University of Arizona Athletics

Brent Brennan enters his third season as the Head Coach for Arizona Football in 2026. He was hired on January 16, 2024 and earned a contract extension through at least the 2030 season on February 6, 2026 following the Wildcats trip to the Holiday Bowl.

Brennan, 53, is an experienced leader in college football who enjoyed two stints coaching under legendary Arizona head coach Dick Tomey, the winningest coach in Arizona Football history. The San José native first learned under Tomey with the Wildcats as a graduate assistant in 2000, and again from 2005-09 at SJSU as an assistant coach. The ties between Brennan and the University of Arizona run deep, with Brent’s brother Bradley playing five years as a wide out in Tucson under Tomey, and Brent’s wife Courtney being an alumna of the University.

Throughout Brennan’s lengthy and accomplished career, he has helped develop six All-Americans and 19 Professional Football players, including six who enjoyed NFL careers of five-plus seasons. Across time as a coach and player, Brennan has been part of 10 teams that reached bowl games.

With the Wildcats

Coach Brennan has led the Wildcats to 13 wins, including a pair over Top 25 opponents, across his first two years leading Arizona Football. The program's nine wins in 2025 were tied for the most by a second year coach in Arizona Football history and it marked only the eighth nine-win season all-time for the Wildcats.

Under Brennan's guidance the Wildcats have produced nine All-Big-12 selections, two All-Americans in Tetairoa McMillan and Treydan Stukes, and four NFL Draft picks. He has also overseen the development of quarterback Noah Fifita, who will enter the 2026 season as the nation's active career leader in touchdown passes and last season became the first Wildcat to be named First Team All-Conference in 50 years.

The 2025 Wildcats led by Brennan and his staff went down as one of the most successful teams in program history, finishing the year with nine wins and an appearance in the Trust & Will Holiday Bowl. Arizona concluded the regular season with a 5-0 record in November, marking just the third five-game win streak for the Wildcats this century and vaulting the team into the AP and CFP Top 25 polls. The team was led by an historic season from Fifita and one of the nation's most elite pass defenses.

In his first year with the program in 2024 the Brennan-led Wildcats picked up a road victory over the No. 10 ranked Utah Utes and produced the most prolific pass catcher in program history in McMillan, who would go on to become a first round NFL Draft selection after the season. En route to breaking the Arizona career receiving yards record, McMillan also set the program's single-game receiving yards record with 304 hashes and four scores against New Mexico.

Before Arizona

Brennan joined the Wildcats following seven seasons leading the San José State University football program where he steered the Spartans to three bowl game appearances and earned 2020 Mountain West Coach of the Year award. 

Among a multitude of accomplishments at San José State, Brennan became the first head coach in SJSU history to lead the Spartans to three bowl games in a four-year span. He also steered SJSU to back-to-back winning seasons in 2022 and 2023, marking the first time it had been accomplished by the Spartans since the 1991-92 campaigns. 

The 2023 season at San José State saw Brennan’s Spartans charge down the final stretch of the season, winning six consecutive conference games to close out the regular season and earn a bowl berth. During that six-game stretch Brennan’s offense averaged over 38 points per game while the defense held opponents to a meager 17.8 points per game. SJSU’s offensive efforts were fueled by ball security, turning the ball over just 10 times, the best mark in the Mountain West and the ninth best in the nation. The trend was continued from the 2022 campaign in which the Spartans led the country with only six turnovers on offense and a +12 turnover margin that led the MWC. 

“I am so blessed and excited to come back to the University of Arizona,” Brennan said at the time of his hiring. “This incredible university is special to my family and I as it’s where I started as a coach as part Coach Tomey’s legacy. I can’t wait to meet the players, families, fans, alumni and supporters and build on the success the players and staff have started. Bear Down and Go Cats!” 

The highlight of his SJSU tenure was a remarkable 7-1 campaign in 2020 that secured the Spartans their first Mountain West Conference championship and the school’s first outright conference championship since topping the Big West in 1990. In the three seasons that followed that impressive 2020 season the Spartans posted a 20-10 record against Mountain West competition and went 26-19 overall. 

Brennan twice had the opportunity to learn from Dick Tomey, first as a graduate assistant at Arizona in 2000 and again as an assistant coach at San José State from 2005-09. His crossover with Tomey at SJSU included the Spartans impressive 9-4 campaign in 2006 that concluded with a victory over the University of New Mexico in the New Mexico Bowl. That 2006 season orchestrated by Tomey and Brennan still stands as one of just 14 nine-plus win seasons in SJSU history. 

A former wide receiver during his playing days, Brennan has long been regarded as an exceptional offensive mind. Players recruited and coached by Brennan litter the San José State receiving record books, while his time at Oregon State from 2001-15 included the mentorship of numerous standouts highlighted by 2013 Biletnikoff Award winner Brandin Cooks. 

Prior to his second stint in San José, Brennan logged six seasons coaching wide receivers at Oregon State where he and the offensive staff fielded some of the most dangerous offenses in the country. The Beavers passing attack was explosive and relentless, ranking top 20 nationally in 2011 (19th), 2012 (20th), and 2013 (3rd). 

Brennan also logged time with Cal Poly (2001-04) as an assistant coach. He opened his coaching career with Woodside High School in California before securing a trio of one-year graduate assistant positions at Hawai’i (1998), Washington (1999), and Arizona (2000).

His playing career spanned five seasons at UCLA as a wide receiver, where he lettered as part of the Bruins 1993 Rose Bowl team. Brennan earned a degree in history from UCLA in 1996. 

Brennan and his wife Courtney are the proud parents to two daughters, Blake and Casey, and one son, Scott. 
 

Brent Brennan Career Highlights 

• 2020 Lombardi Foundation College Coach of the Year 
• 2020 Mountain West Coach of the Year 
• 2020 American Football Coaches Association Region V Coach of the Year 
• 2020 Mountain West Championship 
• Developed 2013 Biletnikoff Award winner, Brandin Cooks 
• Six All-Americans coached 
• 19 NFL/Professional Football players coached 
• 2 Freshman All-Americans coached 

They Played for Coach Brennan...