Texas announces hire of Pittsburgh WR coach Brennan Marion

Head coach Steve Sarkisian has found the next wide receivers coach for the Texas Longhorns — Brennan Marion, who completed his first and only season with the Pittsburgh Panthers on Thursday.

Chip Brown of Horns247 also reported on the hire, which the school announced on Friday afternoon.

“Brennan’s a great addition to our staff, and I’m so fired up to have him on board,” Sarkisian said. “He’s a guy I’ve watched from afar and admired, and when we talked about a passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach here, his name just kept coming up. His reputation as a teacher, coach, recruiter and mentor is tremendous, and he’s an innovative coach who will bring a lot of new and unique ideas to our passing game. After talking with him at length, I could tell he was the perfect person to fill our role. He is a high-energy person and a relationship guy who gets the best out of his players. He will not only be a great coach for our receivers and an outstanding member of our staff, but an experienced and knowledgeable mentor who will be an awesome resource to everyone in our program. I’m excited to get him to Austin and get to work.”

The 34-year-old Marion will replace Andre Coleman, who was let go less than two weeks ago after spending two years as the Texas wide receivers coach.

“I’m so excited for this opportunity and can’t wait to get started,” Marion said. “Coach Sark is as big time of an offensive coach as there is, and what he’s putting together as the head coach at Texas is something I’m thrilled to be a part of. The opportunity to learn, study and grow under him at a premier program like Texas was a no-brainer. It’s a proud program with a rich tradition, and I want to be a part of the history of helping the Longhorns return to prominence and regain their place as a national powerhouse.”

Marion is a Pennsylvania native who starred in the junior college ranks before landing at Tulsa, where he was a two-time All-Conference USA selection in Gus Malzahn’s offense. Two ACL tears helped derail Marion’s shot at a professional career, so he transitioned quickly into coaching, orchestrating remarkable turnarounds at two high schools as he developed his own unique offensive attack, eventually called the GoGo offense, which blends aspects of the triple option and modern spread schemes.

In 2015, Marion reunited with Todd Graham, his coach at Tulsa, serving as a quality control assistant at Arizona State. The following year, he coached the running backs at Oklahoma Baptist before receiving his first big break by landing the offensive coordinator gig at Howard, where he spent two seasons under former Virginia head coach Mike London.

In Marion’s first game as a college offensive coordinator, Howard upset UNLV. The next year, the Bison led the MEAC in scoring offense, total yards, passing offense, and yards per completion.

Marion then spent one season as the offense coordinator at William & Mary before reuniting with Graham once again as the wide receivers coach at Hawaii, where Marion helped develop All-MWC wide receiver Calvin Turner.

At Pittsburgh, Marion helped Jordan Addison win the 2021 Biletnikoff Award after recording 100 catches for 1.593 yards and 17 touchdowns as the Panthers wide receivers cut their drops from 33 in 11 games to 22 in 13 games.

Marion was also reportedly a candidate for jobs at Oregon and Colorado in addition to receiving some consideration to taking over as the offensive coordinator for Pittsburgh.