Brennan Marion, Colorado’s new offensive coordinator, has idolized head coach Deion Sanders since childhood.
Marion’s family recalls him wearing Sanders’ jersey and having a ‘Neon Brennan’ birthday cake as a child.
Both coaches share a similar fashion sense, including cowboy hats and chain necklaces.
On page 54 of the Tulsa football media guide in 2008, senior wide receiver Brennan Marion listed some personal things about himself, including his favorite movie and his favorite book — “Coming to America” and “To Kill a Mockingbird.”
He also listed his childhood idol.
“Favorite NFL player while growing up was Deion Sanders,” Marion’s bio stated in 2008, the year he turned 21.
His family remembers. As a kid growing up near Pittsburgh, Marion wore Sanders’ jersey, durag and gloves. At his 8th birthday in 1995, his mom told USA TODAY Sports that his birthday cake said “Neon Brennan” on it to make him feel like “Neon Deion.”
Which is wild because Marion, 38, recently was named the new offensive coordinator at Colorado under Sanders, 58, Colorado’s head coach.
“It’s insane to me,” said Rich Gillcrese, Marion’s uncle, who also is long-time fan of Sanders.
Marion’s mom has another way to describe it — “a dream come true.” Sanders hired Marion but didn’t know him personally. On March 28, 2025, Marion even sent a message on social media to Sanders that said, “I don’t know you at all Coach” but told him anyway that he continues to be “the standard!”
“Love seeing you shine prime time!” Brennan wrote on X.
Like a young fan still shadowing his sports hero, Marion posted three other messages at Sanders on social media site X from March to October 2025. Sanders didn’t respond then. But now he just hired him away from Sacramento State to help revive his program.
Two cowboys in Boulder: Deion Sanders and Brennan Marion
The Buffaloes finished with a 3-9 record in Sanders’ third season on the job. Sanders’ offense needed a jolt. So now it’s getting the Go-Go scheme designed by Marion, who learned to design plays from video games and likes to wear cowboy hats and jewelry around his neck just like Sanders, according to family members.
Just don’t try to tell his mom, Richelle Gillcrese-Hines, that Marion copied Sanders on that one. She said it stems from her son’s time at Texas in 2022, when he was the team’s passing game coordinator. It’s where he met actor and Texas alum Matthew McConaughey.
“Brennan worked at the University of Texas and talked to Matthew McConaughey,” Gillcrese-Hines told USA TODAY Sports. “And after that, he was rocking the cowboy hat, and then Coach Prime followed. That’s what I saw.”
Three years later, the net result is that there might be two coaches wearing those big-cattle hats now in Boulder.
“I think it’s funny because it’s two cowboys,” said Marion’s brother, D. Brandon Gillcrese.
The chains are similar, too.
“I want to see Coach Prime in his Prime chain and my brother, he rocks his Go-Go gold chain,” his brother told USA TODAY Sports. “So you’re going to have two types of people on that sideline, one calling the plays, one leading the team.”
His brother said Marion has “swagger just like Deion.”
The Brennan Marion story
Both Sanders and Marion come from humble beginnings. Marion even was homeless for a while after he moved to play football at DeAnza College in Cupertino, California, right in the shadow of Apple, one of the richest companies in the world. He was raised by a single mom in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, about 30 miles outside Pittsburgh. She sold roses at bars and night clubs to help pay the bills and took her sons with her. She said she made $4.35 an hour at one point but came up with enough cash to pay his $25 fee to play youth football.
“I balled up the money and threw it on the floor and said, ‘Now we’re not going to have lights or food,” Marion’s mother said.
In his first game, he scored five touchdowns, as she remembers it.
“We brought in a man that has shown he’s creative, innovative, knowledgeable, smart and understands today’s players,” Sanders said in a statement Dec. 5. “He has made a difference on the field and off everywhere he’s been.”
‘Dream come true’
Marion, who couldn’t be reached for comment, went on to play at DeAnza and Tulsa, where he showed pro potential but injured his knee in his final college game in 2008, putting him on course to coach the game he loved instead of continuing to play it. He’s since been a rising star in the profession with a creative, run-heavy offense that gives lesser talented rosters a better chance. As head coach at Sacramento State, his team improved to 7-5 in his only season in 2025, compared to 3-9 the season before he arrived in late 2024.
Hi mom is known as “Mama Marion” and is a lifelong football fan. She helped make it possible. Having an idol like Sanders helped, too.
“We got the receipts of it all,” his mom said. “Him getting his (Sanders) jersey, him getting his gloves, the whole nine yards. I mean, this is probably a dream come true for him to be part of his staff and work with him.”
In a statement released by Colorado Dec. 5, Marion summed it up like this:
“Humbled to be sought out by the best to ever do it in football,’ he said.
Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: bschrotenb@usatoday.com