Colorado’s Deion Sanders makes big coaching staff shake-up
Deion Sanders arrived in Boulder on Dec. 3, 2022, after revitalizing Jackson State, and immediately turned Colorado into a national TV attraction.
Unfortunately, the Buffaloes’ 2024 breakthrough (a 9-3 regular season and Alamo Bowl appearance) was followed by a sharp fall in 2025.
Colorado closed the college football season at 3-9, including a 1-8 finish in Big 12 play and a five-game losing skid to end the year.
Still, Sanders’ massive $54 million contract extension (signed in March 2025) keeps him in Boulder through 2029 and signals the school’s patience while expecting a turnaround.
On Thursday, Sanders further bolstered his staff, with multiple outlets reporting that Colorado has hired Sacramento State head coach Brennan Marion as offensive coordinator.
Once finalized, the move would replace Pat Shurmur and mark Colorado’s latest effort to stabilize an offense that ranked near the bottom nationally in scoring last season.
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Marion has spent over a decade building his reputation as a creative play-caller and developer of skill talent.
His resume includes stops at Texas (passing-game coordinator/wide receivers), UNLV (offensive coordinator/quarterbacks) and, most recently, a December 2024 hire as Sacramento State’s head coach.
In his final year at UNLV, the Rebels ranked 14th in the FBS with a school-record setting average of 36.2 points per game and averaged 251.2 rushing yards per game, the most in more than 45 years for the program.
Marion was subsequently named a finalist for the Football Scoop Offensive Coordinator of the Year.
In his first season leading the Hornets, Marion’s offense produced 33.8 points per game and 262.6 rushing yards per game, finishing with a 7-5 record (5-3 in Big Sky).
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Colorado’s offense in 2025 struggled to find a consistent identity after losing top NFL talent in Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter, with an offense that cycled quarterbacks and averaged just 328.4 total yards per game.
Marion’s up-tempo, creative ground-and-play-action system directly addresses those shortcomings.
Beyond schematic fit, Marion brings recent success turning programs around and a track record of getting production from under-recruited players, qualities Sanders has prioritized throughout his rebuild.
