Steve Mariucci
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Steve Mariucci (born November 4, 1955) is a National Football League coach for the Detroit Lions. He and his wife, Gayle, have four children — Tyler, Adam, Stephen, and Brielle.
Early career
Born in Iron Mountain, Michigan, Mariucci was a three-time All-America quarterback at Northern Michigan University. He began his coaching career at his alma mater (1978-79), and moved to Cal State-Fullerton (1980-82), and Louisville University (1983-84). He joined the University of Southern California staff in 1986, then moved to University of California, Berkeley in 1987. In 1990-91, he served as the Bears' offensive coordinator. Became the head coach at California in 1996 and guided the squad to a 5-0 start and a berth in the Aloha Bowl.
Professional coaching career
Mariucci was named the Lions' twenty-second head coach on February 4, 2003. He joined the Lions after spending six years as the head coach for San Francisco 49ers (1997-2002). He compiled a 60-43 (.583) record, while his teams earned playoff berths four times (1997, 1998, 2001 and 2002).
He is one of thirteen head coaches since the NFL-AFL merger in 1970 to lead his team to a division title in his first season. Mariucci established an NFL mark for consecutive wins by a rookie head coach with an 11-game winning streak.
He served as quarterbacks coach for the Green Bay Packers (1992-95). His first pro position was in 1985 when he was a receivers coach for the USFL's Orlando Renegades. Later that fall, he had a brief stint with the Los Angeles Rams as quality control coach.
More on Mariucci
Led the San Francisco 49ers to one of the NFL's biggest and most controversial comeback wins in history, erasing a three-touchdown deficit against the New York Giants in the 3rd period of the 2002 NFC divisional playoffs to a one-point victory marred by a series of mixups on the game's final play, including a botched official's call acknowledged by the NFL after the game.
Was the second prospect for the head coaching position in detroit prior to the 2003 season and has had frequent arguements - sometimes public - with CEO Matt Millen regarding their ineffective quarterback Joey Harrington. Mariucci has stated that Harringtons' lack of accuracy has "crippled" his West Coast Offense system whileas Matt Millen has publically critized Mariucci claiming that his conservative play calling had stunted Harringtons' growth as a professional quarterback. For the 2005 season the Lions signed 35 year old Free agent and 3 time Pro Bowl quarterback Jeff Garcia by Mariucci's request. Joey Harrington is currently (2005) on the roster as the starting quarterback, Jeff Garcia was signed to a 1 year contract.
Steve Mariucci has been spotted at nearly every Detroit Pistons playoff game at the Palace of Auburn Hills since the 2004 playoffs.
Is refered to by nearly everybody on and off the field as "mooch"
Filmed several Ford truck commercials prior to the 2004 season with the tagline "we're building something good here" that only got aired on local channels in the metro detroit area.