He brought the Eagles to a pair of conference championship games and a title in his first season (2013-14), earning Patriot League Coach of the Year honors while being a finalist for both the national Joe B. Hall (first-year head coach) and Hugh Durham (mid-major head coach) Awards. He finished his time at American with a 125-166 mark, with his 125 overall wins ranking third in school history and his 75 Patriot League victories standing second.

Brennan, who spent the past year serving as an assistant coach at Loyola (Md.), moved back across town to American following four seasons as assistant coach under John Thompson III (2009-13). The Hoyas won 93 games in his four seasons with NCAA bids each year, twice earning top three seeds and sharing the Big East regular season title in 2013. He had been an assistant at American (2007-09) following seven years at his alma mater, Princeton (2000-07). Those American teams won back-to-back regular season and tournament titles in the Patriot League and advanced to the program's first-ever NCAA Tournament in 2008. The Princeton squads claimed three Ivy titles (2001, 2002, 2004), making a pair of NCAA Tournament (2001, 2004) appearances and an NIT bid (2002). He began his career as a volunteer assistant coach at Ivy rival Columbia before embarking on a professional basketball career in Germany, Belgium and Portugal.

A four-year starter under Pete Carril at Princeton, he led the Tigers to a pair of NCAA Tournaments (1991, 1992) and was an All-Ivy League second team pick as a senior. He graduated in 1994 with a degree in English and played professionally in Germany, Belgium and Portugal before settling in to a career in coaching.

Updated May 2024