Jedd Fisch is out and Brent Brennan is in.

A coaching change in Tucson, Arizona — at a basketball school, no less — used to not mean all that much in these parts. But with Fisch ditching the desert for the Evergreen State, OSU’s path toward a 2024 Big 12 Championship just widened.

Nick Saban did Mike Gundy and the Cowboys an inadvertent solid.

Saban, of course, retired from Alabama. The Crimson Tide hired Washington’s Kalen DeBoer to replace the GOAT. Washington then plucked Fisch from Arizona, just as Fisch had the Wildcats hunting.

OU knows all about Arizona’s emergence. The Wildcats beat the Sooners 38-24 in the Alamo Bowl, an exclamation point on a 10-3 season in which Arizona went 7-2 in the Pac-12. In his three years at Arizona, Fisch went from one win, to five wins, to 10 wins — the fourth 10-win season in program history and first since 2014.

Prior to Fisch’s departure, the Wildcats were seen as a contender, perhaps the favorite, to win the Big 12 next season in their inaugural campaign. In ESPN’s way-too-early top-25 for 2024, Arizona was the top-ranked Big 12 team at No. 9, followed by No. 13 Utah, No. 18 OSU, No. 21 Kansas State and No. 23 Kansas.

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Who knows how things will shake out, but an OSU team that already avoided Arizona on its regular-season schedule might not have to worry about the Wildcats at all. Granted, it’s mid-January and who knows how good anybody is going to be 10 months from now.

Fisch, who signed a seven-year, $54 million contract with Washington, is bringing nine assistants, including his entire offensive staff, with him to Washington, The Athletic reported. That includes offensive coordinator Brennan Carroll, the son of former Seahawks coach Pete Carroll.

As a result of Fisch’s departure, Arizona players have a 30-day window to enter the transfer portal. Some might follow Fisch to Washington. Others could go elsewhere.

Quarterback Noah Fifita, who looks like a budding star, is the swing piece here. And here’s a glimmer of hope for Wildcats fans: CBS Sports’ Dennis Dodd reported Tuesday that he’s hearing Fifita is staying at Arizona. Not only that, but Tetairoa McMillan, Fifita’s top receiver, could also stick around.

File both in the believe-it-when-we-see-it-folder.

In Arizona’s Alamo Bowl win against OU, Fifita went 24-of-38 passing for 354 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. McMillan had 10 catches for 160 yards. Fifita is a rising sophomore. McMillan is set to be a junior.

The tandem will be/could’ve been a problem in the Big 12.

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We’ll see if Brennan, the cousin of the late Colt Brennan, can stabilize things in Tucson in the wake of Fisch’s exit.

Brent Brennnan, a 50-year-old San Jose native, spent the past seven seasons as San Jose State’s head coach. The Spartans went 34-48 overall and 25-30 in Mountain West play in Brennan’s tenure.

But Brennan had San Jose State on the upswing. The Spartans went 3-22 in Brennan’s first two seasons. He then guided them to three bowl appearances over the next five seasons.

Brennan, a graduate assistant at Arizona in 2000, has spent his entire career out west, with stops at Hawaii, Washington and Oregon State.

Brennan, along with Houston’s Willie Fritz, is one of two Big 12 coaches entering their first season with their new program. Gundy, meanwhile, is about to enter Year 20 as OSU’s head coach.

After a tumultuous 2023 offseason, things have been remarkably stable in Stillwater. Most of OSU’s starters, including superstar running back Ollie Gordon II, are returning, looking to build off a 10-4 season that ended with a Texas Bowl win.

“The large majority of the players on this team that have a chance to come back have said they want to come back,” Gundy said after the Texas Bowl. “I think they like the chemistry of the team, they like competing with each other against whoever we’re playing. And they feel like we can make a really good run next year.”

Perhaps a College Football Playoff run, especially given the expanded 12-team format.

One of the teams that figured to stand in OSU’s way has been weakened. Arizona’s loss is a short-term win for the rest of the Big 12.

Joe Mussatto is a sports columnist for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Joe? Email him at jmussatto@oklahoman.com. Support Joe's work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.

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This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Arizona's losing Jedd Fisch is win for Oklahoma State, Big 12 for 2024