New Arizona football head coach Brent Brennan always looked after his family.
Just two years after Brennanβs final season as a wide receiver at UCLA, he pitched the idea of his younger brother, Brad, joining the Arizona Wildcats to his former offensive coordinator and βincredible teacherβ Homer Smith; Smith was Arizonaβs OC in 1996 and 1997.
βI reached out to him and said, βHey, my younger brother is a pretty good player. Would you look at him?β They looked at him and agreed to have him come when school started,β Brennan said.
In the spring of 1996, Brennan said he received a phone call while on vacation at Donner Lake in Northern California from the Arizona coaching staff led by UA coaching legend Dick Tomey.
βThey said, βHe can come to camp if heβs here tomorrow.β Guess who was there tomorrow? Brad. He was excited about it. The rest is kind of storybook.β
The younger Brennan joined Arizona as a walk-on and carved out a five-year career with the Wildcats, recording 1,221 receiving yards and 11 touchdowns. His most important score was a go-ahead touchdown pass from quarterback Keith Smith in the 1998 Holiday Bowl to beat Nebraska and end the season 12-1. One of Brennanβs memorable moments as a Wildcat was climbing the goalpost following Arizonaβs win over Arizona State in β98.
βBrad was able to have this incredible journey on some pretty great teams,β Brent Brennan said. βThose years were some really fun years for our family to be a part of it.
βHeβs excited,β the older brother said. βHeβs over-the-top fired up.β
The Brennan bros. spent one season at Arizona together in 2000, when Brent was a graduate assistant during what would end up as Tomeyβs final season in Tucson. Now Brad plans to visit his alma mater more often to visit older brother and new head coach of the Wildcats.
βItβs been surreal in a lot of ways,β Brad Brennan said. βI always think we knew Brent could be on this path to a big-time program like Arizona. But when it actually happens, it takes a little while to sink in. But man, we couldnβt be more excited for him and for Arizona. I believe they got the right guy. This going to be awesome, man.
βIt makes me a little emotional when I think about it, because our path together with football in particular has been pretty wild.β
Brad Brennan joined βSpears and Aliβ on ESPN Tucson Friday morning to provide insight on his brother, Tomeyβs legacy, and Brent Brennanβs plan for the UA (the full interview can be heard on Apple Podcasts and Spotify).
For any Arizona fans who donβt know your brother, what are some unbendable core values that he stands for in leading a program?
A: βOne is loyalty. This guy, heβs a loyal guy. Youβve seen that in his path. Heβs stayed at these schools for a long time. Heβs not a guy that says one thing and does another. I think the family aspect of him is almost to a fault. He brings everybody in. He doesnβt push anybody out. Sometimes that takes up a lot of his time, especially when you have your own family and youβre raising 110 kids and controlling a whole program and staff, thatβs tricky. Thereβs only a limited number of hours in the day. Heβs definitely this loyal family man that I think youβre going to see pretty quickly.
βThe players have seen it in 48 hours already. Thereβs guys sitting in his office like, βMan, Iβve never been in the head coachβs office,β and heβs bringing them all in like, βLetβs go, we gotta get this thing figured out. You gotta get to know me, I gotta get to know you.β Those are some of his best values that heβs going to bring to this program.β
Are there any Tomey-isms you still think about and whatβs your favorite memory of the late Arizona coach?
A: βThey come up all the team. βThe team, the team, team.β
βHe was such a special guy. Brent and him, because of their bond, it extended my relationship with coach Tomey. Everyone has a relationship with their coach. Sometimes that ends after college, and you donβt see the guy anymore.
βFor me, it was very special because my brother coached with him longer (at San Jose State), so I got to see coach Tomey a lot. Brent and I were there in the weeks of the time we last saw coach Tomey, which gets me a little emotional. He was that special of a person.
βI was out visiting coach Tomey and a bunch of my old teammates who live in Hawaii, and coach Tomey was like, βHey, Brad, youβre in town, would love to see you. Come by my house at 5 a.m. tomorrow.β Iβm like, βIβm about to go out and party with a bunch of my old teammates, thereβs no way Iβm going to make it at 5 a.m.β
βBut you canβt say no. He was like, βItβs going to be great. The Honolulu Marathon comes right in front of our house. Weβre giving out oranges to all the runners and itβs going to be fantastic and itβs mile 19 of the race.β
βIβm scrambling at 5 a.m., and Iβm already late. I get to coach Tomeyβs (house), and heβs like, βBrad, youβre late!β Iβm like, βI know, Iβm sorryβ right away.
βHeβs like, βWell, get over here and start helping.β Heβs still coaching me, right? Theyβre giving out all these oranges and all these runners are flying by. Weβre running out of oranges and Iβm looking at coach Tomey like, βWe got any more oranges?β Heβs like, βJust keep handing them out.β I see a guy kind of struggling; itβs mile 19 of a 26-mile race. Heβs stumbling over and he sees the oranges like an oasis in the middle of the desert.
βHe makes it over to the table just as we give the last orange to the previous racer. The guy comes over and is super tired and looks at coach Tomey and says, βHey, man, where are the oranges?β Coach Tomey looks at him and goes, βYou know what? If you ran a little faster, you wouldβve gotten an orange.β I was dying (laughing) and the guy looked at him like a crazy old man. It was so funny.β
How does your brother view this job and do you envision heβll stay at Arizona long term?
A: βIn the past, heβs stayed for a number of years at (Oregon State and San Jose State). This one is different. Because of his history there, because of the support and whatβs been going on at Arizona. If they have success there, I donβt think heβs leaving. I donβt know where he would go.
βThis is one of those jobs heβs always eyed as a goal to get to. Heβs not chasing some job far away and he doesnβt want to bounce and move again and again and again. Thatβs not him. He believes in seeing it through and loyalty and I know this is the place he wants to be. I donβt see any inclination that heβs ever leaving there if things are successful for him, which I do believe they will be.β