John Marks set to break ECHL coaching record
January 12, 2006 - ECHL (ECHL)
Greenville Grrrowl News Release
GREENVILLE, SC - Greenville Grrrowl Head Coach John Marks will break the record for the Most Games Coached in the ECHL this weekend. The veteran coach will tie John Brophy's record of 878 league games coached on Jan. 13th in Gwinnett, and will break the record on Jan. 14th in Augusta. The Grrrowl will honor Marks' achievement at its home game on Jan. 16th.
Marks has coached the Grrrowl since the team's first game on Oct. 16th, 1998. Before joining the Grrrowl, the 57-year-old coached the ECHL's Charlotte Checkers for five seasons. He won the Riley Cup with Charlotte in 1996 and the Kelly Cup with Greenville in 2002, becoming the first league coach to lead two teams to ECHL Championships.
Prior to Thursday's game against Gwinnett, Marks was 248-235-47 with the Grrrowl and is 439-355-82 overall in the ECHL and ranks second to Brophy in wins (480). Marks and Brophy share the distinction of being the only two ECHL coaches to lead teams to both the Riley Cup and the Kelly Cup while Marks and Mike Haviland are the only coaches to lead two different teams to the ECHL title.
Marks has led his teams to the postseason nine times and he is 42-33 in the playoffs while ranking second in the ECHL in titles (2), appearances (9), games (75) and wins (42). The Grrrowl improved by 50 points from 2003-04 (33 points) to 2004-05 (83 points) which is the largest single-season point increase in league history.
A native of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Marks was selected by the Chicago Blackhawks in the first round of the 1968 NHL Amateur draft. He would play 12 seasons in Chicago's organization, including 10 in the NHL, and was named an All-Star in 1976. When a broken leg ended his playing career in 1982, Marks returned to his alma mater, the University of North Dakota, to serve as an assistant coach and help lead the Fighting Sioux to a National Championship in 1987. Marks' first job as a head coach came with the Indianapolis Ice of the IHL. He went on to coach six years in the IHL with Indianapolis and Kalamazoo.
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