No equal to leading Big East for Marinatto

John Marinatto's days as Clark Kent are over.

"I love anonymity," Marinatto said. "I like Clark Kent more than Superman. I am Clark Kent. People don't know me. When I walk into Dunkin' Donuts, they don't know me."

Actually, they probably do know Marinatto at the Mineral Springs Avenue Dunkin' Donuts in Providence, R.I. Every morning he goes inside - never uses the drive-thru - and places the same order.

While Dunkin' Donuts employees might recognize him as the iced coffee with cream and two Equals guy, everywhere else he's known as one of the most powerful figures in college athletics: Big East Conference commissioner.

Marinatto might prefer to stay behind the scenes, but that's no longer an option since Mike Tranghese retired July 1.

A 1979 Providence graduate, Marinatto began as a student manager for the basketball team. He later became Providence's sports information director and then athletic director for 14 years before joining the Big East in 2002.

"I've grown up in the league," Marinatto said. "This is more than a job. It's a passion."

Passion? You want passion? Just get Marinatto, 51, to discuss his love for the Boston Red Sox, or Cher, or "Star Trek," or Dunkin' Donuts coffee, or the Big East or ...

Let's start with the Sox. Game 6, 1986. Marinatto watched the World Series at his Warwick, R.I., beach house with his roommate, then-Providence assistant coach Herb Sendek.

"Everyone remembers where they were when JFK was assassinated and 9/11 ... we were one strike away," Marinatto said. "I couldn't believe the ball went through Bill Buckner's legs. At that point in my life, I was 28, I should have been old enough to accept it. But it was one of my most disappointing days of my life."

Then there was the time in the early 1990s. He was waiting backstage at the Providence Civic Center for a prearranged meeting with Cher, when she told promoter Frank J. Russo she didn't want to meet anyone.

"Frank pleads with her for this one favor," Marinatto said. "We're 10 to 15 feet away and she raises her voice and points at us: 'I told you, Frank, I'm in no mood. I don't care about your "bleeping" friends.'"

That didn't change Marinatto's love for Cher. The reason he uses Equal is because Cher endorsed it years ago. His favorite Cher song is "If I Could Turn Back Time," and has seen 10 of her concerts.

Marinatto also is a "big Trekkie." He has attended Star Trek conventions, but none in the past 20-30 years.

"Every 'Star Trek' episode has a theme, a hidden message," he said. "I love that show. It makes you think."

He also prefers '70s music. His car radio is set on Sirius' 70s on 7.

But don't think Marinatto lives in the past. It was his forward thinking that basically saved the Big East when it was raided by the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2003. For weeks, Tranghese said it appeared the Big East might collapse.

"I was focused on how I was going to manage the dissolving of the conference," Tranghese told The New York Times. "While this whole thing was going on, John was off to the side developing the plan for how 16 teams would work. The whole plan.

"John Marinatto did the work and did the plan. John is the hardest worker I've known."

The hardest worker Tranghese has known could have been a movie star. At least that's what Louisville coach Rick Pitino thought when he donated $20,000 at a charity auction two years ago to get Marinatto a cameo in the movie, "The Prince of Providence."

"I told him, 'You may be the next star out there, the next Danny DeVito,'" Pitino said. "He said, 'You had to mention someone short and fat, didn't you?'"

Marinatto was born and raised in Providence and was a huge sports fan. He can still name the 11 ways to score from third base that you can't from second base, which he learned as a youngster while watching Tony Kubek on NBC's "Game of the Week."

"He is an incredibly hard worker, his character is above reproach," said Sendek, now Arizona State's coach. "He is invaluable. No job is too small or too big for him. If everyone was as good a guy as him, all of our jobs would be a lot easier."

Pitino said Marinatto hasn't changed since they first met in 1985.

"He'll be a fabulous commissioner," Pitino said. "He's not married. He has no life; the Big East is his life. His work ethic is truly remarkable. He's one of the finest people I know and as humble as ever. I always thought he should be a priest. His willingness to think of others is off the charts.

"But, don't worry, those of us who know him will make sure he remains Clark Kent and not Superman. We'll keep him in line."