Brennan Marion

Last updated

Brennan Marion
Current position
TitleOffensive coordinator
Team UNLV
Conference MWC
Biographical details
Born (1987-08-25) August 25, 1987 (age 37)
Hampton, Virginia, U.S.
Alma mater University of Tulsa
Playing career
2005 Foothill
2006 De Anza
2007–2008 Tulsa
2009 Miami Dolphins*
Position(s) Wide Receiver
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
2011 West Valley (WR)
2012 Harker School (CA) (WR)
2013 St. Patrick-St. Vincent HS (CA)
2014 Waynesboro Area HS (PA)
2015 Arizona State (OQC)
2016 Oklahoma Baptist (RB)
2017–2018 Howard (OC/QB)
2019 William & Mary (OC/QB)
2020 Hawaii (WR)
2021 Pittsburgh (WR)
2022 Texas (PGC/WR)
2023–present UNLV (OC/QB)
Head coaching record
Overall11–10
Accomplishments and honors
Awards
As a player
  • C-USA Newcomer of the Year (2007)
  • First-team All-C-USA (2008)
  • Second-team All-C-USA (2007)

Brennan Randall Marion (born August 25, 1987) is an American football coach and former player. He is the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at University of Nevada, Las Vegas, a position he has held since 2023. He was signed by the Miami Dolphins as an undrafted free agent in 2009, but never played in an official game. He played college football for Foothill, De Anza, and Tulsa. He set the single-season NCAA FBS yards-per-catch record in a single season at 31.9 and finished as the NCAA career leader at 28.7 yards-per-catch. He had back-to-back 1,000-yard receiving seasons.

Contents

High school

Marion started high school at Steel Valley, in Homestead, PA. Marion was a four-year letter winner in football, basketball, and track at Greensburg-Salem High School in Greensburg, Pennsylvania. As a senior, Marion had 23 receptions for 400 yards and four touchdowns. However, his only scholarship offer was a partial scholarship to Temple, and because of his low SAT scores, he decided to attend junior college.

College career

Junior college

Marion began his college career at Foothill College, where he played one season as a tight end and halfback. After 2005, Marion transferred from Foothill to De Anza College in Cupertino, California, where he led all California junior college receivers with 1,196 yards and 16 touchdowns. Switching from a blocking role at Foothill to a primary receiving role at De Anza, Marion earned junior college All-America honors.

Tulsa

In his first season at Tulsa, Marion led the nation in yards per reception at 31.9, breaking an FBS record in the process. Marion finished the season with 39 receptions for 1,244 yards and 11 touchdowns and was named Conference USA Newcomer of the Year. He was a second-team All-Conference USA selection and was part of just the third team in FBS history to have three 1,000-yard receivers.

As a senior, Marion played 13 games, finishing with 43 receptions for 1,112 yards and eight touchdowns. He earned first-team All-Conference USA honors, leading the nation in yards per reception for the second consecutive season. However, he suffered a torn left ACL on Tulsa's final offensive play of the Conference USA Championship Game, forcing him to miss the GMAC Bowl and any postseason all-star games.

Marion finished his FBS career averaging 28.7 yards per reception on 83 catches. That broke Wesley Walker's record for average per reception for a player with at least 75 career receptions.

Statistics

SeasonGamesReceiving
GPGSRecYardsAvgTD
De Anza Dons (JuCo)
200610—601,19619.915
Tulsa Golden Hurricane
2007 146391,24431.911
2008 1313431,11225.98
Career (NCAA) [1] 2719822,35628.719

Professional career

Due to his knee injury, Marion attended the 2009 NFL scouting combine but did not participate. He went undrafted in the 2009 NFL draft, but signed a free agent contract with the Miami Dolphins. During training camp, Marion re-tore his ACL in his left knee. He was placed on injured reserve on August 4, 2009.

