Brennan Marion rides into town, cowboy hat and all, as Sacramento State’s new football coach
Brennan Marion rode into town, the state capital, on a jet, though he would argue that it was actually Cloud 9, and he arrived in Sacramento State as the new football coach before Christmas wearing his trademark cowboy hat and look of cool and calm.
On Wednesday afternoon at the campus welcome center, Marion was introduced in a news conference as the 13th coach in the 70-year history of the Hornets program. He brought his full arsenal of charm, football knowledge and the lasting benefits of relationships with players, and players with their studies and their community.
A man who was humbled by hard lessons growing up in Pennsylvania, including working odd jobs to help raise money for his family, then enduring nights as a junior college player in the Bay Area where he wondered where his next meal and bed would come from, and then later having his NFL dreams crushed after shredding his left knee three times, Marion beamed in his moment. He had formally arrived.
Dressed in a gray suit with a green Hornets shirt and topped by his broad, brown lid, Marion was jovial, reflective and deeply appreciative that, at age 37, he was a head college football coach for the first time. A fast-riser in the sport as an innovative mind who created the prolific and unique “Go-Go” offense, Marion was a hot coaching name in a business big on results and change.
He said Wednesday that he was offered jobs by other college programs to join them with four games remaining at UNLV in 2024, where as offensive coordinator, he left his finger prints on the program’s best season in 40 years. None of those other coaching gigs felt right, Marion said. This one did.
Marion was sold on the vision presented by Sacramento State President Luke Wood and athletic director Mark Orr. They visited Marion in Las Vegas, talked shop, and soon were on the same page on how to reboot the program and to bound into a promising new future.
Marion saw the same things as his bosses, of how to navigate the new college football landscape that is now big on the transfer portal and NIL — athletes getting compensated for their name, image and likeness. Marion has already signed more than a dozen players through the transfer portal.
What’s more, Sacramento State’s plans to replace Hornet Stadium, a fixture on the J Street campus since 1969, with a state-of-the-art 25,000-seat stadium with long term goals of moving to the higher-level FBS level by 2028.
“I’m so excited to be here, what we can do,” Marion said. “I knew at 5 years old that I wanted to be in football. I was a football nerd. I created playbooks, and I love football, the game, and everything that comes with it, people coming together, player relationships, bringing people together. I talk about how one great year can change your life forever, and we don’t see adversity, we see opportunity.”
Marion offered appreciation to Troy Taylor, the Sacramento product who elevated the football program as head coach upon his arrival in 2019, leading to Big Sky Conference championships in 2019, 2021 and 2022 before he accepted the Stanford head coaching gig. The Hornets reached the FCS playoffs in 2023 under coach Andy Thompson, then suffered a three-win season in 2024 amid a crush of injuries and late-game losses. Thompson after the season resigned to rejoin Taylor at Stanford.
Then the search was on. Wood on Wednesday called Marion “the best coach in the country.”
Wood and Orr listened intently as Marion spoke in front a packed room of faculty, staffers and media. He shared that he was impressed with Wood after speaking to him and then seeing how spirited the president was during graduation ceremonies, including sharing a video clip with recruits.
“It’s fun here!” Marion declared.
History of the cowboy hat
About the cowboy hat, coach? How does that work for a kid who grew up surrounded by strip malls and traffic?
“I had a ranch in Pennsylvania, and I always wanted a ranch,” Marion said with a smile. “I grew up in the city, but in the summer, I went to see my grandma, and we got water from a well, use the outhouse, and I had my Huck Finn experience. I’m a little country and a little city.”
When he was an assistant coach in 2022 at the University of Texas, Marion met Longhorns super fan and actor Matthew McConaughey, who dabbles in cowboy hats and wears them at Longhorns games.
“I knew I needed one,” Marion said with a laugh.
Marion said his “Go-Go” offense has old-school values of running the ball with a fullback and “throwing the ball over the top of people” in the passing game. He has connected with returning Hornets quarterback Carson Conklin, who earned Freshman All-American honors in 2024.
“He told me right away, ‘Coach, we’ve got to work on recruiting,’” Marion recalled. “A week or so later, I texted him, ‘Are we recruiting good enough for you?’ He texted back, ‘Yeah, coach! You got it.’”
Marion has brought in an army of new coaches but retained longtime offensive line coach Kris Richardson, and previous offensive coordinator Bobby Fresques will now work in alumni relations as a Hornets graduate.
Marion called Richardson “The Mayor” and Fresques “the Mayor of Sac State.” The rest of his staff, men who coached at all levels and all across the country, are, as Marion described, “good men who are about serving young men and winning, guys who are low on ego and high on player development.”
This story was originally published January 8, 2025 at 2:58 PM.