Arizona football looking for big Year 2 jump under head coach Brent Brennan

Heading into Year 2, Arizona head coach Brent Brennan is altering the Wildcats' identity in hopes of making a leap into Big 12 title contention.

BY KAVISH SIDDHARTHA

Jul 10, 2025, 6:59 AM Updated: 1:18 pm

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Heading into Year 2, Arizona head football coach Brent Brennan is altering the Wildcats’ identity in hopes of making a leap into Big 12 title contention.

Almost two years removed from going 10-3 in 2023, the Wildcats had an underwhelming first season under Brennan in 2024, going 4-8 overall and 2-7 in the Big 12 Conference.

A dominant offense led by quarterback Noah Fifita in 2023 struggled heavily in 2024. Fifita’s stats dropped and the team averaged only 106.6 rushing yards a game and 21.8 points per game (114th ranked).

As for one of the bright spots on offense in wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan? The wideout, who reeled in 84 passes for 1,319 yards and eight touchdowns, was taken eighth overall by the Carolina Panthers in the 2025 NFL Draft.

With McMillan off the roster, a large focus for Arizona has been figuring out how to replace his offensive production. Brennan expects the additions of former Marshall offensive coordinator Seth Doege and the offseason transfers to supplement the departure of McMillan while also re-energizing the unit.

“One of the things that I felt we were missing a year ago, I felt we were missing people on the other side of (McMillan),” Brennan said at Big 12 Media Day on Wednesday.

“We needed more speed and I think we’ve added that in the offseason. We’ve added five guys that run 10.6, 10.5, 10.4. We just needed more heat. T-Mac was incredibly productive, what a great player, a great human being. We’re so excited for what he’s going to do in the NFL, but I’m excited to see what our receiver group does as a collective in the Seth Doege offense. It’s going to be a lot of fun.”

Doege, who hails from the Mike Leach coaching tree, had a lot of success running his Air Raid offense for Marshall last season. With Doege calling plays, Marshall averaged 31.8 points per game on offense and 382.8 total yards a game.

Of those total yards, 201.7 yards came from Marshall’s rushing attack, something unprecedented in a typical Air Raid system. Arizona is hoping Doege’s system can help reinvigorate the run game and help Fifita return to his best form.

“Well just seeing him attack his process of development, I think coach Doege has been critical for him,” Brennan said. “I think in defense of Noah Fifita, as I look back to last year, we didn’t run the ball well enough to protect him like they did the year before and we didn’t protect him well enough.

“I think those things are simple and I think what we talked about earlier not having enough people opposite T-Mac to kind of offset that coverage and people pushing so much to him impacted that. But I believe in Noah Fifita and I know our fanbase does, too. You’re going to see exciting things with coach Doege.”

It may be difficult for the Wildcats to make a quick turnaround into College Football Playoff contention within a year, but we’ve seen it before.

Arizona State, who was ranked last in the 2024 Big 12 preseason rankings after going 3-9 in 2023, had an amazing year highlighted by a Big 12 title and College Football Playoff berth.

Dillingham, like Brennan, was also entering his second season as head coach before turning ASU’s football program around.

“I think what the school up north (Arizona State) did last year, you got to respect it,” Brennan said. “I think it’s really plain and simple. Our fans won’t like hearing me say that but I can respect it because what they did was hard to do. That’s what we’re trying to do. As we look at what they did or what other teams did, that’s one of the things I love about the Big 12. I do think anyone has the chance to win it.”

A large key to Dillingham’s success at ASU was players buying into the culture and system, something that isn’t easy. Fifita, however, believes the Wildcats have completely bought in and believe Brennan and the coaching staff can lead them to more wins this season.

“Just kind of building the culture, building the mentality and belief,” Fifita said Wednesday. “Everybody in the locker room right now is coach Brennan’s guy. We either stayed for coach Brennan or we came here for coach Brennan. We have an unwavering belief in him. We have unwavering belief in our coordinators that they can lead us where we want to get to which is a Big 12 championship.