Coaching

Marion was the head coach of Saint Patrick Saint Vincent in Vallejo, California in 2013. In his first year, he led the Bruins to a first-round home playoff loss, just one year after the team finished with a 1–9 record. Marion resigned and moved to Pennsylvania to take another head coaching position at Waynesboro Area Senior High School in 2014. He led the Indians to their first winning season and divisional title in 22 years. His Indians also won 'Team of the Year' as selected by WHAG-TV.

During Marion's tenure at Waynesboro High School, he developed the GoGo offense, which incorporates principles of old-school triple-option offenses with modern spread concepts. [2]

Brennan was a quality control coach for Arizona State in 2015. In 2016, he was a running back coach at Oklahoma Baptist University, then served as Howard University's offensive coordinator in 2017 and 2018. In his first game as Howard's offensive coordinator, Marion's offense helped the FCS Bison defeat UNLV on September 13, 2017. [3] The win by the 45-point underdog Bison was the largest point-spread upset in college football history. [4] In 2019, he followed head coach Mike London from Howard over to the College of William and Mary where he began serving as offensive coordinator. Marion resigned from his position at William & Mary to serve as the wide receivers coach on Todd Graham's inaugural staff at Hawaii for the 2020 season. [5] On February 15, 2021, Marion joined the staff at Pittsburgh as the wide receivers coach.

On December 31, 2021, Marion was named passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach at the University of Texas at Austin. [6] [7]

Southern Miss Fan Campaign

In 2024, after the University of Southern Mississippi (Southern Miss) fired head football coach Will Hall after a 1-6 start to the season, a grassroots movement of Southern Miss fans emerged to rally for Brennan Marion to become the next head coach. Southern Miss fans, recognizing his potential fit and the potential for his innovative "Go-Go" offense to revitalize their program, began a campaign advocating for his hire.

Supporters organized an online campaign using hashtags like "#GoGoGoldenEagles" and "#GoGoGold," creatively tying the school's colors and Golden Eagles mascot to Marion's signature "Go-Go" offensive scheme. As a further show of support, fans purchased and wore white cowboy hats—a signature item of Marion’s style—to the first home game after Hall’s departure (a 37-3 loss to Marshall University). [8] This symbolic gesture became a rallying point, with fans hoping to signal to Director of Athletics, Jeremy McLain, and the rest of the university administration their enthusiasm for Marion as the next leader of the Golden Eagles football team. The social media and in-person demonstrations drew attention locally and beyond, underscoring fan commitment to seeing Brennan Marion at the helm.

Head coaching record

YearTeamOverallConferenceStandingBowl/playoffs
St. Patrick-St. Vincent Bruins ()(2013)
2013St. Patrick-St. Vincent5–63–34th
St. Patrick-St. Vincent:5–63–3
Waynesboro Area Indians ()(2014)
2014Waynesboro Area6–46–11st
Waynesboro Area:6–46–1
Total:11–10
      National championship        Conference title        Conference division title or championship game berth

See also

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References

  1. ↑ "Brennan Marion College Stats". Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved December 7, 2023.
  2. ↑ "You should know Brennan Marion and his unique GoGo offense. The smartest coaches in football already do". For The Win. September 17, 2020. Retrieved December 7, 2021.
  3. ↑ "Brennan Marion's GoGo offense led to college football's biggest upset. Now it's here to help Pitt". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved December 7, 2021.
  4. ↑ "Howard (+45) pulls CFB's biggest upset ever". ESPN.com. September 3, 2017. Retrieved December 7, 2021.
  5. ↑ "Brennan Marion, Greensburg Salem alum, to coach wide receivers at Hawaii". TribLive. February 11, 2020. Retrieved October 12, 2020.
  6. ↑ "Pitt wide receivers coach Brennan Marion joining Texas in same role". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved January 1, 2022.
  7. ↑ Eberts, Wescott (December 31, 2021). "Texas announces hire of Pittsburgh WR coach Brennan Marion". Burnt Orange Nation. Retrieved January 1, 2022.
  8. ↑ "Southern Miss drops 7th straight after suffering 37-3 loss to Marshall". HubCitySPOKES. Retrieved November 14, 2024.
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