Taking stock 2026: What Arizona Wildcats football looks like under Brent Brennan

The offseason has arrived for most Arizona sports, with the 2025-26 season in the books and the 2026-27 seasons still a few months away.

What better time than now to press pause and check the pulse of every Wildcat program?

Over the coming weeks, we’ll take a look at each of the UA’s men’s and women’s athletics programs to see what shape they’re in, as well as the prospects for the near future. We’ll break down each team and evaluate how it has performed under the current coaching staff, compare it to what it looked like before, and assess how it fits in the Big 12 Conference.

First of all: football under Brent Brennan

The Jedd fish The 2021-2023 era began amid a school-record 20-game losing streak and ended with just the fourth 10-win season in program history. And as quickly as it started, it was over: Fisch fled to Washington in January 2024 for a huge pay raise, taking many players with him.

Brennan’s hiring came as quickly as possible. Arizona transferred him from San Jose State, where he had managed to turn one of the toughest places to win into a regular contender in the Mountain West Conference. With more time, Brennan might not have been the first pick (or second or third), but he was the best option in a pinch and his main job was to keep the remaining talent from entering the NCAA transfer portal.

That goal was largely achieved, but little else went right that first season. The Wildcats fell from 10-3 to 4-8, wasting the final year of future NFL 1^st round choice Greetings McMillan‘s college career. The fan base wanted Brennan to leave, willing to quit early and try to start over rather than watch things get worse.

It’s a good thing cooler heads prevailed. Athletics director Desiree Reed-Françoiswho was hired less than a month after Brennan, not only refused to make a change in leadership but also threw more support behind the program. A full offseason allowed Brennan to put together a better coaching staff, which helped him move up the ranks Danny Gonzales to defensive coordinator and insert Seth Doge to carry out the offense, while numerous needs are met through the portal.

The result: a 5-game improvement in the win column, going 9-3 in the regular season and playing in the Holiday Bowl. Quarterback on the way Noah Fifita set the school single-season and career touchdown pass records, while Gonzales’ defense was one of the most improved in the country.

The 2026 team saw four players drafted, all from the secondary, and did not lose any key contributors to the portal. Brennan, Doege and Gonzales have now been rewarded with contract extensions.

After going 2-7 in conference play in 2024, Arizona improved to 6-3 and a tie for fourth place. To put that in perspective, the Wildcats had only won six or more league games six times in 46 seasons in the Pac-12.

Being part of a 16-team league where a team plays nine opponents each fall largely determines how it performs, and the UA avoided two of the top three teams in 2026. That won’t be the case in 2027 as it plays all three squads, including a trip to defending champion Texas Tech on Halloween.

Arizona has also benefited from joining the Big 12 in terms of recruiting, as it has made the lucrative Texas market more viable since at least one game per season is played in the Lone Star State. The 2026 recruiting class has signees from Texas after signing nine in 2025.

Is success sustainable? Brennan managed to right the ship after his disappointing debut, but which season was the outlier? Arizona traditionally suffered a decline after its best seasons, including going from 12-1 in 1998 to 6-6 in 1999.

By bringing Fifita back for his final season, as well as plenty of other pieces, Arizona is in a good position for another solid fall. It may not compete for the Big 12 title, but it should be competitive in the conference and make another bowl game, which should be the expectation, as opposed to making the College Football Playoff.

To further this cause, Brennan’s extension includes a clause increasing his annual salary after each season he wins at least eight regular-season games.