Rod Marinelli: A Pigeon Hunter Who Can Lead The Lions Out Of The Muck

It was sometime in the fall of 1988. The football coach was in attendance at practice, but he wasn't truly there. He was distracted -- by something skyward.

There was a news reporter standing nearby, and he noticed the coach staring toward the ceiling. This was at the Pontiac Silverdome. The reporter, curious as to why the football coach was more interested in what was going on above him than what was taking place on the practice field, finally asked what was so interesting.

"I was just counting," the coach said.

"Counting what?," the reporter asked.

"The pigeons on the roof," the coach said, returning his gaze to the ceiling to count the tiny bird feet on the Silverdome roof.

The coach, Darryl Rogers of the Lions, was fired several weeks later.

Rod Marinelli doesn't strike me as a pigeon counter. Pigeon hunter, maybe. But not a pigeon counter.

It is Marinelli's charge to coax, ride, whip, or otherwise drive his football team to some assemblance of respectability first, and perhaps a winning record second. It is highly unlikely the latter will come before the former.


Marinelli: The "Lucky 13th" coach in the Bill Ford Sr. ownership

Rod Marinelli is the 13th head coach to give it a shot under the Bill Ford Sr. ownership. An even baker's dozen around the maypole. I have said it before, and I'll say it again: it takes most NFL teams 40 seconds to call a play and yell "Break." It has taken the Lions 40 years to yell "Break," and the only things they've broken have been coaches.

The new coach has himself his first mini-controversy on his hands, thanks to the signing of quarterback Jon Kitna, 33, to a four-year deal the other day. There are already indications that the incumbent QB, Joey Harrington, would like a fresh start in another NFL city -- presumably far, far away from Detroit. If Harrington stays, it won't be Mike Martz's problem. It won't be Matt Millen's problem. It will be Rod Marinelli's problem -- right between the back pockets.

How he handles this situation will tell us a lot about Marinelli, the head coach. We know enough about Marinelli, the defensive line coach. He comes with glowing recommendations -- from his former players and from fellow coaches. But I pay much more attention to former players. The NFL coaching fraternity is tighter than the boys in blue -- police officers. They wouldn't say anything bad about each other if you paid them a year's supply of game film.

Simeon Rice, on the NFL Network recently, said this about the Lions' new coach, who coached him in Tampa Bay:

"Let me tell you something about coach Marinelli," Rice, the Bucs' pass rushing beast, said. "He is, in my mind, the best coach in the NFL. Period."

As the Network hosts murmured "Wow," Rice went on.

"He is so well-prepared. The players in Detroit -- I'm jealous of them now. I don't know what I'm going to do without my man Rod. That's nothing against Jon [Gruden, the Bucs' head coach]. Because Jon is the man. But Rod is...he's the best."

Rice said that he puts Marinelli at the top of the heap because of his in-game knowledge, his before-game preparation, and because of his motivational skills.

So there you have it: Simeon Rice says the Lions snagged themselves the best coach in the business.

"And I don't mean head coach. I mean the best coach -- period. Head coach or position coach," Rice said emphatically.

If you can recall the last time a player said that about any of the previous 12 head coaches in the Ford administration, then maybe it was from a dream you had one night.

It says here that Marinelli has the goods to make the Lions winners. He has the pedigree, he has the knowledge, and he has a blissfully clean track record as a head coach. In this case, I don't think that's a negative -- not being a head coach previously. With Marty Mornhinweg, it was a nightmare. With Steve Mariucci, head coaching experience meant diddly squat.

And no counting pigeons.