Arizona Head Coach Brent Brennan

[84Cat]

[Merkin]

Sausage Deli! Don't know about any other places listed except the Green Dolphin. They must've been after my time.

In 4 years, I only went to the Green Dolphin once or twice. Too much of a frat douche hangout.

That was Dirtbag's when I was going to school. Only went there once and never again. I didn't own any polo shirts or a sweater to wrap around my shoulders, nor did I have a name like Todd or Chad.

Green Dolphin was a dive bar at the time with real people.

[cerec_cat]

Yeah I was going to say Green Dolphin seemed far removed from frat culture. Btw I have never stepped foot in DirtBugs. Anyone remember Erik Andresson's "No Exit" cartoons from the wildcat?

[Alieberman]

Press Conf getting ready to start

[azgreg]

Press Conf getting ready to start

Damn it Ari! Can't you see we're discussing Arizona dive bars?

[arizonawildcats]

[Alieberman]

Press Conf getting ready to start

Damn it Ari! Can't you see we're discussing Arizona dive bars?

I'm watching from the Golden Nugget

[arizonawildcats]

[wyo-cat]

Press Conf getting ready to start

Damn it Ari! Can't you see we're discussing Arizona dive bars?

I'm watching from the Golden Nugget

Home Den would be better - it was always shittier.

Now it’s some kind of church.

[wyo-cat]

What????

That’s good news.

[Alieberman]

Press Conf getting ready to start

Damn it Ari! Can't you see we're discussing Arizona dive bars?

I'm watching from the Golden Nugget

Home Den would be better - it was always shittier.

Now it’s some kind of church.

Actually the Golden Nugget has new owners and its kind of shwanky now

[cerec_cat]

Did the Home Den have ping pong tables?

[arizonawildcats]

[84Cat]

They're running a little late

[wyo-cat]

Did the Home Den have ping pong tables?

I remember pool tables.

[arizonawildcats]

[84Cat]

[arizonawildcats]

[Alieberman]

1st impression- seems like a really nice really genuine guy.

No idea about what to expect from him football-wise

[CopaCat]

1st impression- seems like a really nice really genuine guy.

No idea about what to expect from him football-wise

Definitely a great guy. Not sure he has the fire and ruthlessness(recruiting) to be a great coach, but I guess we are about to find out.

[Chicat]

Watching the presser, you can’t help but like the guy. I was particularly impressed with his philosophy on taking care of the players academically and socially so that football was all they really had to worry about.

[84Cat]

He's probably the perfect coach to follow Fisch as we are sick & tired of have smoke blown up our asses. I hope the kids respond to his message as we continue to elevate this program to sustained success

[CopaCat]

He's probably the perfect coach to follow Fisch as we are sick & tired of have smoke blown up our asses. I hope the kids respond to his message as we continue to elevate this program to sustained success

Yeah I don't take Brennan to be much of a smoke blower. Unfortunately in college recruiting nowadays it's usually the smoke blowers who succeed the most.

[Carcassdragger]

My feed went in and out a few times. The question I didn't hear asked was how much former players are going to part of this program moving forward. I think this was one of the things Fisch emphasized from an early stage and it must've helped with recruiting.

Hope Coach Brennan keeps our football alumni invested and helping.

[pc in NM]

Will the circle be unbroken?

… I hated the way the admin and fans treated Dick Tomey at the end in Tucson. They deep-sixed him because Arizona “never made it to the Rose Bowl” - stupidest rationale ever!! Sure, the team regressed to the mean for a couple of seasons, but he remains one of Arizona’s best coaches, and a better man than that!

In any case, I love the Tomey heritage CBSB (Coach Brent “SwaggyB” Brennen) brings to Arizona, and thrilled to see the optimism in the air just four days after Black Saturday.

There’s still a lot to be shaken out, and more than optimism will be needed, but I’m feeling good today, and I didn’t see that coming so soon last weekend.

[AzCatFan2]

Brennan seems to be the antithesis of Coach Prime, who values style of substance. Certainly there are some very talented kids who gravitate and will gravitate towards the Prime showboating style. The question is, are there enough kids who are looking for more substance that are talented enough to compete? I guess time will tell.

[RawleArenas]

1st impression- seems like a really nice really genuine guy.

No idea about what to expect from him football-wise

Definitely a great guy. Not sure he has the fire and ruthlessness(recruiting) to be a great coach, but I guess we are about to find out.

Ditto here. I came away feeling that this guy walks the walk big time. But he kinda dodged the recruiting question from the ABC guy. If he's smart, he's got a large assistant pool to help shore up that aspect (as well as others) of his coaching. It's critical he makes the right hires, because the Big 12's sure ain't the Mountain West.

