High schools see Lions up close

BY NICHOLAS J. COTSONIKA • FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITER • June 10, 2008

Rod Marinelli coaches football in Allen Park. Tom Hoover coaches football in Allen Park.


The difference is that Marinelli coaches the Detroit Lions, whose headquarters is Allen Park, while Hoover coaches the Allen Park High Jaguars. But Marinelli doesn't see that as much of a difference.

Marinelli doesn't see much difference between Lions coaches and high school coaches and teachers in general. It's just a different level, a different environment.

"They're all teaching," Marinelli said. "What they're doing is the same as what we're trying to do -- teach."

So he showed them Monday. The Lions invited 10 high schools from across southeastern Michigan to send seven players, two coaches and a teacher to an off-season practice. They attended meetings, took a tour of the building and got an up-close look on the field.

Hoover was thrilled after watching offensive coordinator Jim Colletto instruct the linemen in the classroom and then move the lesson outdoors.

"Every single guy in there was glued to the screen, and he was showing them what he wanted," Hoover said. "And then when I watched practice out here, they did it at full speed, under fire. He's an excellent teacher. I saw it before, during and after."

Before he became coach of the Lions, before he was the defensive line coach at Tampa Bay, before he rose through the college ranks -- Southern Cal, Arizona State, Cal, Utah State -- Marinelli started as an assistant coach and history teacher at Rosemead High, his alma mater, outside Los Angeles.

His coaches and teachers had a huge impact on his life, and he has never forgotten it.

Last June, the Lions opened their last off-season practice to the public and held it at Detroit Renaissance, so coaches and players from the Public School League could see how pros went about their business.

This year, the Lions tried something different. They picked 10 schools -- from Jackson to Detroit, from Riverview to Warren.

"We really tried to get a broad spectrum of representation," said chief operating officer Tom Lewand, who added the team was considering taking a training camp practice "into the community."

Marinelli wanted to limit the number of people to keep the experience intimate. He asked the coaches to pick players they wanted to come -- maybe guys who needed inspiration, maybe guys who deserved a reward, maybe a young guy on the rise.

"For my kids, it's just the work ethic and how they're running around in practice from drill to drill and then from team to team," Ann Arbor Pioneer coach Jeremy Gold said. "Just getting these kids to understand that this is a fast-paced deal. You have to be in great shape to go for two-hour practice."

Marinelli also asked the coaches to pick a teacher who doesn't coach.

"I thought that was a real benefit for them to see what goes on here," he said. "It just helps them to relate to a student better. ... I just wanted to show why players like this stuff. ...

"The classroom teachers were able to see it's the same thing -- presenting material, how you present, changing the environment of a room, voice inflection, all those type of things. It's all the same."