By Matt Weiner (@mattweiner20) – Spear Reporter // Photo via Titus Wilkinson of The Spear
From coaches to athletic departments to players to fans, seemingly everyone on the West Coast spent the last few days sweating out conference realignment. San Jose State football head coach Brent Brennan was sweating last weekend, too. But the beads of sweat running down Brennan’s forehead were a byproduct of coaching in blistering heat on AstroTurf — not the PAC-12 evaporating.
“The truth is it’s [conference realignment] is not really entering my thought process here,” Brennan said last Sunday, Aug. 6. “All that other stuff that’s out there, I’m just worried about this team. Our process, our development, getting ready to play the first game of the season.”
That’s essentially been Brennan’s credo since USC and UCLA decided to leave the PAC-12 for the Big 10 last summer.
No surprise there.
At the time, the Mountain West was on the fringes of the conference realignment discussion. And the scuttlebutt centered around the conference’s cash cow San Diego State.
But since then, SJSU’s gone from being several galaxies away to becoming the next planet to orbit around conference realignment.
John Canzano, a credible source on all realignment mishegoss, said Sunday morning;
“Oregon State, Washington State, Cal and Stanford were left reeling in the wake of Friday’s college realignment carnage. The four remaining members of the conference have been in regular communication, joined at the hip.
One of the scenarios that has emerged involves rebuilding the so-called “Conference of Champions” into a 10-or 12-school entity that would continue to operate under the conference’s 108-year-old brand … Mountain West Conference leaders have expressed an interest in exploring a merger with the Pac-12.”
If that’s the case, then there’s no denying this will effect SJSU in some capacity. The question becomes to what capacity? Well, no one knows at the moment. The future of conference realignment has likely left Nostradamus scratching his head, too.
But until Brennan doesn’t see the usual suspects on tap – SDSU, Boise State, Fresno State, Colorado State, etc. – conference realignment is out of sight, out of mind.
“I’m focused on what’s happening here and that’s [conference realignment] not happening here,” Brennan said. “Those decisions will be made by someone who’s smarter than me somewhere else.”
You can’t fault Brennan’s stance. He’s in the winning college football games business – not the pontificating about college football business.
Besides, there’s more pressing matters on his mind.
And in three weeks, he’ll be in SoCal attempting to stage what could be the biggest upset in school history at USC. His defense will have to wreak havoc on the 2022 Heisman Trophy Winner Caleb Williams in its first game without several recently graduated pillars of SJSU’s rebuild:
Defensive end Junior Fehoko – the reigning Mountain West Defensive Player and three-time All-Mountain West First Team.
Defensive end Cade Hall – the 2020 Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year and two-time All-Mountain West First Team.
Linebacker Kyle Harmon – three-time All-Mountain West First Team and third leading tackler in school history.
A week later, he’ll have to beat a surging Oregon State in front of a national audience on CBS.
Following that, SJSU faces five of the highest-ranked teams in the Mountain West’s preseason poll.
“I’m just worried about this football team, our process, these kids, what we’ve been doing, the effort they’ve been putting in and building this team. That’s all we are focused on right now,” Brennan said.
But Brennan’s not apathetic. Just like you or someone you know, he’s saddened by the news. Without the Pac-12, Brennan wouldn’t be where he is today.
His time spent coaching wide receivers at Oregon State (2011-16) — like Biletnikoff Award winner and first round draft pick Brandon Cooks and Markus Wheaton a First-team All-Pac 12 and third round pick – helped him become SJSU’s head coach in 2017.
Brennan also played and graduated from UCLA and is a disciple of longtime Bruins head coach Terry Donahue. During a press conference last year, Brennan was asked about how he manages the ebbs and flows of a season. His reply was a quote Donahue used to say: “When things are good, they’re not that good. And when things are bad, they’re not that bad.”
In the footnotes of Brennan’s Pac-12 history were his brief coaching stints at the University of Washington (1999) and Arizona (2000). Brennan’s brother Brad played at Arizona from 1996-2000.
So Brennan – the SJSU football coach – can kick the proverbial ice cube that is the Pac 12’s downfall under the fridge and walk away. But Brennan – the human with memories and emotions – is left with a puddle of disappointment.
“I think it’s sad for college football and I think it’s disappointing the West Coast is losing an incredible conference,” Brennan said.