Hawaii matchup emotionally tough for Brennan
When his team plays at Hawaii on Saturday night, San Jose State head coach Brent Brennan understandably will have more on his mind and in his heart than simply winning.
“This game will be an emotional deal for me just because that’s still pretty fresh for all of us and everybody is still really missing him,” Brennan said in his weekly Zoom news conference Monday.
Brennan was referring to his cousin Colt, who died May 11 at the age of 37. Colt Brennan, a record-setting quarterback for Hawaii, had endured substance-abuse issues for years.
Brent Brennan, 48, said his cousin “was the kind of person (who) impacted everybody he met. He just had a magic to him, a charisma to him. He had the ability to really make people feel good and to engage people in a meaningful way.”
Colt Brennan became an exceedingly popular figure in Hawaii during his three seasons (2005-07) leading the Rainbow Warriors. He passed for 14,193 yards — which ranks ninth in NCAA history — and 131 touchdowns, which is tied for fourth.
Brennan led Hawaii to a 12-0 regular season in 2007 and a berth in the Sugar Bowl. He finished third in the Heisman Trophy voting.
“He’s the kind of guy that’s not going to be soon forgotten,” Brent Brennan said.
The University of Hawaii athletic department has put Colt Brennan in its 2021 Hall of Fame Class. The football players are wearing decals with his No. 15 on their helmets in his honor and Colt Brennan Tribute Night is set for Hawaii’s matchup against New Mexico State on Oct. 23.
“It’s a cool thing because of the outpouring of love and how much they’ve honored him and respected him,” Brent Brennan said. “The flip side of that is that’s how he felt about Hawaii. That’s how he felt about the state, the university. He loved his experience, he loved that place and he loved the people there.”
Brent Brennan, a wide receiver at UCLA in the early 1990s, remembered sneaking Colt into the Bruins’ locker room after games. “He was so cute. He just loved being in there.”
The Rainbow Warriors knocked off San Jose State in each of Colt’s three seasons. Brent was an assistant coach for the Spartans during that stretch.
“He beat me every time,” Brent said, “but it was always special to give him a hug at the end of the game. Just to see what he had become as a player and a person and just how the islands had just really embraced him and what he meant to them, and what they meant to him.”
Those three seasons were the first of six Brennan spent as a San Jose State assistant. He worked for head coach Dick Tomey in the first five of those years. Tomey, who died in 2019 at 80, served as a mentor to Brennan.
“I miss Coach Tomey every day,” Brennan said. “I really do, and I certainly miss him after games, just being able to call him and talk to him about what’s going on with the team or what’s happening schematically or … the decisions I made.”
Tomey was Hawaii’s head coach for 10 seasons (1977-86) and the Spartans’ head coach for five (2005-09). The winner of the SJSU-Hawaii game now earns the Dick Tomey Legacy Trophy. The Spartans have it after prevailing 35-24 in Honolulu last year.
“I walk by (the trophy) every day. It makes me smile. It makes me think he’s looking at me, telling me, like, I need to be more diligent about coaching this or coaching that. …
“I can hear his voice as I walk past the trophy every day. (He was) just a tremendous human being. Everything that’s good about college football and coaching, that was Dick Tomey.”