Former Northern Michigan University quarterback Steve Mariucci is shown in this composite illustration with his No. 18 jersey that will be retired by the Wildcats during an NMU football game on Oct. 11 celebrating the 50th anniversary of his team's national championship. (Photo illustration courtesy NMU)

MARQUETTE — Befitting one of the highest-profile alumnus to ever come out of Northern Michigan University, the announcement that former quarterback Steve Mariucci’s Wildcat football jersey would be retired was also made in a most high-profile way.

The signal caller on NMU’s 1975 NCAA Division II national championship team was told the news as a surprise in a video message delivered by his lifelong friend, Hall of Fame basketball coach and fellow Northern alum Tom Izzo, on the NFL Network’s GameDay Morning on Sunday.

Both NMU alumni graduated together from Iron Mountain High School and were roommates at Northern as each played on Wildcat sports teams, Mariucci in football and Izzo in basketball, then went on to become nationally recognized coaches in their chosen sports.

Izzo, who went into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2016, has coached the Michigan State Spartans men’s basketball team since 1995 and won a national championship in 2000. And he had his NMU basketball jersey retired just last fall during an Oct. 13 exhibition between the Wildcats and Spartans played in the Superior Dome.

Mariucci’s iconic No. 18 Northern football jersey will be officially raised to the rafters in the Superior Dome as a highlight during the Wildcats’ home football game against Grand Valley State on Saturday evening, Oct. 11. That date had already been designated as the 50th anniversary celebration of his football team’s national championship.

Several officials connected to the university and Mariucci expressed their excitement about this milestone.

“We’re proud to welcome Steve back home,” NMU athletic director Rick Comley said in an NMU Sports Information email about the news. “His accomplishments on and off the field are a tremendous source of pride for Northern Michigan, and we couldn’t be more excited to celebrate him in this way.”

“We are pleased to bestow this honor on Steve Mariucci, who has always stood proud as an alumnus of Northern Michigan University and Wildcat football, and of course, of his Upper Peninsula hometown roots,” interim NMU President Gavin Leach said. “Steve has worked incredibly hard to be successful at every level of football — quarterbacking NMU’s 1975 national championship team, his coaching career in the collegiate and NFL ranks, and his current position as an NFL Network commentator — all of which makes this recognition so deserving.”

“Coach Mariucci has been an iconic symbol of Wildcat football,” said current Northern head football coach Shane Richardson. “As a player that helped lead our program to a national championship, to his own career in coaching that climbed to the top of the NFL … his lifelong involvement and support for NMU has been nothing short of remarkable. His small-town roots resonates with many people connected to NMU today, and he has set an example that has paved the way for many others to achieve success. We are proud of this recognition and it is well-deserved.”

Mariucci was named as an Associated Press Third Team All-American in 1976 and followed it up with Honorable Mention All-America in 1977.

A redshirt sophomore in the 1975 season, he orchestrated one of the most remarkable turnarounds in the history of college football. Following a winless 1974 campaign, he led the Wildcats to the national championship just one year later, passing for 1,624 yards and 13 touchdowns while rushing for 232 yards and another two TDs.

He led that team to setting records for total offense of 3,874 yards and passing yards of 1,792 to earn team most valuable player honors.

In 1976, he broke his own records with 2,304 yards and 14 TDs passing, ranking fifth nationally in total offense while NMU would claim the No. 1 scoring offense in NCAA Division II at 43.0 points per game. And again he was named Wildcats MVP.

He finished his Northern career in 1977 with 1,608 yards and 11 TDs passing, leading the nation in total offense at 222.5 yards per game. That garnered him his third straight team MVP award.

To this day half a century later, he remains as the Wildcats’ all-time leader in career total offense with 7,523 yards and TD passes with 47.

He was inducted into the NMU Sports Hall of Fame in 1988 and the U.P. Sports Hall of Fame in 1996.

While all these accolades were great, they aren’t what would bring Mariucci national recognition.

He began that path as a coach at Northern in 1978 before moving on to be an assistant college coach at Cal State-Fullerton, Louisville, Southern California and the University of California, also taking on assistant’s roles with the USFL’s Orlando Renegades and NFL’s Los Angeles Rams.

Mariucci then took a job that started making his famous, at least in this region of the Midwest, as quarterbacks coach of the Green Bay Packers right around the time quarterback Brett Favre was starting to light up the NFL.

After four years with the Packers, he took his first head coaching job back at Cal, where he had been an assistant coach.

Earning a berth in a bowl game, he was at Cal for just one year before he was tapped to become the successor to George Seifert as head coach of the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers.

For six seasons from 1997 to 2002, his 49ers made four playoff appearances and once won the NFC West Division. Those playoff teams ranged in record from 10-6 to 13-3 and those teams won a total of three playoff games.

After an apparent power struggle with his general manager, he was fired early in 2003, but picked up as head coach of the Detroit Lions the following season. He coached the Lions for three seasons through 2005 before making the transition to broadcasting.

He’s been a fixture at the NFL Network since 2006, known as the former coach with lots of insight, energy and passion for the game and one of the network’s most recognizable personalities.

Living in Monte Cereno, California, he makes frequent visits to the U.P., including Marquette where he has spearheaded multiple fundraisers for the Beacon House, a home away from home for patients and families that travel far for medical care at U.P. Health System-Marquette.

He helped largely in fundraising efforts for a new site for the facility, including his family’s own sizable donation, so much so that it was renamed the Mariucci Family Beacon House.

Story contents based on Northern Michigan University Sports Information press release previewing the event and other online websites. Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee’s email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.