ATLANTA -- Brennan Marion is moving on from Pitt football, sources close to the team have told DK Pittsburgh Sports.
A report from Matt Zenitz of On3Sports Thursday indicated that Marion would be taking the job of receivers coach and pass game coordinator under new Texas football head coach Steve Sarkisian. The move would be a promotion, and it comes just days after Pat Narduzzi announced Monday that Tim Salem would take over as interim offensive coordinator for Pitt after Mark Whipple's resignation.
Salem served as offensive coordinator for the Peach Bowl.
Marion joined the program heading into the 2021 season after Chris Beatty left to be the Chargers' receivers coach after the 2020 season. Under Marion, Pitt's receivers saw a boost in production and consistency where their drops decreased from 33 in 2020 to just 19 in 2021, while the group went from scoring 11 touchdowns in 2020 to 31 touchdowns in 2021. Jordan Addison also became the third Pitt receiver to win the Biletnikoff Award for most outstanding receiver in the country, tying Pitt with Alabama and Oklahoma State for having the most winners of the award.
Addison went from 60 receptions for 666 receiving yards and four touchdowns in 2020 to 100 receptions for 1,593 receiving yards and 17 receiving touchdowns with a rushing touchdown in 2021. That's now a Pitt record for most receptions in a season, and the second-most receiving yards and touchdowns in a season behind only Larry Fitzgerald's 2003 campaign.
The switch to Texas tracks with Marion's career that has involved several moves during his 11years of coaching. Since 2010, Marion has coached at six college programs and four high school football teams, with the only job he's stuck with for more than a season being Howard's offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in 2018 and 2019. By all accounts, his constant moving between jobs is more indicative of his ambition to rise through collegiate coaching ranks than any complaints about his contributions.
But that style of ascension clashes with Narduzzi's program that includes two offensive assistants in Salem and running backs coach Andre Powell who have been with Narduzzi since he started coaching at Pitt in 2015. Narduzzi wasn't going to promote Marion so soon after his joining the program and wanted him to wait.
When asked if he had been informed of a decision by Marion, Narduzzi denied any knowledge of the situation.
"No, I haven't," Narduzzi said. "I was focused on this football team, the guys that want to be with us. When you have good coach, people are going to come after them. Guys have decisions to make. Whatever he wants to do, I'm good. We'll be fine."
The move means Pitt will have to find its third receivers coach in as many years. But it's not a given that his departure means any receivers might follow Marion to Texas via the Transfer Portal. The biggest concern would be Addison. There's been no indication that Addison would make such a move, but it's certainly a concern after Marion convinced Melquise Stovall to join him in transferring from Hawaii to Pitt for 2021.
