BIG 12 CONFERENCE FOOTBALL MEDIA DAYS

July 8, 2026

Brent Brennan

Ford Center at The Star

Arizona Wildcats

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Good morning and welcome back to the 2026 Monster Energy Big 12 Football Media Days. We'll begin today's main stage press conferences with Arizona Head Coach Brent Brennan. Coach, your opening statement.

BRENT BRENNAN: Good morning. Appreciate everybody being here. I want to thank Commissioner Yormark and all the people in the Big 12 for putting on a big-time day for us here. Our players and myself and our administration are really excited to be here.

Before I get into the questions, I would like to give y'all an idea of where we're at and a framework with Arizona football going on year three.

In year one, you know, we took over a little bit late, and it was kind of chaotic, and it was all about stabilizing the program, retaining players, trying to build a roster, trying to start building a culture.

Then in year two I think we made some real positive moves. We added new leadership with an offensive and defensive coordinator and special teams coordinator. We were able to retain some of our high-profile players, and it was all about establishing our culture, our culture of redline. And for us redline is effort, execution, and accountability.

As we moved forward through that second year, we made sure everybody knew exactly what that meant. We made sure everybody's expectations of how we were going to move as a program and the alignment we were going to be in was steadfast and absolute lockstep.

I think the good thing that happened through that process was we played better football. Through our process, we ended up winning nine games and getting to a great post-season bowl game. Now as we're going into year three, how does that thing change?

I think about redline is always going to be the standard for everything we do, but there's some other things that I think are pushing into that space for us, and that would be our commitment, our toughness, and momentum.

We got to capitalize on the momentum of last season, and I feel like we've been doing that with a really strong offseason, some really good recruiting, and high-level stuff with our administration and also our donor base and our fan base.

How do we build on that momentum? That speaks to the players that you're going to hear from today. They're going to be able to give you a great indication of where we are as a program and how we're moving forward. But that commitment, we're starting to see that commitment from our administration, our donor base, and our fans.

And that's what's really exciting. I think that's one of those things as we came into the Big 12 that was new. New opponents, new venues, new competition, teams that our people weren't familiar with. Now that we're two years in, they're starting to get an idea of what those games feel like and how intense this conference is.

I think that makes it fun because you're looking at a conference that I think everybody has a chance to win. We've had good teams over the years at University of Arizona. We've had good coaches. We've had good players, but we're trying to build a sustainable, consistent, winning program at the U of A. That's the goal, and that's what we're all lockstep trying to do with our athletics director, Desireé Reed-Francois, and the players and the coaches we have on staff.

I'm incredibly fortunate to have the people that are with me on this journey, and I can't wait to get started in about two and a half weeks.

So I'm ready for your questions now.

"Bear Down."

Q. I wanted to ask you, with seeing your guys get drafted, how were you and your staff energized and really able to continue that recruiting process and also to keep the momentum going, as you mentioned, as far as continuing to build that culture at Arizona?

BRENT BRENNAN: Yeah, I think the excitement when you have four guys drafted, obviously the questions from our fans are like, How are you going to replace those guys? Right? Because those guys were all really good players.

But also I think it's exciting for the players that are in your program, but I think it also speaks to the coaching staff and the strength and conditioning staff and what those men do to help prepare those players for that NFL opportunity.

That's what helped us more in the recruiting process is those players could speak to their development as part of being a part of the Arizona football program, who trained them, who coached them, and what their process was like there and how that had a benefit in getting them ready for the National Football League.

Q. Looking at your quarterback, Noah, just everything that he has done up to this point, he has passed Nick Foles with career passing touchdowns, and he's about to do it in career passing yards. What has he meant to you on the field and then also more importantly off the field as a leader?

BRENT BRENNAN: I think we're incredibly blessed to have a quarterback like Noah Fifita that definitely has a Heisman résumé. Some of you can all check that data in front of you, because I think we passed out a résumé to everybody in the building.

Noah Fifita is the best story in college football. He's an incredibly good football player, but he's also this rare human being that chooses the right things every day. He's a man of great faith. He's a great teammate. He's a great leader. He's super engaged in our community. He's got a nonprofit. He always finds ways to do extra to give, and I think that's rare in today's day and age.

I think so many kids are just taking all the time, and I get it. That's the culture. That's life. But this young man, he doesn't only kick ass on Saturdays, he kicks ass every single day of the week. He is as special as it gets.

Q. You mentioned the coordinators that you brought in. What has impressed you about Seth Doege and what he has done with Noah and also -- sorry, mic dying on me -- what he did with Noah and what he can do in a second year with this offense?

BRENT BRENNAN: Coach Doege has been an incredible addition to our football staff. I believe we're really very fortunate to have him at the University of Arizona.

