Brennan Randall Marion (born August 25, 1987) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

coach and former

wide receiver who is currently the offensive coordinator at

UNLV The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a public land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the University of Nevada from 1957 to 1969. It includes the S ...

. He was signed by the

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team pla ...

as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

in 2009. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Tulsa Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the U.S. state, state of Oklahoma and List of United States cities by population, 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. ...

and two junior colleges. At 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. After playing four seasons of college football at three different schools, Marion was eligible to be selected in the 2009 NFL Draft, but went undrafted.

Prep career

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 low SAT scores, he decided to attend junior college.

Junior college career

Marion began his college career at

Foothill College Foothill College is a public community college in Los Altos Hills, California. It is part of the Foothill–De Anza Community College District. It was founded on January 15, 1957, and offers 79 Associate degree programs, 1 Bachelor's degree pr ...

, 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 career

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.

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 The 2009 NFL Draft was the seventy-fourth annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players. The draft took place at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, New York, on April 25 and 26, 2009. T ...

, but signed a free agent contract with the

. 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 The Waynesboro Area Senior High School is a midsized, suburban public high school located in Franklin County, Pennsylvania. It is the sole high school operated by the Waynesboro Area School District. It serves the boroughs of Waynesboro and Mon ...

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. In his first game as Howard's offensive coordinator, Marion's offense helped the FCS Bison defeat UNLV on September 13, 2017. The win by the 45-point underdog Bison was the largest point-spread upset in college football history. Brennan was a quality control coach for Arizona State in 2015 & in 2016 was a running back coach at Oklahoma Baptist University, then served as Howard University's offensive coordinator in 2017 and 2018. In 2019, he followed head coach

Mike London Michael Wilson London Sr. (born October 9, 1960) is the current head football coach for the William & Mary Tribe football program at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. He is a former defensive back and associate head coac ...

from Howard over to the

College of William and Mary The College of William & Mary (officially The College of William and Mary in Virginia, abbreviated as William & Mary, W&M) is a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia. Founded in 1693 by letters patent issued by King William III a ...

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 Michael Todd Graham (born December 5, 1964) is an American football coach and former player. He was most recently the head football coach at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (2020–2021). Graham has served as the head football coach at Rice ...

's inaugural staff at

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

for the 2020 season. On February 15, 2021, Marion joined the staff at

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

as the wide receivers coach. On December 31, 2021, Marion was named passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach at the University of Texas.

References

External links

William & Mary Tribe bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marion, Brennan 1987 births Living people American football wide receivers Arizona State Sun Devils football coaches De Anza Dons football players Hawaii Rainbow Warriors football coaches Howard Bison football coaches Miami Dolphins players Oklahoma Baptist Bison football coaches People from Greensburg, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh Panthers football coaches Players of American football from Pennsylvania Texas Longhorns football coaches Tulsa Golden Hurricane football players West Valley Vikings football coaches William & Mary Tribe football coaches