'A special thing brewing' with Arizona Wildcats football program under Brent Brennan

While this week marks six months since Arizona hired Brent Brennan as the Wildcats head football coach, Brennan said last week at Big 12 football Media Days in Las Vegas that the first four of those months “were all about retention and building the connection with the football team.”

Arizona athletic director Desireé Reed-Francois also credited Brennan’s recruiting of existing Wildcats as a driver toward continuing the program’s forward momentum.

Brennan’s still-early tenure has been encapsulated by a three-phase process — the first of which was to ensure the personnel that led the Wildcats to a 10-win season on the field, were back in 2024.

Phase I: Keep the band together

The worst of the worst could’ve happened for Arizona. Former head coach Jedd Fisch, who elevated the Wildcats from a 1-11 doormat to 10-3 darlings of college football in a two-year span, took a job offer from Washington that Arizona couldn’t match. The national runner-up Huskies had a plethora of open starting positions after most of UW’s starters either turned pro or entered the transfer portal following Kalen DeBoer’s departure to Alabama.

Arizona star quarterback Noah Fifita and wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan, who is on track to become the program’s all-time receiving yards leader, could’ve entered the transfer portal during the 30-day transfer window to follow Fisch to Washington or pursue other offers at schools that are believed to be pitching seven-figure NIL deals.

Upon his arrival, Brennan inherited a roster that finished the 2023 season on a seven-game winning streak and ranked 11th in the final Associated Press Top 25 poll. The first players Brennan met with were Fifita and McMillan, with Arizona’s new sideline leader asking his quarterback-receiver tandem to bring 25 players — more or less — through his office to ask questions.

“I didn’t ask them anything,” Brennan said. “I let them ask me (questions). I thought it was important I give them an opportunity to get to know me, like who I was, what I was going to be about. And it was speed dating. They asked me a thousand questions in a two-hour span, and at the end of it, some of them were silly and fun and we were laughing and smiling and joking, and some of them were serious.

“It was a really great icebreaker for all of us to get to know each other. And I think Noah spearheading it was a huge part of that,” Brennan added. “At the end of the conversation, I asked the players if they wanted to do it again the next day, and they all agreed.”

Brennan, Fifita and McMillan had “another two-hour conversation” the following day. They discussed Brennan’s philosophy — “how i coach, what I believe in” — and asked questions about Brennan’s family. They even got into “what color cleats” the Wildcats might wear this coming season.

“It was all over the map,” Brennan said. “But it was a really great opportunity for us to get to know each other and for them to have an understanding that as a head coach they’re going to have a lot of (input). I’m the kind of coach that I want them to have input in what we’re doing. Now, at the end of the day, I know those decisions sit with me, but I want them to have input into what kind of program, what kind of culture we’re going to build at the U of A.”

All the signs, including a fortune cookie from Panda Express with a message that read, “You don’t need to travel far to find the satisfaction you’re looking for,” pointed towards Fifita, McMillan, star linebacker Jacob Manu and the nucleus of returning starters to stay for one more season.

“After that meeting, T-Mac and Noah shut the door and said, ‘We want to talk to you: we’re staying,’” Brennan said.

Then the players and coaches celebrated with an announcement video during a timeout break of an Arizona-UCLA men’s basketball game at McKale Center, stirring up excitement for the 2024 season.

“At the end of the day, money speaks loud but that’s only temporary happiness,” McMillan said. “Our relationships that we built in the locker room this past year, you can’t break that.”

Phase II: Weather spring transfer portal period

Sometimes change isn’t for everyone. Although Brennan and Arizona retained most of the team’s returning starters from 2023, another transfer portal period loomed near the end of spring practices. Cornerback Tacario Davis entered the portal, but practices with the UA in the spring.

Davis, a conceivable All-American and All-Big 12 selection, opted to stay for likely his last season before the junior declares for the NFL Draft.

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“The truth is these players really love each other,” Brennan said. “Coach Fisch and that staff recruited a bunch of quality young men that were incredibly committed and connected, and I think that’s what contributed to them wanting to stay.”

Six months later, Fifita is “happy with where we’re at” and the decision they made — a decision that will have their names etched in Arizona football lore forever.

“It’s about the people in the building. We didn’t want to leave the locker room, and Coach Brennan has proven we made the right decision,” Fifita said. “He took a chance on us and we took a chance on him. Now we get to follow him to where we want to go.”

Phase III: Carry the momentum

Following a busy spring transfer portal period for Arizona, which included multiple additions at running back and defensive line, along with a majority of the starters returning, the Wildcats are confident with their team that was voted to finish fifth in the Big 12.

Arizona’s identity and style of play: “I don’t think it’s defined yet,” said Brennan.

Fifita vowed, “what you’re going to see is a lot of passion” from Arizona, a team hopeful to make a splash in its first season in the Big 12 and first year of the expanded 12-team College Football Playoff.

“We love each other, and we love playing the game. We’re always going to have fun playing the game, and I think you guys are going to see that,” he said. “We really enjoy being together and having this team, this family. Offensively, we hope to bring a lot of explosiveness, and have explosive plays on defense and be physical and disciplined. The main thing is we’re going to bring a winning mentality to the Big 12 and try to win. ... I think momentum was on our side (last year).

“We had a really good finish to the year, confidence was at an all-time high. Now it just transfers into the Big 12. Last year is last year, but we’re going to take what we had last year and carry into it fall camp and the season.”

That momentum and player retention has led to new season-ticket sales to increase by 40%, Arizona athletic director Deisreé Reed-Francois told the Star Wednesday in Las Vegas.

“The community is what makes Arizona football run,” McMillan said. “You gotta start somewhere, and the city of Tucson is where we got it started. Coming here, we wanted to be program-changers, we wanted to bring light back into Tucson, and we wanted the city of Tucson to take pride in our play. Hopefully we can put smiles on their faces.”

Reed-Francois cited the “momentum between Coach Brennan’s hiring to the retention of our core student-athletes through spring practices,” as credit for the boom in new season tickets.

“We could feel the momentum, and we can feel that energy,” she said. “This is a special group of young people.

“I know everyone says that about their student-athletes, but this group cares about one another.”

Reed-Francois said she’s confident in Brennan’s ability to “build that momentum from the past and take it to the future” in 2024 and beyond.

“There’s a special thing brewing, and you can feel it,” she added. “Our community has fallen in love with these special young people and are realizing how great they are and how special it is when we all come together for that common goal. It’s a new day and there’s a lot of new enthusiasm.”

Brennan “is exactly the coach that we needed exactly at this point in time,” Reed-Francois added.

Asked Wednesday what makes him the right person at the right time for Arizona’s program: “I don’t know if we know that yet,” Brennan said.

“That will be determined over time. I like to think (I’m the right person) though,” he added. “We’ll find out.”