In Rod we trust? Cowboys believe 'guru' Marinelli can spark defensive revival
By RAINER SABIN
Staff Writer
IRVING — The beatific expression on Rod Marinelli’s face rarely fades as he hobbles around with a slight hunch in his back. Throw a robe and biretta on him and he could easily be mistaken as a member of the clergy. Inside the walls of the Cowboys’ Valley Ranch headquarters, where a football cult resides, he’s revered like one.
Management believes in the newly appointed defensive coordinator. His players, many of whom are at least 40 years younger and more than 100 pounds heavier, liken him to a preacher, a guru or even a cartoon character celebrated for his wisdom.
“He’s Master Splinter,” defensive lineman Tyrone Crawford said, referring to the rat sensei of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fame. “Definitely.”
As the Cowboys head to California for training camp later this month, Marinelli will begin the process of resurrecting a Cowboys defense that was among the worst the NFL has ever seen. It was, without question, the most wretched last season, finishing last in the league rankings and setting records of futility.
Before the world was introduced to the 2013 Cowboys, no one ever had seen four quarterbacks throw for at least 400 yards against one franchise during a single season. No one had never witnessed a team accumulate 40 first downs in a game, as New Orleans did against Dallas last November.
The disastrous outcomes that trailed the Cowboys like a dark cloud had the appeal of stock car crashes. It was impossible to look away when the defense crumpled into the football version of twisted metal.
Recently reminded that the Cowboys’ defense was awful, Marinelli responded, “We were.”
Marinelli can say that with confidence. After all, he saw the recurring horror show up close. Last season, he served exclusively as the defensive line coach and the right-hand man for Monte Kiffin, the coordinator the Cowboys hired in 2013 to install the 4-3, Tampa 2 system that shackled offenses around the league more than a decade ago. The appointment of Kiffin seemed a strange one.
At 73, he was past his prime coaching years. He also had been out of the NFL since 2008 and had bombed at the college level, where he followed his son, Lane, from Tennessee to USC.
With the Cowboys, Kiffin was given the unenviable task of restructuring a defense that had established 3-4 roots since 2005. It proved a Sisyphean challenge as injuries depleted the ranks and some starters had trouble adjusting to the zone-based principles of the scheme.
Soon after the Cowboys failed to make the playoffs with an 8-8 record, Kiffin was pinpointed as the fall guy. He was demoted in January and handed an ambiguous title of assistant head coach/defense while his friend, Marinelli, was left to deal with the wreckage.
It became an awkward arrangement for both men. In the 10 years they coached in Tampa Bay, where they won a Super Bowl together, Kiffin had always been positioned higher than Marinelli on the organizational flow chart, just as he was in 2013 with the Cowboys.
“I’m not down one bit. I’m really not,” Kiffin said. “But Rod is their guy.”
That is undeniable. Yet the Cowboys’ unwavering faith in Marinelli is also suspicious considering he is the only man to have coached an NFL team to an 0-16 record. The winless season, which he endured in Detroit six years ago, is enough to raise doubts about 65-year-old Marinelli and his ability to work miracles.
Marinelli calls the experience in Detroit the most challenging of a coaching career that has spanned 41 years. The 2013 season with the Cowboys, as disastrous as it was from a defensive standpoint, pales in comparison.
“When I was there, I was trying to get the culture the way I wanted it, the way I believed in,” Marinelli said. “And that was hard. I think here the culture is set.”
But that hasn’t stopped Marinelli from sharing his core values with evangelical fervor. The former Marine tunnel rat and Vietnam veteran routinely peddles his beliefs about the game he coaches. The subjects of his homilies in the team meeting rooms include the importance of honing the fundamentals and giving maximum effort, of realizing the fullest potential and developing good habits. Rote repetition is celebrated. Focusing on the details is applauded. Mastering one skill is valued more than being decent at a bunch of different things.
“Football is like a religion to him,” defensive end Anthony Spencer said. “You can tell in the way he talks about it. He is like a preacher. He believes in it so much. He believes that if you do the right things on the football field you also become a good person off it.”
Yes, it’s true. Marinelli considers coaching football a higher calling. To him, there is more to it than X’s and O’s, blitz packages, coverages, gap assignments and the jargon the game has spawned. This is a sport that mirrors life, according to Marinelli.
“I believe in everything about it,” he said. “I believe it really helps men. You help people this way. To come out and see men compete for jobs and try to help them be what they want to be, it’s something that is so important. That ability to compete every second of every day — I don’t know if you can ever live without that.”
It’s that hunger — that nagging desire to “prove” something — that Marinelli said will help the Cowboys defense climb out of the gutter.
Then again, owner Jerry Jones explained, “Because we were so bad last year, there is no place [to go] but up.”
But if Marinelli sparks a defensive revival in Dallas, it won’t be because of some wild scheme he concocted. Rather, it will be the result of hard work, good, old-fashioned teaching and progress made within a system he and Kiffin have promulgated. Marinelli, according to Spencer, is a man who practices what he preaches. In Chicago, where he was promoted from defensive line coach to coordinator in 2010, the Bears improved from 17th to ninth in total yards allowed and increased the number of takeaways.
“It’s about how you do things. And it’s hard. And it’s tough, man. And it’s demanding,” Marinelli explained. “But every day is fun. I have to look at a calendar and see how many bad days I’ve had. It’s not many. Winning and losing tear you up. But you’re resilient and you bounce back the next day.”
By placing their faith in their football cleric, the Cowboys hope their defense will respond similarly, rebound and make true believers out of everyone. In Rod they trust.
