Arizona football coaching updates: Who's coming in, and who's going to Washington?

Hired by Arizona

Cullen Carroll, no relation to either Pete or Brennan, was hired as Arizona's Director of Football Strength and Conditioning, per Jason Scheer of 247Sports. Formal titles aside, Cullen has been a strength and conditioning coach for five seasons, with his first position of the nature coming under David Shaw at Stanford from 2019-22. He joined Brennan's staff for the 2023 season at San José State and will be following him to Arizona.

Not only was Duane Akina — a target for Brennan since the jump — retained, but he was promoted to defensive coordinator, per Jason Scheer of 247Sports. Akina was a senior defensive analyst for the 2023 season before reportedly following Johnny Nansen to Texas. However, he appeared on the court during the now-famous "Unfinished Business" announcement and has confirmed a return on Twitter.

Carter has been with San José State since Brennan was named their head coach in 2017. While with the Spartans, he was the running backs coach, assistant head coach, and their recruiting coordinator. With the recent news breaking of former Navy head coach Ken Niumatalolo being named the new San José State coach instead of Carter, he will be joining the staff at Arizona, per Jason Scheer of 247Sports. The hire opens the door up for a potential (but unlikely) return from Jonah Coleman — San José State was in Coleman's top six coming out of high school and Carter was the one recruiting him.

Adkins has been coaching tight ends in some capacity under Brennan since 2017, and he'll be joining the Arizona staff as the tight ends positional coach in 2024, per Troy Hutchinson of Rivals. Notable tight ends from recent years out of San José State to be coached by Adkins are Josh Oliver (2017-18) and Derrick Deese Jr. (2018-21).

Former San José State offensive line coach Josh Oglesby will be joining the Arizona coaching staff with the coach who gave him his first NCAA positional coaching job, per Jason Scheer of 247Sports. San José State's offensive line was pivotal in running back Kairee Robinson's near-1200-yard and 18-touchdown season in 2023.

Seumalo, who's being hired as Arizona's defensive line coach per Jason Scheer of 247Sports, has a long history with Brennan. Seumalo played under Dick Tomey for two years at Hawaii from 1985-86 and was the defensive line coach under Tomey at San José State in 2005 when Brennan was on the coaching staff. He joined Brennan's staff in 2017 at San José State as the defensive line coach and will be working alongside Ricky Hunley.

Wade, who sits atop the list of all-time receiving yards by an Arizona player, is returning to his alma mater to coach the position he played, per Brandon Marcello of 247Sports. After a stint in the NFL, Wade took a graduate assistant position with Arizona State in 2019. After four seasons as a grad assistant, wide receivers coach, or a senior offensive analyst in Tempe, Wade will return to Tucson and give Tetairoa McMillan a shot at breaking the record Wade himself set.

Thienes, who spent seven seasons with San Jose State and three as the Associate Athletic Director for Football Operations, is set to follow Brennan to Arizona. He has been the Spartans' director of football operations since January 2017, the same year Brennan took over at San José State. Considering his background, he will likely work less in a coaching capacity and more in an operational capacity.

Brennan, who interviewed for the job when it was open back in 2020, finally got it the second time around. He spent seven seasons at the helm for San José State and led them to three 7-win seasons and three bowl game appearances in the last four years. He was a graduate assistant under Dick Tomey in 2000 and on Tomey's San José State coaching staff from 2005-09.