Todd Marinovich

Todd Marvin Marinovich (born Marvin Scott Marinovich; July 4, 1969) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) (Los Angeles Raiders), Canadian Football League (CFL) (Winnipeg Blue Bombers, BC Lions), and Arena Football League (AFL) (Los Angeles Avengers). He played college football for the USC Trojans. Marinovich is known for the well-documented, intense focus of his training as a young athlete and his brief career as a professional, cut short primarily because of his addiction to drugs.

Todd's memoir, Marinovich: Outside the Lines in Football, Art, and Addiction, written with author Lizzy Wright, released in August 2025.

Early development Marinovich grew up on the Balboa Peninsula of Newport Beach, California. His father, Marv Marinovich, had been a defensive end and a captain for the USC Trojans during the 1962 national championship season and played in the 1963 Rose Bowl. Marinovich's mother, Trudi (née Fertig), was a high school swimmer who dropped out of USC to marry Marv. Her brother Craig was a star USC quarterback at this time.

After harming his own National Football League career by overtraining and focusing too much on weight and bulk, Marv studied Eastern Bloc training methods and was hired by Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis as the NFL's first strength and conditioning coach.

Marv saw an opportunity to use techniques, focusing on speed and flexibility, that later formed the basis for modern core training. During her pregnancy, Trudi used no salt, sugar, alcohol, or tobacco; as a baby, Todd was fed only fresh vegetables, fruits, and raw milk. In February Sports Illustrated published an article, titled "Bred To Be A Superstar", that discussed his unique upbringing under his father who wanted to turn his son into the "perfect quarterback". The article declared Marinovich "America's first test-tube athlete", and discussed how his mother encouraged his interest in art, music, and classical Hollywood cinema while banning cartoons as too violent. His father assembled a team of advisers to tutor him on every facet of the game. The article stated that: He has never eaten a Big Mac or an Oreo or a Ding Dong. When he went to birthday parties as a kid, he would take his own cake and ice cream to avoid sugar and refined white flour. He would eat homemade catsup, prepared with honey. He did consume beef but not the kind injected with hormones. He ate only unprocessed dairy products. He teethed on frozen kidney and liver. When Todd was one month old, Marv was already working on his son's physical conditioning. He stretched his hamstrings. Pushups were next. Marv invented a game in which Todd would try to lift a medicine ball onto a kitchen counter. Marv also put him on a balance beam. Both activities grew easier when Todd learned to walk. There was a football in Todd's crib from day one. "Not a real NFL ball," says Marv. "That would be sick; it was a stuffed ball." Smith had a difficult relationship with Marinovich,

Professional career

NFL At the 1991 NFL draft the Raiders selected Marinovich in the first round; he was the 24th pick overall and the second quarterback taken—ahead of Brett Favre—signing a three-year, $2.25 million deal. Marinovich made his NFL debut on Monday Night Football, in an exhibition game against the Dallas Cowboys on August 12, 1991. Entering the game with 15 minutes remaining, he moved the Raiders downfield, completing three of four passes for 16 yards and a touchdown. He did not start a game until Jay Schroeder was injured before the final week of the season, where he impressed observers with 23 completions in 40 passes for 243 yards against the Kansas City Chiefs in a close loss. The following week Marinovich started against the Philadelphia Eagles, seeing three of his first 10 passes intercepted. Schroeder regained the starting job and Marinovich never played again in the NFL.

Marinovich had serious substance abuse issues throughout his NFL career. During his rookie season, he increased his partying and drug use beyond marijuana, including taking pharmaceutical amphetamines before games. Because of his college arrest for cocaine possession, the NFL required him to submit to frequent drug tests. Marinovich passed the tests using friends' urine, but after using the urine of a teammate who had been drinking heavily, the test registered a blood alcohol content four times the legal limit and caused the Raiders to force him into rehabilitation. The Raiders held an intervention for him after the season, and Marinovich spent 45 days at a rehab facility. In the 1992 season Marinovich shifted to using LSD after games, because it would not show up on the drug test. His play suffered and his coaches complained he was not grasping the complex offense. He failed his second NFL drug test and went back into rehabilitation. In training camp before the 1993 season, Marinovich failed his third NFL drug test, this time for marijuana, and was suspended for the 1993 season. The Raiders released Marinovich on the final cutdown, choosing not to pay for Marinovich's salary while being suspended in the year before the salary cap would go into effect.

