JEFF JACOBS
Lou Marinelli remembers his first game as a college assistant coach. You don’t forget a memory as big as Texas, even if it’s 42 years ago.
“Boston College at Texas, Earl Campbell’s senior year,” Marinelli said Saturday. “Darrell Royal met us at the airport, gave us a police escort to the hotel.
“You went into the press box, beef was hanging down, guys carving it up, eat and drink as much as you want. Of course, I had some responsibilities for the game. They just killed us. It was an unbelievable experience for a high school coach.”
Final score Sept. 10, 1977: Longhorns 44, Eagles 0.
Marinelli lets out a good laugh. When two years at BC leads to the most successful high school coaching career in Connecticut history, a dozen state championships, 350 career wins, the sting of that Austin day has long been replaced by glorious moments too numerous to count.
Yet as Marinelli heads to a Father’s Day family brunch, we also will allow it to be a jumping-off point for a paternal view of his son’s journey into football. Under John Marinelli, Greenwich ran off a 13-0 season in 2018, capped by a 34-0 triumph over Lou’s New Canaan team for the Class LL state title.
Who knows if John, 33, will coach another high school game? If he doesn’t, it will stand as the ultimate mentor-pupil tale. What we do know is John, the hottest young coaching commodity in state football, has decided to join Kevin Sumlin’s staff at the
University of Arizona as an offensive analyst.
“I see this as a natural,” Lou said. “I’m going to miss him, but good for Johnny. He has got a lot of things going for him right now. He is getting married (to Anna Brown) on July 20. The time is right for this. I think it is something he has got to do.
“He is good friends with a number of college coaches, especially with Noel Mazzone, Arizona offensive coordinator. They’ve shared ideas, talk back and forth all the time, and Noel asked him a couple times about coming on with him. Finally, Johnny said, ‘Let me give it a try.’ The Greenwich job is not one you give up easily. I think it is the premier job in the Northeast.”
Lou Marinelli got his bachelor’s and master’s at Springfield College, lettered in football and lacrosse, served as a graduate football assistant there before becoming head coach at Mamaroneck High in 1976. He went for the freshman job at Columbia, didn’t get it, but its late coach Bill Campbell pointed him toward BC. After two years at Chestnut Hill, he returned to high school at Yorktown, N.Y., and then to New Canaan in 1981. The rest is W’s and trophies.
“BC was a great two-year experience, but ultimately I didn’t feel as if I was having an effect on kids at the college level as I did in high school,” said Lou, who worked with the defensive line and outside linebackers at BC. “I really hope when my time is done that it isn’t about the wins and losses but the kids we helped along the way.”
One of those kids is his and Frances’ son. It is no exaggeration to say John grew up on the sidelines.
“He was at every game New Canaan played,” Lou said. “I still remember him playing catch with (former athletic director) Vinnie Iovino. When he was about 10, his idol was Chris Silvestri, our state Gatorade Player of the Year. Chris was really good to him, brought him into the locker room.”
John would go on to play for his dad at New Canaan. By his senior year at quarterback Lou could see signs of a formative coach. He’d check off, call his own plays. John went on to prep at Canterbury and committed to Fordham. When Ed Foley resigned, John transferred to Trinity. He had a great experience playing safety; he even stayed an extra semester to play a final season.
“He loved Trinity and playing for Jeff Devanney,” Lou said. “He went to work on the University of Rhode Island staff. Then he told me, ‘Dad, I don’t like college football. I want to try the business world.’ It was disappointing. I thought he should have stayed.
“He left after spring practice, went into business with his friends. The business went belly up just in time for football.”
John started to work on Lou’s staff. As he worked his way up to offensive coordinator, Lou’s faith in his son grew.
“I could trust him implicitly,” Lou said. “As a matter of fact, the more I got involved in the offense, the more we would fight.
Dad let out another good laugh. “God’s honest truth, when it came time for the Greenwich job (in 2015) he didn’t want to go,” Lou said. “He was perfectly happy at New Canaan. We literally had to twist his arm to take the job. He went kicking and fighting.”
And winning. John was 36-10 in four seasons at Greenwich, 25-1 in his final two years. Lou said Greenwich is the best job in the Northeast because of tradition, community backing and athletic director Gus Lindine, whom he said gave his son tremendous support.
“Once John got there, started to call his own shots, implement what he wanted, you could see he had a good handle on all phases of the game,” Lou said. “Couple that with his ability to get along with kids and parents, it was a natural. It was an awakening for John.”
Dad said his view is John never should have left college.
“I said to him you can stay at Greenwich and you have the foundation of a tremendous program,” Lou said. “As his dad, I think he wants to compete against the best. How he does, time will tell, but the fact that he is willing to take that leap, roll the dice, I admire him. I’m excited for him.
“I know he will work his rear end off. He spends as much time on this as anyone I’ve ever seen. He’s up at dawn, watching film constantly, on the phone constantly. He loves it. It’s not a job for him.”
New Canaan beat Greenwich the first two times dad and son met. Lou had players like Michael Collins and Lucas Niang, who both went on to play at TCU. The third year, Lou said, his son had New Canaan pegged.
“This past year was even worse,” Lou said of the 42-14 FCIAC regular season and 34-0 state title games. “We didn’t have too many answers. Forget father-son, he was as well prepared as anyone we went against.
“He had a special group, his seniors were on a mission. I think they were one of the best teams in Connecticut history. Their closest game was 28 points. You’d think if anyone could figure them out we could. He was three steps ahead of us. The way he treated me last year was terrible.”
He allows himself another laugh. The beatings weren’t enough to chase the old man into retirement.
“Those losses were tough to take,” Lou said. “Chris Silvestri, I think, is going to be the guy who takes over when I decide, but I still really enjoy it. I got a great AD (Jay Egan). I like helping kids. Every day is a crisis, you know. ‘Coach, my girlfriend dumped me.’ ‘Coach, I got into a fenderbender.’ At that age it’s the end of the world. I like helping guide them through things and into college. As long as I can help people and my staff doesn’t want to throw me out, which they do at times and I don’t blame them …”
Lou wanders into the future. Arizona will be a great place for him and Frances to visit, he says, and July 20 is going to be a wonderful day. John’s marrying a “wonderful, wonderful girl. This is an exciting time in his life. His mom is so proud of him.”
And his dad on Father’s Day?
“I don’t want to sound like some jerk father bragging about his son,” Lou said, “but this son has proved his salt.”