[CopaCat]

My feed went in and out a few times. The question I didn't hear asked was how much former players are going to part of this program moving forward. I think this was one of the things Fisch emphasized from an early stage and it must've helped with recruiting.

Hope Coach Brennan keeps our football alumni invested and helping.

I would a hope a guy with Arizona ties would know the importance of keeping the alumni involved. I really don't think his name is Brent Sumlin, but I did hit my head a-lot as a child, so who knows?

[TheCatInTheHat]

Great news about Coach Akina. The only thing I didn't like was his answer to the last question about how he's approaching recruiting in the near-term. He said with earlier signing day that's kind of complete, and everyone's so focused on the portal that there are great unrecruited HS players, and he always held a few slots open for the spring, and also found walk-ons. Fisch would have said something like: "Recruiting never stops, and we're going to be as relentless about it every day of the year as any team in the country." It may be that, with still trying to get his coaching staff together and with the short turnaround, he can't evaluate the roster and do much about recruiting right away (other than retaining players currently on the team.) But you've also got to hope we're not going back to undersized and overmatched "diamonds in the rough", as Tomey used to put it. We did well this past season due to Fisch's play-calling, but also due to bigger linemen, taller defensive backs, and more depth. If (a big if) he can hold on to most of the core of the roster, he'll be alright until things get settled, but I just hope he'll be all-in on aggressive recruiting and using the portal as much as it uses him.

[CopaCat]

Brennan seems to be the antithesis of Coach Prime, who values style of substance. Certainly there are some very talented kids who gravitate and will gravitate towards the Prime showboating style. The question is, are there enough kids who are looking for more substance that are talented enough to compete? I guess time will tell.

As you can see with Prime, even after his foot in mouth faceplant he has been able to recruit the crap out of the portal and everywhere else. Kids definitely gravitate toward assholes nowadays(probably has a-lot to do with the entertainment they are consuming growing up).

[Carcassdragger]

Great news about Coach Akina. The only thing I didn't like was his answer to the last question about how he's approaching recruiting in the near-term. He said with earlier signing day that's kind of complete, and everyone's so focused on the portal that there are great unrecruited HS players, and he always held a few slots open for the spring, and also found walk-ons. Fisch would have said something like: "Recruiting never stops, and we're going to be as relentless about it every day of the year as any team in the country." It may be that, with still trying to get his coaching staff together and with the short turnaround, he can't evaluate the roster and do much about recruiting right away (other than retaining players currently on the team.) But you've also got to hope we're not going back to undersized and overmatched "diamonds in the rough", as Tomey used to put it. We did well this past season due to Fisch's play-calling, but also due to bigger linemen, taller defensive backs, and more depth. If (a big if) he can hold on to most of the core of the roster, he'll be alright until things get settled, but I just hope he'll be all-in on aggressive recruiting and using the portal as much as it uses him.

THIS^^^^

[PHXCATS]

I am of the belief that all things happen for a reason.

I do not think Fisch would have been as accepted by alumni and players had he been hired instead of Sumlin in 2018. I wonder if Brennan needed a little different foundation at U of A before he would be able to be most successful here. So we needed Fisch to start the process for Brennan to take it up another notch.

Very excited to see what he can do

[RawleArenas]

I am of the belief that all things happen for a reason.

I do not think Fisch would have been as accepted by alumni and players had he been hired instead of Sumlin in 2018. I wonder if Brennan needed a little different foundation at U of A before he would be able to be most successful here. So we needed Fisch to start the process for Brennan to take it up another notch.

Very excited to see what he can do

Are you saying in this scenario that Fisch is Sean Miller and Brennan is Lloyd?

[PHXCATS]

I am of the belief that all things happen for a reason.

I do not think Fisch would have been as accepted by alumni and players had he been hired instead of Sumlin in 2018. I wonder if Brennan needed a little different foundation at U of A before he would be able to be most successful here. So we needed Fisch to start the process for Brennan to take it up another notch.

Very excited to see what he can do

Are you saying in this scenario that Fisch is Sean Miller and Brennan is Lloyd?

Perhaps.

Not a perfect comparison but along those lines sure

[Chicat]

Hope he gets introduced to the fans at McKale tomorrow. And perhaps some of the football players could join him.

Lev and a few others wondering on Twitter who he might have with him. If it’s Fifita and McMillan, we are fucking BACK.