SoCal Coyotes (semi-pro) In 2017, Marinovich agreed to continue his rehabilitation under AAA Hall of Fame head coach J. David Miller of the six-time champion and Palm Springs-based SoCal Coyotes of Development Football International (DFI). After a successful spring coaching the Coyotes' quarterbacks and volunteering with local youth throughout the Coachella Valley, Marinovich made his case to play for the team in a quest to become the oldest starting quarterback in pro football. In a press conference, Miller agreed to stand by his aging player's commitment to sobriety, and signed Marinovich on July 3, 2017. As the signing was primarily to help the quarterback rehabilitate, Miller noted Marinovich's comeback had "very little to do with football."

To learn the intricacies of Miller's run and shoot offense, Marinovich attended mandatory meetings and workouts with the offense's creator Mouse Davis. In Palm Springs, he was tutored by Michael Karls, a record-setting quarterback at Midland University and the Coyotes' second all-time leading passer who agreed to sit in favor of Marinovich despite the age gap. Marinovich also battled with 25-year-old Jacob Russell for the starting job, which the elder quarterback won.

On September 3, 2017, wearing his traditional number 12 that had adorned for the Raiders, a sober 48-year-old Marinovich stepped back into pro football after a 17-year lay-off. He completed 19 for 28 passes for 262 yards, seven touchdowns, and two interceptions as the Coyotes won 73–0 against the California Sharks. In a post-game interview, he noted it was his first game while sober since he was 15 years old. However, eventual shoulder pain led to his immediate withdrawal from action by team physicians. in Orange County and has an online art gallery, featuring original works of impressionist-style paintings, drawings and sculptures, many with sports-related themes.

ESPN released a documentary film about Marinovich titled The Marinovich Project, which was shown after the Heisman presentation for 2011.

In 2019, Marinovich served as the quarterbacks coach for the San Diego Strike Force of the Indoor Football League.

In August 2025, Marinovich released his award winning memoir Marinovich: Outside the Lines in Football, Art, and Addiction.

Legal troubles Marinovich has had a number of arrests, many of which have been related to his ongoing drug problems, including nine arrests in Orange County, California, alone. He was arrested in 1991, while still a student at USC, on cocaine possession. followed by a 2001 arrest on suspicion of heroin.

In August 2004, he was arrested by Newport Beach police for skateboarding in a prohibited zone. Marinovich was ordered to undergo six months of drug rehabilitation followed by six months of outpatient treatment as a result.

In August 2007, Marinovich was arrested and charged with felony drug possession and resisting a police order after being stopped for skateboarding near the Newport Pier boardwalk. On October 30, 2007, he pleaded guilty to felony possession of a small amount of methamphetamine and misdemeanor syringe possession and resisting arrest. Orange County Superior Court Commissioner James Odriozola decided to give Marinovich another chance at rehabilitation and released him to a rehab program in Laguna Beach.

During a period of sobriety from 2007 to 2008, Marinovich worked with National Drug & Alcohol Treatment Centers, located in Newport Beach, California, to help young athletes overcome addiction and to stay clean. In August 2008 after one year of sobriety, Marinovich was hired as a lecturer by Newport Coast Recovery, a drug and alcohol treatment facility in Newport Beach.

On April 4, 2009, he was arrested in Newport Beach after he failed to appear in court for a progress review on his rehabilitation related to his 2007 arrest. He was ordered to be held in jail without bail until his May 4 hearing before the Orange County Superior Court.

On August 22, 2016, he was arrested in Irvine, California after being found naked and in possession of drugs in a neighbor's backyard. Authorities say a naked Marinovich tried to open the sliding glass door of an Irvine home. He was cited for trespassing, possession of a controlled substance (later concluded as methamphetamine), possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of marijuana. Marinovich was sentenced to 90 days in jail, but could avoid jail time if he had a successful rehab and stayed out of any legal trouble for 36 months.

Family Marinovich was married to Alexandria "Alix" Bambas and they have a son, Baron, Marinovich met his now ex-wife while the two were in rehab together and first asked her out on a date while they were in rehab. As of 2025, Marinovich lives in Hawaii.

Marinovich has a younger half-brother, Mikhail Marinovich, who played college football as a defensive end at Syracuse University from 2008 to 2011.

Todd's father, Marv Marinovich, died at the age of 81 in December 2020.