“Lev it on the Field” is back! It’s the Star’s unique look at Arizona’s upcoming football matchup and other happenings around the Big 12 through the eyes of UA beat reporter-turned-columnist Michael Lev. Away we go ...
Something was different about Brent Brennan this week.
Michael Lev
He was in great spirits when he met with the media — smiling, laughing, poking fun at us. Not that the first-year Arizona coach hasn’t been pleasant to deal with since the moment he arrived in January. He just had a certain lightness to him that I hadn’t detected previously.
Maybe it’s because he feels good about the Wildcats’ chances to defeat New Mexico and launch the Brennan era. Maybe it’s because he knows he’s exactly where he’s supposed to be.
Saturday night will mark my ninth UA football opener as a member of the Tucson media corps. Brennan is the fourth UA head coach who will lead the Wildcats onto the field during that span.
First-year coach Brent Brennan, who’s set to make his debut Saturday night vs. New Mexico, just might be the stabilizing influence Arizona needs.
College sports are transient by nature. Arizona has been among college football’s most volatile programs. Brennan is perfectly positioned to bring stability to the Lowell-Stevens Football Facility.
Brennan is 51 years old. He has coached here before. His wife is a UA alum. Dick Tomey is his mentor. He has coveted this job for a long time. He knows how special this place can be if you do it right.
Brennan’s quest begins Saturday night. Here’s hoping it’ll be the first of many.
Take that for data!
Brennan’s greatest accomplishment to date: Keeping the band together.
Per UA media relations, the Wildcats have 65 returning players — slightly more than double the number of newly arrived transfers (32). In today’s day and age — and especially in the aftermath of a coaching change that easily could have led to a mass exodus — that’s a remarkable ratio.
Arizona football standouts Tetairoa McMillan, right, and Noah Fifita, left, cemented their legacy as Wildcat legends when they appeared on the court at McKale Center on Jan. 20 to announce they’d be staying in Tucson.
Brennan will defer credit when it comes to his role in all this. His star players, Noah Fifita and Tetairoa McMillan, deserve the most plaudits. Had they decided to leave, many others undoubtedly would have followed.
But Brennan’s approach to the situation played an integral part. He never gave the players the hard sell. He was never pushy. All he asked was that they get to know him. Kids respond favorably to authenticity.
I’ve heard from multiple people that Brennan is a genuine guy — that how he acts in front of the camera is exactly how he is away from it. In the coaching profession, that is a rare and admirable trait.
It’s not usually something you can quantify. But in this case, you can. Just look at the roster.
(Rincon) Market report
Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy sings with members of the Spirit Squad following the team’s 29-21 win over Kansas State on Oct. 6, 2023, in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
Going up: Pay for play
No one is sidestepping it anymore. Earlier this month, Baylor coaches sported T-shirts that read “WE PAY PLAYERS.” Oklahoma State’s helmets will have QR codes linked to the “Saddle Up” campaign, enabling anyone to send money to members of the OSU football team. Cowboys coach Mike Gundy lauded the initiative as “revolutionary.” Of course, this came one day after Gundy lamented that NIL negotiations are never-ending. “Tell your agent to quit calling us and asking for more money,” he said. One thing you can’t put a price on: The content machine that is Mike Gundy. Keep doing you, Coach!
Going down: Total control
The SEC has instituted mandatory availability reports — aka, injury reports — for football, basketball and baseball. This isn’t just an effort to one-up the Big Ten, which started doing it for football last year. It’s an acknowledgement that as college sports become professionalized, it benefits everyone to make this information available to the public. It doesn’t create a competitive advantage or disadvantage as all teams are subject to it. If the Big 12 were to get on board, I can think of at least one coach (Brennan) who’d greatly appreciate never having to answer a question about injuries again.