[dmjcat]

Great news about Coach Akina. The only thing I didn't like was his answer to the last question about how he's approaching recruiting in the near-term. He said with earlier signing day that's kind of complete, and everyone's so focused on the portal that there are great unrecruited HS players, and he always held a few slots open for the spring, and also found walk-ons. Fisch would have said something like: "Recruiting never stops, and we're going to be as relentless about it every day of the year as any team in the country." It may be that, with still trying to get his coaching staff together and with the short turnaround, he can't evaluate the roster and do much about recruiting right away (other than retaining players currently on the team.) But you've also got to hope we're not going back to undersized and overmatched "diamonds in the rough", as Tomey used to put it. We did well this past season due to Fisch's play-calling, but also due to bigger linemen, taller defensive backs, and more depth. If (a big if) he can hold on to most of the core of the roster, he'll be alright until things get settled, but I just hope he'll be all-in on aggressive recruiting and using the portal as much as it uses him.

Agree completely. One thing that Fisch got right (and he did a lot of good things) was to prioritize assistant coaches who had contacts and could recruit..........and he made a point of hiring a lot of Poly coaches that could bring in the Polynesian players (Jordan Paopao, Kaufusi, and Nansen). Brennan should attempt, IMO, to bring in a couple of well connected Poly assistants for the OL/DL positions.

I believe that a lot of the on-field success the past 2 years was the result of the play of the Poly lineman we brought in, on both sides of the ball. Whittingham at Utah has made a living off of recruiting the Poly pipeline

[BBQ wildcat]

I am of the belief that all things happen for a reason.

I do not think Fisch would have been as accepted by alumni and players had he been hired instead of Sumlin in 2018. I wonder if Brennan needed a little different foundation at U of A before he would be able to be most successful here. So we needed Fisch to start the process for Brennan to take it up another notch.

Very excited to see what he can do

Well, I'm not "excited" to see what he can do. I am very anxious to see what he is able to do, but very uneasy. He has never been in a position to have to compete against the "big boys" for recruits and transfers and I am skeptical of his ability to be able to do that, with really just HC experience at a crappy small school. Maybe I will feel less uneasy when he finishes assembling his staff.

[CatsbyAZ]

[IrishAzCat]

[tgrumpy2]

I am of the belief that all things happen for a reason.

I do not think Fisch would have been as accepted by alumni and players had he been hired instead of Sumlin in 2018. I wonder if Brennan needed a little different foundation at U of A before he would be able to be most successful here. So we needed Fisch to start the process for Brennan to take it up another notch.

Very excited to see what he can do

Well, I'm not "excited" to see what he can do. I am very anxious to see what he is able to do, but very uneasy. He has never been in a position to have to compete against the "big boys" for recruits and transfers and I am skeptical of his ability to be able to do that, with really just HC experience at a crappy small school. Maybe I will feel less uneasy when he finishes assembling his staff.

Let's see what he does with his staff. Most of the recruiting is done by assistant coaches. Its about the relationships they build with recruits. If he brings in some go getters it may allay your fears. I hope it does. I'm anxious as well.

[PHXCATS]

I am of the belief that all things happen for a reason.

I do not think Fisch would have been as accepted by alumni and players had he been hired instead of Sumlin in 2018. I wonder if Brennan needed a little different foundation at U of A before he would be able to be most successful here. So we needed Fisch to start the process for Brennan to take it up another notch.

Very excited to see what he can do

Well, I'm not "excited" to see what he can do. I am very anxious to see what he is able to do, but very uneasy. He has never been in a position to have to compete against the "big boys" for recruits and transfers and I am skeptical of his ability to be able to do that, with really just HC experience at a crappy small school. Maybe I will feel less uneasy when he finishes assembling his staff.

Completely fair to feel that way and I get it to an extent

As long as you don't attack the players and coach like man in the back the a movement then all good

[Postmaster]

I think being able to retain the Servite group will help with Poly kids and schools like Servite.
Tomey was big with Poly kids so I hope CBB has some link to that.

[Postmaster]

Did the Home Den have ping pong tables?

I remember pool tables.

Where was home den?

[arizonawildcats]

[azgreg]

Hope he gets introduced to the fans at McKale tomorrow. And perhaps some of the football players could join him.

Lev and a few others wondering on Twitter who he might have with him. If it’s Fifita and McMillan, we are fucking BACK.

[UAEebs86]

[azgreg]

[MrKyle]

Did the Home Den have ping pong tables?

I remember pool tables.

Where was home den?

was right by the Golden Nugget on First Ave by Fort Lowell - great dive bar/biker bar in early 2000's

Excited to see what Brennan can do, hopefully can keep a significant portion of current roster (esp the servite guys)

[Postmaster]

I see Tyrian Lannister in the middle of picture

[eoe]

Wild full-circle moment here.

It’s funny, I heard Brennan on the SiriusXM CFB off-season previous show over the summer and was extremely impressed by how sensible and grounded he was. I didn’t connect that he was a previous UA coaching candidate.

But as great of a human being and good person he is, like everyone noted his staff’s recruiting prowess will be the sail in the wind of an amazing journey or their pitfall.