2 candidates surge to the top as Wildcats look for their next field boss
TUCSON — Brent Brennan and Johnny Nansen have emerged as the top two candidates to replace Jedd Fisch as head football coach at Arizona.
Brennan is no stranger to a UA coaching search. The San Jose State head coach was a finalist in early 2021 before Arizona Athletics opted for NFL assistant Jedd Fisch.
Fisch departed Tucson on Sunday for Washington after three seasons leading the recovery of a program that had lost to rival Arizona State 70-7 in the final game before his arrival.
His teams went from 1-11 (2021) to 5-7 (2022) to 10-3 in his tenure. This past season Arizona found their groove under Fisch and redshirst freshman quarterback Noah Fifita winning their final seven games including a victory over Oklahoma in the Alamo Bowl.
Brennan was a graduate assistant under legendary UA head coach Dick Tomey back during his final UA season in 2000. After Tomey was fired by Arizona, Brennan went on to coach at Cal Poly but later reunited with Tomey at San Jose State.
He has spent seven seasons as the head coach in San Jose (34-48) and has taken the Spartans to bowl games in three of the last four seasons. SJSU lost all three of those bowl games including the Arizona Bowl to Ball State in Tucson in December 2020 while Brennan was being considered for the UA job.
It is believed Brennan has the backing of the UA administration while it is Nansen who holds favor with the players on the Wildcats’ current roster.
Nansen has spent the past two seasons as defensive coordinator having helped pilot the resurgence of the program. His defense forced six turnovers in the Alamo Bowl win over the Sooners.
Nansen played at Washington State and has coached at a number of Pac-12 outpost including Washington, USC and UCLA. He just reunited last week with Steve Sarkisian, joining his staff at Texas as co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach.
Many UA players have gone on social media Sunday and Monday and expressed their desire that Nansen be brought back as the Wildcats leader. They’ve used several hashtags to drive their point home including #HireNansen and #StayingwithNansen.
The departure of Fisch has led to a number of players entering the transfer portal including the Wildcats leading rusher Jonah Coleman and backup quarterback Brayden Dorman.
Arizona Athletics director Dave Heeke and President Robert C. Robbins will need to move quickly if they hope to solidify as much of the current roster as possible.
It appears that a number of assistants may follow Fisch to Seattle including offensive coordinator Brennan Carroll, wide receivers coach Kevin Cummings and strength and conditioning coach Tyler Owens.
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