It was interesting when I brought Coach Doege in to talk about the job. I felt like we had an instant connection. I felt like we saw the world a little bit similarly. I felt like we were both passionate about the development of young people, and the football is the football, but there's this whole other piece we're responsible for as coaches that doesn't get talked about very often.

Seth and I got off to a great start. Then he spent some time with Noah, and I have just seen that relationship grow and continue to grow.

Noah, I just talked about how special he is, but he's also special in his preparation. He's special in his process. He attacks that. Coach Doege is a perfect guy for it, having played the position at a high level. He's also -- Coach Doege, as you know, is also a very assertive leader, and that's helped Noah grow in that leadership department.

Now I think we're fortunate going into the second year with Coach Doege, and the second year for Noah having the same coordinator is critical because it's the first time he's had that in his college football career.

So my expectations for both Noah and Seth Doege could not be any higher, and I can't wait to get started, like I said at the beginning of this talk.

Q. I want to talk to you about your linebacker, Taye Brown. He was the second leading tackler last season, over 90-plus stops. Can you talk about what kind of leader he is and what he brings to your defense?

BRENT BRENNAN: Taye Brown is the player on our football team that is the absolute definition of redline, that execution part, that 100, 100, 100 miles an hour, 100% of the time. That is Taye Brown in practice and in game every single day. It's awesome because he gives every player on our team a consistent picture of what playing your tail off looks like every single rep.

I mean, he really is the standard, right? From that way all of our players get to see, okay, here's this player that's a really good dude, he's a good student, he's super productive; and then on top of that, he plays harder than almost everybody on the team. There are probably some other guys that you would talk to today that would argue who plays harder. But when you turn on the tape, it's Taye.

That leadership, that consistency of performance, how he puts that out there every day, is incredibly compelling for our entire football team.

Q. In your opening statement you spoke on sustainability. I wanted to know what pillars do you have put within your team to maintain a sustainable, winning season coming forward?

BRENT BRENNAN: That is a huge question, and I'm not sure we have all day, but I'm going to try and give you what I got, okay? For starters, we are big believers in controlling what we can control, right? What we can control is our process. We don't control the outcomes, but we can control our process. So that is where it starts for us every single day with our players.

In terms of how we build that over time, our model at our place is going to be much more developmental, more high school players, and then focused on retention as they go through their process of development.

Will we bat a thousand? No. Nobody will. I think as long as we're focused on our process and really diving into that daily, attaching that redline standard to our process, we have a chance for the outcomes we want. That's kind of how we're built.

Q. Brent, you talked about how the Arizona fans are getting familiar with new opponents, and one of those annual teams has been BYU the past two years. Week 2, you face BYU. Just maybe your thoughts on a big Big 12 matchup early in the season?

BRENT BRENNAN: Yeah, absolutely. I'm sure Kalani would tell you the same thing. We hate it that early, but no, obviously it's going to be a big-time football game. Especially coming off we had an incredible double-overtime game with them a year ago.

We have tremendous respect for Kalani and that staff and everything they've done at BYU, and I think that's going to be one of those ones where you are going on the road. It's a tough venue. You're playing against an outstanding football team.

Everybody in America should watch that game. It's going to be one of the best games of the whole weekend, the best games of the first month of college football. We can't wait. We're going to be excited to play by the time we get to it.

Q. Protection of Noah Fifita is paramount this season. You've had turnover at offensive line and tight end position. Is this the No. 1 thing to address in fall camp, and are there any emerging leaders right now?

BRENT BRENNAN: Yeah, to be honest with you, I'm really excited about where we're at in the offensive line. I think the retention of Alexander Doost and Tristan Bounds, you know, Matt Lado, I think there's some new players that are coming in. Zach Henning joined us through the portal.

We are excited about that. We did lose some good players up front, and we love those guys, were outstanding for us. We replaced them with some players that can step right in and do a good job of filling that.

Obviously we got work to do, but that's going to be something that we're going to address. And protecting Noah Fifita, I think sometimes think about protecting the quarterback solely being about pass protection, but it's as much about your effectiveness running the football as it is about your ability to just drop back and throw it.

I think that's one of those things as we get into fall camp, we had a great spring with those guys, and it was good because Tristan was coming back from a postseason surgery situation, so some of those other young players got to get some valuable reps.

We feel like we've got some good depth there and then some good additions in the tight end room. We're excited about that front. The front six, seven guys is going to be a lot of fun.

Q. With so much changing in college football, what's one coaching principle that you have refused to change because you believe it still wins?

BRENT BRENNAN: One coaching principle that I have refused to change?

Q. Yes, sir.

BRENT BRENNAN: We're moving forward together, and if you're not with us, there's the door.