SJSU’s Brennan gets contract extension.
Earlier this week, Brent Brennan appeared destined for the desert. Now, he’s here to stay in Silicon Valley, ready to climb more mountains.
Brennan has agreed in principle to a contract extension to remain the football coach at San Jose State, the school announced Wednesday.
Athletic director Marie Tuite said the school could not yet share the terms of the contract. A three-year, $2.55 million extension signed last year was set to run through the 2024 season.
“I woke up this morning feeling great — really, really excited about this space that we’re in at San Jose State right now,” Brennan said. “I spent all morning thinking about what a mountain we have been climbing. Not just this season on the football field, but really four years of heavy, intense climbing with a lot of people contributing along the way.”
The news of the extension came only hours after the University of Arizona hired New England Patriots quarterbacks
coach Jedd Fisch to be its head coach. Brennan had been linked to the Arizona job following the firing of Kevin Sumlin.
“I was really honored to be in consideration with the University of Arizona. I know that was out there,” Brennan said.
Brennan had several connections to Arizona. In 2000, Brennan was a graduate assistant under Dick Tomey, whom Brennan holds in high esteem. Additionally, Brennan’s brother, Brad, was a wide receiver for the Wildcats that season.
Following Brennan’s one season with Arizona, he spent four years at Cal Poly as an assistant to Rich Ellerson, who was Tomey’s defensive coordinator at Arizona.
“I’m excited for Arizona. They made their choice, and he’s going to be a great fit. We made our choice, and we already know this is a great fit,” Brennan said.
Prior to Brennan’s press conference, the coach posted an edited clip from “The Wolf of Wall Street,” declaring, “I’m not leaving.”
Upon signing last year’s deal, Brennan said that he wanted to spend the next 15 years at San Jose State. Prior to the Mountain West championship game, Brennan elaborated on those comments.
“I grew up here,” Brennan said last week. “My dad played here. I went to these games as a young man. As a kid, rolling down the hill before the stands were in the north end. That’s been my whole life. When I said that, that came from the heart. I love this place. I love what we’re doing. I believe we can build a winning football program at San Jose State and I think we’re into our process of demonstrating that.”
After going 8-29 in his first three seasons, Brennan has led the Spartans to a 7- 0 record and Mountain West championship win over Boise State, earning him coach of the year honors in the conference.
During his opening statement Wednesday, Brennan showed media members a note he wrote after San Jose State beat Fresno State last season. The note, which Brennan sees daily, read, “We will practice in Spartan Stadium with Christmas music in 2020.”
The Spartans will not be allowed to practice for the Arizona Bowl in Spartan Stadium because of Santa Clara County’s temporary ban on contact sports, but they still plan on playing holiday tunes during practices in Tucson next week.
“The disappointing thing is that we won’t get to practice in Spartan Stadium in December, but we are going to have Christmas music at practice in December because that means we are still playing, which hasn’t happened here for a very long time,” Brennan said.
Brennan, who will enter his fifth season next year, is on track to be San Jose State’s longest-tenured coach. Dudley DeGroot and Bob Titchenal currently hold the record with eight seasons. At the minimum, Brennan will join Tomey as the only coaches since 1990 to spend at least five seasons at the helm for the Spartans.
Brennan said that the extension addresses the assistant coach salary pool, which could help allow SJSU retain much of this year’s staff, which could receive offers from elsewhere after a successful season.
“I think it gets really hard to do if you keep changing the people in front of the room,” Brennan said. “Our administration has been extremely supportive of that, of finding ways to make it better for myself or my staff to stay here.”
Brennan also discussed the potential composition of next year’s roster, which stands to have lots of continuity from this year’s team. The NCA A granted fallsport athletes an additional year of eligibility, meaning Nick Starkel, Bailey Gaither and Tre Walker, among others, could return next season.
The Spartans are also set to bring back younger cornerstone players such as juniors Cade Hall and Kyle Harmon, as well as sophomore Viliami Fehoko.
San Jose State will have a chance to complete its perfect season next week against Ball State in the Arizona Bowl, provided the team is allowed to leave Santa Clara County despite coronavirus quarantine issues.
Brennan and Tuite deflected questions regarding travel logistics to director of media relations Kenneth Mashinchi, but Tuite did say that Santa Clara County health officials have complimented San Jose State for following directives.
“We very much look forward to playing the bowl in Tucson,” Tuite said.
According to a team spokesman, San Jose State has paused team activities through Christmas. The Spartans will take COVID-19 tests on Saturday then everyone who tests negative will fly to Tucson on Sunday.
Should San Jose State play on New Year’s Eve, it will be the program’s first bowl game appearance since the 2015 Cure Bowl, where it beat Georgia State 27-16.