The eldest of five children, Aliotti grew up northeast of San Francisco in Pittsburg, California, where his father Joe (1928–2016) worked for U.S. Steel for decades.
[1] He graduated from Pittsburg High School in 1972 and enrolled at UC Davis, where he earned three letters as running back, and was named MVP of the freshman team.
[5] After the 1994 season and the Rose Bowl, Brooks was hired by the St. Louis Rams of the NFL, and Aliotti went with him as special teams coach.
He returned to Eugene in 1999 and was the defensive coordinator for the next fifteen seasons under head coaches Mike Bellotti, Chip Kelly, and Mark Helfrich.
[6] In 2018, he returned to coaching as the defensive coordinator of the Arizona Hotshots of the Alliance of American Football.