By Larry Hicks | Special to The OBSERVER
New Sacramento State football coach Brennan Marion strode into his introductory press conference with his wife Madison at his side Wednesday afternoon.
He wore a medium-grey suit over a buttoned-up Hornet-green polo shirt. An eye-catching brown cowboy hat made of beaver felt atop his approximately 6-foot-1 frame completed this ensemble.
“I’m a little bit country; a little bit city,” Marion, the 13th head coach in school history, said to assembled media. He got serious about styling when he was an assistant coach at the University of Texas.
The brim and the jacket – with “A Cowboy” stenciled near the lapel – might have been symbolic of a hero arriving to rescue a program in distress.
Marion, though, made it clear that is not the case.
“I’m excited to be here,” said Marion, thanking God. “I’m thankful to (Sac State) President (Luke) Wood and Athletics Director Mark Orr. They came and treated me first class; came out to Vegas to see me. I knew they were serious about taking football to the next level because of the way that they presented themselves to me and in presenting me with this opportunity.”
With the hire, Marion becomes the first Black head football coach in Sacramento State history.
Marion gave a nod to former Hornets head coach Troy Taylor, now leading Stanford, for resuscitating a once mediocre program, leading it to three Big Sky Conference championships.
“There’s a football tradition here, where people really love football,” said Marion, most recently the offensive coordinator at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. “Great football players. I know we can have a really good program here.
“I got to give it up to coach Troy for what he built, winning three championships, so obviously we’re not too far off the mark.”
Marion replaces Andy Thompson, formerly the team’s defensive coordinator, who resigned after two seasons at the top job, including a disappointing 3-9 campaign this season. Excluding 2024, the Hornets had compiled a 38-13 record since 2019 under Taylor and Thompson.
Marion, 37, will be among the youngest head coaches in college football.
He is known as an offensive innovator, having engineered an attack called the “Go-Go.” He helped UNLV win 11 games this past season, including a victory over Cal in the L.A. Bowl in December. He was not present for the finale as he was finalizing his deal to come to Sacramento.
Wednesday, he vowed to bring the same exciting brand of football to Sacramento.
“We’re going to be really exciting,” he said. “Explosive. A lot of big plays. We’re going to be a run-the-ball football team. We use a fullback. Old school. Make football great again,” he quipped to laughter in the room. “We’re going to really run the ball and throw it over people’s heads a lot. That’s what we’re into. On defense we’re going to be about takeaways. Sacks. Standing up with our fist up and get off the field. We’ll put the best players on special teams.”
Marion earned Mountain West Wire coordinator of the year honors and was a nominee for the prestigious Broyles Award in his first season at UNLV. The initial results with the Rebels were stunning: a school-record six games scoring 40-plus points, including four consecutively; and at least 24 points in a school-record 10 straight games and record 12 overall.
Marion comes to Sacramento during ambitious times for the university as Sac State officials and regional leaders have worked to move the Sac State athletics program to a rebuilding Pac-12 Conference as a Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, or FBS, school – the highest level of college football. The Hornets, in the FCS, are a rung below.
He’s hit the ground running on recruiting, adding 28 new players through the college football transfer portal, community colleges and high schools.
Though he grew up in Pennsylvania, Marion is no stranger to California. He played junior college football at De Anza College in Cupertino, earning all-America honors as a receiver before moving on to the University of Tulsa in Oklahoma. He had brief stints in the NFL and Canadian Football League. His first head-coaching job was at Saint Patrick-Saint Vincent High School in Vallejo in 2013.
He has been an assistant coach at major colleges, including Texas, and Pittsburgh.
“We are very excited about everything that is happening right now with our athletics program, and particularly with football,” Dr. Wood said. “In my opinion we just hired the best coach in the country and Sacramento State is on the rise.”
Though he didn’t drop any names, there were coaching offers to Marion from other schools, Wood said. But the potential of the Hornets’ program, the team’s success on the field in recent years and school administration’s support of athletics generally, sold him on Sacramento.
“This is a place where I can really be myself,” Marion said. “Wear my cowboy hat and be myself. There’s a football tradition here, where people really love football. Great football players. I know we can have a really good program here.”