Marquette, MI – September 17th, 2025 – Steve Mariucci grew up in the small town of Iron Mountain, Michigan. His best friend was NCAA Basketball Hall of Fame coach Tom Izzo. During his years at Iron Mountain, Mariucci established himself as a standout athlete. He played quarterback for the football team and served as a guard next to Izzo on the basketball court. He also competed in baseball and track. After high school, both Mariucci and Izzo walked on at Northern Michigan University.
Mariucci played quarterback for the Wildcats from 1974 to 1977. In 1974, the Wildcats went winless, finishing with a 0-10 record. The following year, as a redshirt sophomore, Mariucci led his team to a National Championship. Throwing for 1,624 yards, 13 touchdowns, and rushing for 232 yards and two additional touchdowns. After wrapping up his four years at NMU, Mariucci would take over NMU’s all-time leader in career total offense with 7,523 yards and touchdown passes with 47. Additionally, he earned multiple All-American honors, including Associated Press third team All-American in 1976 and honorable mention in 1977.
After Mariucci finished his collegiate career, he began coaching at his alma mater. From then on, he would coach many different position groups and at many different places. His biggest accomplishment came during his time coaching in the NFL, beginning with the Green Bay Packers, as a quarterbacks coach, where he coached Bret Favre (1992-1995). Next, he went out west, where he took over as the San Fansco 49ers head coach (1997-2002). During his first season, he took the 49ers to the NFC championship with a 13-3 record, where they lost to Bret Favre’s Green Bay Packers. Finally, he would finish his coaching career with the Detroit Lions (2003-2005).
After his time in the NFL, he would move into his broadcasting career with NFL Network and continues to work there today. Every weekend before the NFL games start, he does a four-hour pregame show on
NFL GameDay Highlights. This past week on the show, Mariucci was surprised by a
video filmed by Tom Izzo informing him that his jersey would be retired, becoming the first-ever NMU football player to have their jersey retired.
You can click this link to watch the video.The celebration will take place the same weekend NMU plans to honor the 1975 NCAA football championship team, which will take place on October 11th at the football game. They will have multiple events that will take place leading up to the ceremony. The Wildcats are set to host Grand Valley State at 1:00 p.m. During halftime, they will officially raise number 18 into the rafters.
