He played college football for the Cornell Big Red, where he was a unanimous All-American and won the Maxwell Award in 1971.

[1] Marinaro played college football at Cornell University, where he was a three-time All-American, and set over 16 NCAA records.

[citation needed] While at Cornell, Marinaro was a member of Psi Upsilon and was selected for membership in the Sphinx Head Society.

[citation needed] Marinaro played the head football coach for three seasons on Spike TV's comedy, Blue Mountain State.

[5] In January 2020, Marinaro was named by ESPN as one of the "150 greatest players in college football's 150-year history", ranking at number 126.