Following the San Jose State football team’s historic season, head coach Brent Brennan was awarded the Lombardi Foundation’s 2020 College Football Coach of the Year last week.
“[I’m] so excited for coach Brennan to be recognized,” SJSU Athletic Director Marie Tuite said in a Zoom news conference Thursday. “And in true coach by fashion, he sort of points the finger at everyone else and gives everyone else credit for the heavy lifts but no doubt about it, he leads his football program and we’re incredibly, incredibly proud of this accomplishment.”
The Lombardi Foundation is a football award named after Vincent Lombardi, an iconic figure in the football world who coached in the NFL from 1954-69.
The award was announced on Feb. 17 at the second annual Annual Family Offices and Professional Athletes Unite for Impact online event.
Brennan was one of four finalists for the award, with other coaches from the Indiana Hoosiers, Iowa State University and Coastal Carolina football team.
After an almost perfect season by the Spartan football team under Brennan’s leadership, along with his 2020 Mountain West Coach of the Year honor, winning this award seemed like the next logical step.
The team faced several obstacles last season including the coronavirus pandemic and California wildfires. SJSU players also dealt with personal perspectives about the Black Lives Matter movement after it was reinvigorated in the summer.
Brennan encouraged players to express their feelings and opinions as a team which led to several other social justice actions within the athletic department.
Lawrence Fan, associate athletics director for football communications and special projects, said he understood this past season’s hardships and how they were handled made Brennan stand out more than other candidates.
“It was more than just football and coach Lombardi stood for good leadership,” Fan said in a phone interview.
Brennan is the first SJSU football coach to be named national coach of the year in the school’s history, according to the SJSU athletics website.
“You don’t get these awards or you don’t get this kind of recognition without the people you work with lifting you up,” Brennan said. “I really believe that and I think this is an absolute
proof of that or validation of that thought process.”
He is also the first Spartan head coach to win a national coaching award since 1992, as well as the first Mountain West football coach to be named coach of the year since 2009, according to SJSU athletics.
“I love where we’re headed with this program and we’re not done, we’re gonna keep having fun and keep working hard and keep climbing the mountain,” Brennan said.
