Stardom, homelessness and heartache paved Brennan Marion’s path as Sacramento State’s coach
When Brennan Marion was in the eighth grade, growing up in Pennsylvania, he had visions of becoming a basketball star.
He wanted to score buckets in abundance, to defend with purpose, snarling as he hustled to get the ball, and he dreamed of playing at a big-name college on scholarship. His mother, Rochelle, did not share that vision.
“There’s no one who loves football more than my mom,” said Marion, Sacramento State’s freshly named head football coach in a phone interview, laughter punctuating his point. “I thought I was a hooper, a basketball guy. She said, ‘You get out of my house if you don’t like football!’ She’s one tough lady.”
The son turned to football, a sport he liked and quickly grew to love, and football provided a boy eager to excel with opportunities, and it set in motion his remarkable, cross-country journey. Marion has lived. He has endured heartache and homelessness, a wrecked knee that ended his football dreams.
His roots included gun violence in the neighborhood, selling flowers and washing cars as a fifth- and sixth-grader to help raise money for the family. He arrived in the Bay Area as an 18-year-old in search of himself and a football future, and ligament surgeries that led him to a well-traveled coaching career with his latest stop in Sacramento.
He plans to stick around a good long while.
Marion has experienced living out of a suitcase, moving often as a child in an unsettled home, and there were bouts of depression, he said. He lost his beloved grandmother when he was in high school, and he clung to sports as an outlet. There were days as a college player in the Bay Area, where Marion wondered where his next meal and next bed would be.
Marion — always a big-picture thinker — understood that he had two choices: Buckle down or buckle completely. He buckled down, determined to find a way.
At 37, Marion is a head college coach for the first time. He said that his path to Sacramento State would not have happened if not for the experiences that hardened and humbled him.
“I never thought I’d be a college coach or if I wanted to, and I hit roadblocks in life,” Marion said. “Everything is relationship based. I’ve learned that you have to give your best, every single day. That’s all you can do. That’s why I have such a good rapport with people across the country.
“I’m consistent: I show up every day as me and I give people the same energy every day. I hold myself accountable more than anyone. You learn from your experiences.”
Marion’s NorCal connections
Connections have helped Marion along his path. He arrived in the Bay Area to play junior college football because he knew someone who knew someone. He played one season at receiver at Foothill College in Los Altos Hills in 2006, then transferred to De Anza College in Cupertino, where he made the dean’s list for academics and earned JC All-American honors in 2007.
The easy parts were the games and his studies. The challenges were getting by, of simple everyday living. The goal was always to find a pillow, a blanket and place to sack out. JC football offers opportunities on the field but not always a sure thing off of it.
“It wasn’t easy in those days,” Marion said. “We had to survive. Some of my teammates, we spent nights in the locker room, stayed at the houses of other players, slept on buses. We piled into a car in a church parking lot. One night, we slept in the press box, or we slept outside, or the hallway of the school. You find a way.”
Still, Marion said he is deeply appreciative of the junior college system. As a college coach, he can relate to the JC student-athlete — the overlooked, still developing and growing, emotionally and physically. He was all of those things, and he emerged the better for it.
“I am forever indebted to JuCo football,” Marion said. “It’s a different mentality. You have to want to make it, a hunger, to be a dog.”
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Marion landed a scholarship to the University of Tulsa in Oklahoma, where his ascent continued. He became a star, quick, explosive with good hands and a high football IQ. In 2007, Marion’s 31.9 yards-per-catch average set an NCAA record. Over two seasons, he caught 82 passes for 2,356 yards and 19 touchdowns. NFL scouts took notice, but fortune was not on Marion’s side.
In the 2008 Conference USA Championship game against East Carolina, Marion tore his left ACL, a knee ligament. It happened on the last offensive play of the game. He went undrafted but signed as a rookie free agent with the Miami Dolphins. Then another blow: He tore the same ligament in training camp.
After grueling rehabilitation, Marion signed with a team in the Canadian Football League but shredded that same ligament. While in the doctor’s office to hear of the severity of his latest setback, Marion fielded a call from the Dallas Cowboys looking to sign him.
“Crushed me,” Marion said of his wrecked knee.
If he couldn’t play for a living, Marion knew he could coach.
Coaching start in the Bay
The Bay Area is where Marion got his college playing start and it is where he got his coaching start, and it is where he had two of his three children with his first wife. The allure of the Sacramento State post didn’t just include rebooting a Hornets program that won Big Sky Conference championships in 2019, 2021 and 2022 with an FCS playoff berth in 2023 before an injury-riddled season led to a three-win campaign in 2024. It included being closer to two of his kids.
Marion remarried early in December to Maddy Lynn.
As an assistant coach in 2010 at James Logan High in Union City in Alameda County, Marion was moved by the plight of players who had endured broken homes and uncertain futures. They needed coaching mentorship, a role model, some hope and guidance. As bad as he had it growing up and in college, Marion especially felt for these student-athletes.