A question from my X
“Is Brennan in a no-win situation due to the fact that if he wins big people will say it’s because of Fisch’s players, and if he loses big it’s because of Brennan?” — @zona7378 via X/Twitter
Some would argue that Brennan stepped into an ideal situation — that Fisch did all the heavy lifting, resurrecting the program and setting it up for success.
The flip side: Brennan faces considerably more pressure taking over a team that just won 10-plus games for only the fourth time in program history than if he were initiating a rebuild.
If I told you at the end of the 2022 season — when Arizona went 5-7 — that the Wildcats would go 8-4 in 2024, you’d have taken it in a heartbeat. Now? With what they have back? It’d feel like a disappointment.
So yeah, you could say that Brennan is in a no-win situation. But that’s not entirely true. If Arizona goes 9-3 or better in Year 1, he’ll get the credit he deserves, at least around here. No one in Tucson is of a mind to hand Fisch flowers.
The Wildcats will wear their white-blue-white combination for the season opener against New Mexico on Saturday night.
Threads
They’re calling it a “classic look.” I call it perfection. Arizona is donning its best uniform combination for the opener — white helmets, navy jerseys and white pants. All the details are spot-on too, including coordinating stripes on the helmets, shoulders and pants. This look is so much better than the white-blue-blue combo that the Wildcats inexplicably wore in the first two games last season.
What he said ...
“I don't even know what we're favored (by). And whatever that is, that doesn't make any sense. Florida State was favored (and lost). Those things happen all the time. That's what makes college football so great — you can't predict it. What we need to do is cross the t’s, dot the i's, win the turnover battle, make sure our kicking team is intact, score points on offense, stop them on defense, play with a physical attitude, keep penalties to a minimum. And then maybe, if we do all that, maybe we'll have a chance.” — UA offensive coordinator Dino Babers
What he meant ...
“Of course I know that we’re favored by multiple touchdowns. You think I’m going to talk about that with you guys? I used to work at Syracuse. I know how this journalism game works. This isn’t my first press conference. There’s no upside in making that part of the public discourse. We need to worry about ourselves and our performance, period. Everything else is just noise.”
The other side
Sean Reider, via the Albuquerque Journal:
The mood was about what you’d expect.
“Disappointed and determined,” New Mexico head coach Bronco Mendenhall said of his team’s demeanor on Monday. “I would say those two things.”
Following a 35-31 loss to Montana State, Mendenhall said there were hardly any surprises upon reviewing a game in which the Lobos blew a 17-point fourth-quarter lead and gave up 567 yards of total offense — 362 of which came on the ground. If the capabilities he saw on Saturday remained, the inconsistencies that doomed UNM did too.
UNLV coach Barry Odom gestures from the sideline during the Rebels’ game against UTEP on Sept. 23, 2023, in El Paso, Texas.
“Consistency of execution, consistency of being coordinated and doing it exactly right, that part,” Mendenhall added. “(There were) glimpses here and there, but (the) consistency from beginning to end, (it’s) not where it needs to be.”
Pick to click (aka #fadelev)
Houston, we have an upset. Or do we? Per the oddsmakers, Houston is a three-point favorite at home vs. UNLV. I’m not sure why that’s the case. The Cougars are at the outset of a complete rebuild under Willie Fritz on the heels of a 4-8 season. UNLV is coming off a 9-5 campaign. Barry Odom lost his quarterback, Jayden Maiava, to USC, but kept his rising-star offensive coordinator, Brennan Marion, architect of the “Go-Go offense.” I’m go-going with the Rebels here. (last season: 10-3)
One last thing
Being part of the Big 12 is new, exciting ... and kind of strange. It’s an adjustment for all of us.
Take Friday night, for example. TCU at Stanford. Which team am I supposed to care about again?
One thing no one can complain about: The inventory is endless. Games involving Big 12 teams are on from morning (West Virgnia vs. Penn State) till night (Arizona vs. New Mexico, ASU vs. Wyoming).
It’s all still a little jarring. But we’ll get through it. Together. All 16 (or more) of us.
