the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign — before Cignetti arrived. Now the Hoosiers are likely headed to back-to-back playoff appearances.

If it can be done at Indiana, why can’t it be done at Arizona?

Vanderbilt might be a better model — and an example of patience paying off.

Following a 7-6 season that marked their first winning record since 2013 — and only their fourth in 42 years — the Commodores took a 6-1 mark into Saturday’s matchup vs. Missouri. They’ve notched wins over Virginia Tech and South Carolina on the road and LSU at home. They beat then-No. 1 Alabama last year.

Vanderbilt is coached by Clark Lea, a Vandy alum who’d never been a head coach before returning to his alma mater in December 2020. The Commodores went 2-10, 5-7 and 2-10 in his first three seasons.

You know what happened next? Or, rather, what didn’t happen?

Vanderbilt didn’t fire Lea. He struck gold with QB transfer Diego Pavia, who’s now on the short list for the Heisman Trophy while the Commodores are in contention for the College Football Playoff.

“Fire everybody” isn’t always the answer.

Where is everybody?

It’s a joke nearly as old as the Old Pueblo itself: “Is it basketball season yet?”

That’s the refrain you’ll hear around this time if football is scuffling. It’s code for “checking out.” Some already have.

Announced attendance for UA football games so far this year has been fine. Every game has eclipsed the 40,000 mark, including a season-high 47,960 for BYU.

Actual attendance — butts in seats — has been a different story.

I’ve heard multiple excuses, er, theories about this, and they all have some validity.

The enduring champ is kickoff times — not just this year but ever since the TV networks gained complete control over when games start. It’s legitimately challenging for seniors and families with young children to go to a game with a 7:30 p.m. kickoff and stay until the end. Trust me. Been there and done that.

The noon kickoff for the Oklahoma State game was arguably worse and led to a predictable outcome: a half-full Arizona Stadium. Turner Sports has done a fabulous job covering the Big 12 and has been an asset to the league. But no arrangement is perfect. A noon kick in early October in Tucson — when the high temperatures were still in the 90s — just isn’t a formula for a packed stadium.

The 5 p.m. kickoff for BYU seemed like the sweet spot. Not too early, not too late. Then, not one but two tropical storms crept up through the Pacific and scared people away. The game was delayed for over an hour. What are the odds of that happening in the desert post-monsoon?

Maybe bad luck plays a role here. More likely, it’s decades of the football program being just “mid,” as the kids say.

When someone posted a picture on social media of a full, or nearly full, Boone Pickens Stadium despite OSU being absolutely atrocious, I offered a one-word reply: “Interesting.”

As many subsequently pointed out, OSU enjoyed nearly two decades of success under Mike Gundy before the Cowboys’ recent collapse. That’s 18 years of goodwill. Meanwhile, every Arizona peak has been followed by a dip. The Wildcats have won 10-plus games four times: 1993, 1998, 2014 and 2023. Their win totals the next season: eight, six, seven and four.

Another theory: Arizona Stadium is outdated, uncomfortable and — no matter how hard Desireé Reed-Francois and her team try — unwelcoming to modern sports fans who expect certain amenities. It’d be awesome if Arizona Stadium had canopies like Hard Rock Stadium in Miami. If you know someone who has a spare $500 million, DRF will get right on that.

Some fans have told me it’s Brennan. That they find him uninspiring. If that’s your opinion, fine. He does come off awkwardly at times on camera. I wish you could talk to him off-camera. You’d come away with a different impression.

The first impression Brennan made continues to haunt him. No matter how many smart moves he makes (reshaping the coaching staff) or how much progress his team shows, the Never-Brennans refuse to buy in.

There’s one way, and one way only, to change that. I can’t think of a better place than Boulder to break the rock.