“It made me get my life together,” Marion said. “I knew I could help kids, serve kids.”
At 25, Marion accepted the head coaching job at St. Patrick-St. Vincent High School in Vallejo in 2013, and he turned a program that went 1-9 into a playoff team. In 2014, Marion headed home to Pennsylvania to become head coach at Waynesboro Area Senior High School, a few minutes north of Hagerstown, Maryland The team went from 0-10 the year before his arrival to producing the program’s first winning season since 1992.
It was at Waynesboro where Marion started to inject elements of his “Go-Go” offense, a high-tempo scheme with run-and-pass elements that set the college scene on fire at all of his stops. This includes the last two seasons at UNLV where, as offensive coordinator, Marion saw the record-setting Running Rebels produce their best season in 40 years.
Marion’s first college gig was in 2017 as offensive coordinator at Howard University in Washington, D.C. In a season opener, the “Go-Go” offense led to a 43-40 stunner over UNLV, which came in as 45-point favorites. Job offers kept coming. Marion had stops at William & Mary as offensive coordinator, at Hawaii as receivers coach, at Pittsburgh as receivers coach, at Texas as passing game coordinator, at UNLV and now with Sacramento State.
“I’m not afraid to work,” Marion said. “I am thrilled to be at Sac State. We can do so many great things.”
Sacramento State athletic director Mark Orr and school president Luke Wood agreed. This was their guy nearly from the start.
Orr met with Marion in Las Vegas, a short lunch turning into a long one. The men compared knee surgery stories and ideas. Wood was similarly impressed with Marion, saying after his hire became official: “(Marion) is the most brilliant offensive coordinator in the nation. Sacramento State will be dominant next season.”
Said Orr to The Bee on Monday: “Brennan’s journey is impressive, and like a lot of students that we represent at Sacramento State, nothing was given to him, and he didn’t have a silver spoon his whole life. He had to work and earn everything, from his JuCo time to coaching. His vision, his work ethic, his ability to relate to student-athletes, it fits everything we needed and wanted in a football coach.
“We’re going to be fine. This isn’t a rebuild job. It’s a new start, and having coach Marion is tremendous for our school and the community.”
Marion will recruit Sacramento hard
Marion has hit the ground running since his hiring became official Dec. 20. He retained offensive line coach Kris Richardson, a household name in Sacramento coaching circles from his years as head coach at Folsom High School, and he has brought in an army of new assistant coaches.
Richardson said he was “thrilled” to remain on staff and to work with Marion.
Marion has received commitments from players from the transfer portal, some of them three or four-star recruits.
“I like to tell recruits that I can help change your life in one year, and we play a fun offense, and you can earn a degree to prepare for the rest of your life,” Marion said.
Marion took the Sacramento State gig despite opportunities to remain in the higher-level FBS as an offensive coordinator.
“I’m the one who won in this situation,” Marion said. “We both won, actually. We have a fast car here at Sac State, and it broke down, and it needs a couple of things to get better — new brakes, new tires, some things under the hood. We’ll be back on the road rolling in no time.”
Marion said he would recruit the state hard, including the capital region’s fertile base of prospects.
“We’re going to plant our flag in Sacramento and visit the local high schools,” Marion said. “I know about (Northern California powerhouse) Folsom High School. We want their best players, the big names. I saw the blueprint and plan, and loved it because I’ve lived it. We can take this as far as we want. That’s my job. I bet on myself before and found a way.”
Marion thinks of his mother, now living in Florida, and he thinks of his grandmother, Charlene, whom he lost when he was 15.
“My grandmother, she literally took care of everyone, ran the church, the bowling league, had the respect of everyone, and she treated everyone right, so that inspires me and that stays with me,” Marion said.
What they’re saying about Marion
A sample of what college coaches across the country have said about Marion since his Hornets hire, as compiled by Sacramento State sports information:
▪ “Coach Marion is a star in the profession. His experiences will put the program on the fast track for great success.” — Barry Odom, head coach Purdue (and UNLV’s head coach when Marion worked there as offensive coordinator.
▪ “I am thrilled. From coaching him in college, it was clear he had something special about him. He is a rising star in our profession and I look forward to following his continued success in Sacramento.” — Gus Malzahn, offensive coordinator at Florida State
▪ “I have had the privilege to see Brennan Marion grow and develop to be one of the best offensive minds in the game today. His experience at all levels of football has led him to this awesome opportunity.” — Mike London, head coach, William & Mary
▪ “Big congratulations to Brennan Marion and Sac State. I’m very excited for all of Northern California. Sac State just hired one of the most brilliant offensive minds in football. His Go-Go offense has changed the way teams look at every position on the field. Brennan is one of the top recruiters in the country. I know he will bring some of the best recruiters, teachers and developers in football. What a time for Northern California college football to bring back one of their own.” — Maurice Jones-Drew, former NFL running back and current NFL analyst and De La Salle High School assistant coach.
This story was originally published December 31, 2024 at 5:00 AM.