Brent Brennan Says They're 'Building a Championship Football Program' at Arizona
Arizona officially won't be playing in the postseason this year.
After their loss to TCU on Saturday, they won't reach the requisite six-win mark that's necessary to become bowl eligible.
That's a massive disappointment.
Having Noah Fifita and Tetairoa McMillan back on offense and other impactful returners on defense created the expectation that this Wildcats team would at least compete for a spot in the Big 12 title game.
Unfortunately, those predictions couldn't have been further from the truth.
Arizona dealt with injuries virtually throughout the entire season, having to put together makeshift offensive line units and inexperienced defenders on the field because some their veterans suffered season-enders.
That's how things go in football sometimes, but after a 10-win campaign where it looked like this program was heading in the right direction, for them to take this massive of a step back is disheartening.
However, Brent Brennan is still confident about what the future holds for the Wildcats.
"We're building a championship football program, and it takes time to do it the right way, and we're going to do it the right way," the head coach stated after the loss on Saturday.
Brennan is known for saying all the right things, and this certainly falls into that category.
But, there are real questions about if he is the right man to lead this program going forward since this is the first time he's coaching at the Power 4 level and things were a massive disappointment compared to expectations.
He signed a five-year deal when he left San Jose State, so if Arizona is willing to give him time to start building things like he did in Northern California, then there could be more consistent results.
It will be interesting to see how the Wildcats respond going into next season.
They already lost their highest-ranked recruit from the 2025 class, Terry Shelton, when he decommitted during their prolonged losing streak and flipped to TCU.
Having a solid pipeline is the only way Arizona will be able to compete in the Big 12 with teams like Colorado, who is destination program led by Deion Sanders, perennial contenders Iowa State and Kansas State led by two good coaches, and the likes of Texas Tech, Houston, Baylor, and UCF who are in recruiting hotbeds.
That's not even mentioning the potential rebounds of Oklahoma State and Utah.
It will be a tall task for Brennan to get to that "championship" level he's talking about.
