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Family Ties, Football Wins

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By IRA KAUFMAN, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 21, 2007

Updated: 10/21/2007 12:12 am

BLOOMFIELD HILLS, Mich. - As Joe Barry trudged off the field at Raymond James Stadium on that emotional evening, he glanced at fellow Bucs assistants Rod Marinelli and Mike Tomlin and struggled to stay composed.

The 2005 Buccaneers had just been eliminated in a 17-10 playoff loss, despite surrendering only 120 yards to the Redskins, the lowest output by a winning team in NFL playoff history.

Tampa Bay's linebackers coach was justifiably proud of his players, but the finality of the moment proved overwhelming.

'At the back of our minds, we knew Rod's contract was up, Mike's contract was up and we knew whenever the season came to an end, it was going to be the end of our five-year run,' Barry said. 'That's what made that loss even more brutal, knowing when we walked out of that stadium, we were done.'

Not quite.

Within two weeks, the downtrodden Detroit Lions hired Barry's father-in-law as their head coach, even though Marinelli had never held a coordinator job in the NFL.

Tomlin went off to Minnesota as defensive coordinator for one year before being named head coach of the Steelers in 2007.

Still under contract with the Bucs, Barry stayed behind in Tampa last year while Marinelli pursued his destiny in Detroit.

Barbara Marinelli, Rod's wife of 38 years, also remained in Tampa while her husband rented an apartment three miles from the Lions' practice facility.

'The apartment was fine,' Marinelli said. 'Nice TV, had a chair, a lamp.'

All Rod Marinelli ever wanted was an opportunity and the bare necessities to get the job done.

So while Barbara helped Joe and Chris Barry raise the four grandkids, her husband set off to raise expectations.

'It's been a completely different world for all of us with my dad taking on this role as a head coach, which is awesome,' Chris said. 'It's his dream, it's our dream.'

Barbara visited her husband in Motown to shop around for their dream house, choosing a leafy gated community built alongside a golf course.

One more thing: Rod Marinelli wouldn't know a 6-iron from a croquet mallet.

'My wife's unbelievable,' said Marinelli, casting a loving gaze at his California girl. 'She can turn a place into a home fast. She's here for a week and all of a sudden there's pumpkins outside, teeth all carved, pumpkin pies everywhere, coffee. As soon as she gets there, it's a home.'

Joe Barry saw it for himself when he reunited with his father-in-law on Jan. 3.

Detroit's new defensive coordinator was given a copy of the playbook and directions to the Marinelli basement, where he camped out for five months before Chris and the kids relocated to Michigan.

'When the media kept asking me why I was hiring my son-in-law,' Marinelli said, 'I told them not many guys in the NFL have been trained in this system by Tony Dungy and Monte Kiffin. If we didn't bring Joe here, some other team would have hired him.'

The one-year wait to rejoin Marinelli was difficult for Barry, who endured a 4-12 season with the Bucs in 2006 as Kiffin's defense plunged from No. 1 to 17th.

'Chris and I knew the Bucs weren't going to let Joe go,' Barbara said. 'He was under contract and there was a pattern there. In a fairy-tale story, he would have left with Rod. We used to laugh and say to the two of them, 'Hello? Joe's not going anywhere.' Sure, I was disappointed for my husband, but Joe was still under contract in Tampa. The same thing had happened to Rod a couple of times.'

Marinelli, 58, refuses to look back in anger as he heads into today's matchup against the Bucs at Ford Field.

'I'm in an awesome place and everything has worked out,' he said. 'I just love this city - it reflects me. They're waiting for a winner and they're tough. They're loyal and they fight. I want this team to fight. It's all been worth it.

'This is bigger than football. To me, we have a chance to do so much more than win football games. We have a chance to set a standard for high school players and coaches. How to live, how to do things right.'

Marinelli's bookcase is teeming with history, with political texts and yellowed hardcovers on football techniques vying for space on the shelf.

'A lot of people are deserving,' Joe Barry said, 'but Rod's a guy who just kept working. He wanted to be a head coach for so long. He wanted to lead a team, lead a group of men. He's been thinking about it for 15 years.'

Bucs coach Jon Gruden often would turn to Marinelli for a pregame speech, knowing his former defensive line coach would transfer his passion to the players.

It was Marinelli who first coined the phrase, 'Pound that rock,' during Tampa Bay's 2002 championship season. Now the Lions have their own piece of the rock in their locker room, a new boulder accompanied by a plaque that reads: 'Not good enough.'

Living 20 minutes apart, the Marinellis and Barrys are one happy family once again. Camryn Barry, 8, and Lauren, 6, love their new schools, and the twin 3-year-old boys, Nick and Sam, wrestle on the front lawn tended to by Barbara.

'We got very comfortable in Tampa with the kids in a good school,' Chris said. 'But I enjoy the next adventure, the next move. When Joe got the job up here, it was tough because you look forward to that down time after a football season and then, bang, he left. And by the time me and the kids moved up here, it was football time again.'

While her husband focuses on turning around a losing culture, Barbara Marinelli also has stayed organized and ambitious.

'I tried to reach out to the wives of our coaches since I've been here,' she said. 'Lauren Dungy did such a great job on arranging wives' trips and Cindy Gruden kept it going. They had never had a wives' trip here and I can't tell you how many women have told me how much fun it's been.'

Now about that timing, Barbara.

Last year's trek to Chicago culminated in a 34-7 loss. After Detroit opened 2007 with two wins, the wives headed to Philadelphia a month ago, only to see the Eagles roll up 42 points and 473 yards before intermission en route to a 56-21 victory.

'I didn't like that game,' said Lauren Barry, who watched on TV. 'That was too long.'

In the postgame news conference following the lopsided loss, Marinelli was asked if he was embarrassed.

'I don't use that word - that's your word,' he replied. 'You keep your word. Don't use it on me. I have to correct some things. That's what I do.'

The Lions rebounded by beating Chicago before a 34-3 setback at Washington left them at 3-2 heading into the bye week and today's game.

Facing the Bucs this afternoon will evoke fond memories for Marinelli and Barry, but the head coach is staring straight ahead at a daunting challenge that first drew him to Detroit.

'Our society today likes instant coffee,' he said. 'I hate it. I like rich, black, percolated coffee. That takes time and it's rich. And when they make it and it's done right, it lasts. I'm not interested in a quick fix. What I'm going to do here is going to last.'

Reporter Ira Kaufman can be reached at (813) 259-7833 or ikaufman@tampatrib.com.

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