The Big 12 Conference will have four new teams in 2024 with Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah coming over from the Pac-12 Conference.
It will also have two new head coaches in Arizona’s Brent Brennan and Houston’s Willie Fritz, who will both be in their first seasons at their respective schools but aren’t coaching newbies by any means.
Brennan comes to Arizona to replace Jedd Fisch, who left to become the head coach at the University of Washington. Brennan, 51 years old, signed a 5-year, $ 17.5 million contract with Arizona after spending the last seven seasons as the head coach at San Jose State.
Brennan led the Spartans to two Mountain West Conference championships in 2020 and 2023 and had an overall record of 34-48, which includes going 3-22 over his first two seasons.
Fritz, 64, is a coaching veteran who most college football fans already know from his time at Tulane, where he was the head coach 2016 to 2023 and was named American Athletic Conference Coach of the Year the last two seasons.
BREAKING: Elite 2026 ATH Keisean Henderson has Committed to Houston, he tells me for @on3recruits
The 6’3 185 ATH from Houston, TX chose the Cougars over Baylor and Oklahoma
Is Ranked as the No. 2 ATH in 2026 👀 (per On3 Industry)
“Aint nothing better than Home.”… pic.twitter.com/SaXjBBQH2i
— Hayes Fawcett (@Hayesfawcett3) May 28, 2024
Fritz led Tulane to a 12-2 record in 2022 and a win over USC in the Cotton Bowl for the program’s first major bowl win since 1935. Before coming to Tulane, Fritz was a college head coach on almost every level, winning a pair of NJCAA national championships at Blinn (Texas) College in 1995 and 1996 before coaching at NCAA Division II Central Missouri then stints at FCS Sam Houston State and FBS Georgia Southern before making his way to Tulane.
Fritz signed a 5-year, $ 22.5 million contract at Houston in Dec. 2023 and takes over for Dana Holgorsen, who was fired after Houston had a losing record in their first season in the Big 12 in 2023.
