Tom E. Curran • E-mail

Thirty-two years ago, Rod Marinelli practically crawled on broken glass to move up in the coaching ranks. He went from defensive coordinator at Rosemead High School all the way to ... volunteer assistant at Utah State.

He was married. Had a family. But the 27-year-old loved coaching football so much he gave himself over to it, sleeping on a sofa in the coaches’ offices, working the night shift at a cheese factory, doing the job for free. He made it work, though. His talent for teaching and detail combined with the toughness to be the same, diligent, optimistic man virtually every day carried him to a paid position at Utah State then to Cal-Berkeley, Arizona State, USC and, finally, the NFL.

And how have the football gods repaid Rod Marinelli? By giving him the 2008 Lions.

Now 59, the former offensive tackle whose college playing career was interrupted by a one-year tour of duty in Vietnam, is staring straight into the gaping maw of coaching infamy. The Lions are 0-13 and nearly out of prospects to avoid becoming the first 0-16 team in NFL history.

If it happens, it will be the first line of Marinelli’s coaching obituary. Right or wrong, it will be his legacy, the accomplishment (or failure) for which he is most known. Yet even sitting there -- hands tied, grenade in his mouth, pin pulled -- Marinelli’s choking out the words, "What a great day to coach football!"

Monday, after a home loss to Minnesota -- the Lions 20th in 21 games -- Marinelli was asked how he can remain upbeat.

"I'm driven by the game of football," he said in the forceful but confiding tone he almost always employs. "I get up in the morning, I’m able to look at the tape, see what happened. You don’t always like what you see but you see what you can improve. ... I always put things on me. If something's not working, I take it (on) myself. I put it on my shoulders."

Asked if the Lions will have "earned" the title of being the worst team in NFL history if they do go 0-16, Marinelli said, "Oh, no question. There’s no question about that."

Slideshow The worst teams ever As the Detroit Lions finish with a 0-16 record, we look at some of the most futile teams in sports history. NBCSports.com

Tony Dungy, who had Marinelli on his staff for five years when Dungy was head coach of the Buccaneers, believes Marinelli is the last guy who deserves this. Dungy also thinks Marinelli's about the only guy who's tough enough to handle it.

"He is one of my favorite people in coaching," said Dungy. “And if anyone in this business can withstand something like this, it's him. He will not let anything defeat him."

Bruce Snyder, the former coach at Arizona State -- the man Marinelli practically forced to hire him all those years ago at Utah State -- said, "Rod’s going to live up to his word. Period. If he says I’m going to do this or that, that’s what he’s going to do. He understands toughness. The real toughness. The kind you need to be consistent. Not physical toughness. The kind of toughness that makes you do the best job you can every single day."

As fate would have it, Marinelli’s Lions have to play Dungy's Colts this Sunday. 0-13 against 9-4.

"It will be bittersweet," Dungy admits. “We need to win, obviously, but if we do that only gives him two more shots and I will be hoping and praying that he gets one of those last two."

The whys and hows of the Lions' misery are pretty well-documented. Suffice to say they’ve drafted poorly for most of the decade (team president and community piñata Matt Millen was fired earlier this year), they've been starless since Barry Sanders retired, they've had little continuity at quarterback and the coaching's obviously not been very good, either.

Marinelli’s certainly a part of that. He came aboard in 2006 and -- save for the 6-2 start to last year -- has a record with Detroit of 4-33. But what's been fascinating to follow -- and learn from, if you find human nature at all interesting -- is Marinelli’s rock-solid demeanor through this.

"It’s amazing to watch how he’s responded to the challenge of motivating," says Dungy. "How do you keep the faith of a group functioning without the positive results? How do you help them fight through it and be consistent? But you know what? I watched their game (against Minnesota) and you would think his team was in the playoff hunt. They are trying that hard."

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