New Arizona Wildcats coach Brent Brennan met one-on-one with various Tucson media groups Friday, including me and Mike Luke from PHNX Wildcats.
We had a hundred questions we wanted to ask but only 10 minutes, and we picked a six-pack of answers for you here. Hope you enjoy (and we’ll have more from Brennan during the weekend):
PHNX: You and your family have strong ties to the Polynesian community. What is the key to connecting with families and recruits from that community?
BRENNAN: “I think it’s just being authentic, just being yourself. You know, young people in general, they smell BS faster than any other demographic. But that community in particular, if you are sincere and if you demonstrate that you care about them, that ends up paying off for a long time.
“That works in any community, right? But there’s such a family kind of vibe in the Polynesian community, just such an emphasis on family and looking out for each other and protecting each other and caring about each other. And I think when you infuse a football program with that, it can be really galvanizing.”
PHNX: What are you sharing with your players, especially Noah Fifita and Tetairoa McMillan, to give them the best information they can get so they can make good decisions about their futures?
BRENNAN: “When I met with then him the first day I started with just understanding and being sensitive to what they were going through. They just had this great season and then you have a staff transition, and that’s hard. That’s hard.
“And I felt the same thing. When I left San Jose, I met with our team in San Jose on Tuesday morning. And then I met with the team here at U of A on Tuesday afternoon. So that’s an emotional day and a really hard day because I was really excited about coming to the University of Arizona, but I was also sad about leaving that school, leaving that program, leaving those players, all the pieces of that.
“With the players here, I’m just trying to get to know them, trying to give them a chance to get to know me as they’re trying to figure out what decision to make or what route to go. I’m just trying to talk to them about it objectively.
“Like, ‘OK, well, do you know this other staff (at another school)? No? How about this other staff? No? OK, why would you leave this great situation you’re in here for something you don’t know?’”
PHNX: What do you love most about Duane Akina? Note: nothing is official but Akina, the venerable assistant coach, seems likely to stay on staff at Arizona in some role on defense for Brennan.
BRENNAN: “Oh, it’s his passion for football, man. Oh gosh, he’s just a ball of fire. He’s so great. He’s awesome. He’s also a guy that I widely consider the best defensive backs coach ever. I think maybe that story doesn’t get told enough. You know, he’s got more NFL jerseys in his closet than probably anyone as a position coach. It’s unreal.”
PHNX: On the offensive side, what are you looking for from your OC? What kind of style are you looking to run?
BRENNAN: “We’re going to be multiple and we’ll be in some shifts and motions and try to create matchup problems for people – trying to get people leaning the wrong way with the motion game, whether that’s under center or from the gun … fly motion, reverse motion, back-and-forth motion. You’re just trying to get people to move so that you can gain some sort of advantage, either angles or numbers. We’re going to be a team that is has a lot of that, like we’ve been in San Jose.
“For the past five years, I think, we’ve had an all-conference quarterback. So, we’ve had outstanding quarterback play five years in a row and that’s not normal, right? So that part is really good. And I think that the cool thing that happened for us this year is you’re always adjusting to your personnel and we found really good space in the run game. It was really, really powerful for us to rush for 2,300 yards with basically two guys. That was really fun.”
PHNX: Tedy Bruschi has been a special advisor to the program. Have you talked to him about staying on in that role?
BRENNAN: “I left him a voicemail yesterday. So I’m just waiting to hear back now. I mean, at one time I had 400 missed calls. I’m trying to get back to all those people. But, yeah, I left him a message yesterday, so I’m sure we’ll connect soon.
“I would also assume he’s trying to be sympathetic. He knows what the transition is like and he knows how busy we are and how we’re working really hard to retain this team. Working hard to make sure we get the players that have signed with us to stay with their commitment, and then also trying to build a staff.”
PHNX: I’ve had various people who don’t know you describe you as kind of vanilla. You look like you have a wicked and playful sense of humor. What should Arizona fans know about the real Brent Brennan, personality-wise?
BRENNAN: “I would say that anybody who would say I’m vanilla doesn’t know me or know anybody who knows me. I like to have a good time, and our practice environment is going to be fun and high energy. Fans are going to know I’m a coach with a lot of energy, a lot of juice, a lot of enthusiasm.”
Final thought: Remember what he said at his introductory press conference: “If it’s not fun, you’re dead wrong.” I’ll add: If you can’t whole-heartedly root for this guy, you’re dead wrong.
Top photo: Arizona Wildcats coach Brent Brennan is trying to “just be himself” around his new team. (Photo by Arizona Athletics)