By RAINER SABIN
Staff Writer
IRVING — The beatific expression on Rod Marinelli’s face rarely fades as he hobbles around with a slight hunch in his back. Throw a robe and biretta on him and he could easily be mistaken as a member of the clergy. Inside the walls of the Cowboys’ Valley Ranch headquarters, where a football cult resides, he’s revered like one.
Management believes in the newly appointed defensive coordinator. His players, many of whom are at least 40 years younger and more than 100 pounds heavier, liken him to a preacher, a guru or even a cartoon character celebrated for his wisdom.
“He’s Master Splinter,” defensive lineman Tyrone Crawford said, referring to the rat sensei of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fame. “Definitely.”
As the Cowboys head to California for training camp later this month, Marinelli will begin the process of resurrecting a Cowboys defense that was among the worst the NFL has ever seen. It was, without question, the most wretched last season, finishing last in the league rankings and setting records of futility.
Before the world was introduced to the 2013 Cowboys, no one ever had seen four quarterbacks throw for at least 400 yards against one franchise during a single season. No one had never witnessed a team accumulate 40 first downs in a game, as New Orleans did against Dallas last November.
The disastrous outcomes that trailed the Cowboys like a dark cloud had the appeal of stock car crashes. It was impossible to look away when the defense crumpled into the football version of twisted metal.
Recently reminded that the Cowboys’ defense was awful, Marinelli responded, “We were.”
Marinelli can say that with confidence. After all, he saw the recurring horror show up close. Last season, he served exclusively as the defensive line coach and the right-hand man for Monte Kiffin, the coordinator the Cowboys hired in 2013 to install the 4-3, Tampa 2 system that shackled offenses around the league more than a decade ago. The appointment of Kiffin seemed a strange one.
At 73, he was past his prime coaching years. He also had been out of the NFL since 2008 and had bombed at the college level, where he followed his son, Lane, from Tennessee to USC.
With the Cowboys, Kiffin was given the unenviable task of restructuring a defense that had established 3-4 roots since 2005. It proved a Sisyphean challenge as injuries depleted the ranks and some starters had trouble adjusting to the zone-based principles of the scheme.
Soon after the Cowboys failed to make the playoffs with an 8-8 record, Kiffin was pinpointed as the fall guy. He was demoted in January and handed an ambiguous title of assistant head coach/defense while his friend, Marinelli, was left to deal with the wreckage.
It became an awkward arrangement for both men. In the 10 years they coached in Tampa Bay, where they won a Super Bowl together, Kiffin had always been positioned higher than Marinelli on the organizational flow chart, just as he was in 2013 with the Cowboys.
“I’m not down one bit. I’m really not,” Kiffin said. “But Rod is their guy.”
That is undeniable. Yet the Cowboys’ unwavering faith in Marinelli is also suspicious considering he is the only man to have coached an NFL team to an 0-16 record. The winless season, which he endured in Detroit six years ago, is enough to raise doubts about 65-year-old Marinelli and his ability to work miracles.
Marinelli calls the experience in Detroit the most challenging of a coaching career that has spanned 41 years. The 2013 season with the Cowboys, as disastrous as it was from a defensive standpoint, pales in comparison.
“When I was there, I was trying to get the culture the way I wanted it, the way I believed in,” Marinelli said. “And that was hard. I think here the culture is set.”
But that hasn’t stopped Marinelli from sharing his core values with evangelical fervor. The former Marine tunnel rat and Vietnam veteran routinely peddles his beliefs about the game he coaches. The subjects of his homilies in the team meeting rooms include the importance of honing the fundamentals and giving maximum effort, of realizing the fullest potential and developing good habits. Rote repetition is celebrated. Focusing on the details is applauded. Mastering one skill is valued more than being decent at a bunch of different things.
“Football is like a religion to him,” defensive end Anthony Spencer said. “You can tell in the way he talks about it. He is like a preacher. He believes in it so much. He believes that if you do the right things on the football field you also become a good person off it.”
Yes, it’s true. Marinelli considers coaching football a higher calling. To him, there is more to it than X’s and O’s, blitz packages, coverages, gap assignments and the jargon the game has spawned. This is a sport that mirrors life, according to Marinelli.
“I believe in everything about it,” he said. “I believe it really helps men. You help people this way. To come out and see men compete for jobs and try to help them be what they want to be, it’s something that is so important. That ability to compete every second of every day — I don’t know if you can ever live without that.”
It’s that hunger — that nagging desire to “prove” something — that Marinelli said will help the Cowboys defense climb out of the gutter.
Then again, owner Jerry Jones explained, “Because we were so bad last year, there is no place [to go] but up.”
But if Marinelli sparks a defensive revival in Dallas, it won’t be because of some wild scheme he concocted. Rather, it will be the result of hard work, good, old-fashioned teaching and progress made within a system he and Kiffin have promulgated. Marinelli, according to Spencer, is a man who practices what he preaches. In Chicago, where he was promoted from defensive line coach to coordinator in 2010, the Bears improved from 17th to ninth in total yards allowed and increased the number of takeaways.
“It’s about how you do things. And it’s hard. And it’s tough, man. And it’s demanding,” Marinelli explained. “But every day is fun. I have to look at a calendar and see how many bad days I’ve had. It’s not many. Winning and losing tear you up. But you’re resilient and you bounce back the next day.”
By placing their faith in their football cleric, the Cowboys hope their defense will respond similarly, rebound and make true believers out of everyone. In Rod they trust.
