 His family moved to California, where he played football through four years of college, transitioning to officiating upon his "magna cum laude" graduation in 1983 from the University of San Diego with a bachelor's degree in business administration with an emphasis in accounting.His paternal grandfather and father were also sports officials.Vinovich began officiating football at the high school and small-college level; he then officiated in the Canadian Football League and Arena Football League, followed by the Mountain West Conference of NCAA Division I.

Vinovich began his career in the NFL as a side judge on the officiating crew headed by referees Dick Hantak (2001) and Ed Hochuli (2002–2003) before being promoted to referee for the start of the 2004 NFL season after former referee Ron Blum returned to his original position of line judge.