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Lynx hire John Marks as head coach

July 31, 2008 - ECHL (ECHL)
Augusta Lynx News Release


AUGUSTA, Ga.−The Augusta Lynx have hired John Marks as head coach, General Manager Dan Troutman announced today. The club has also hired Pam Tabor to lead the Lady Lynx dance team.

"John Marks is a proven and consistent winner at the ECHL level, and we couldn't be happier to have him lead our club," Troutman said. "We spoke with several candidates about the vacancy, but Marks' resume clearly speaks for itself. We feel as if we've hired the perfect candidate to help bring the Kelly Cup to Augusta."

"Jan and I are ecstatic to be able to bring in a coach of John Marks' caliber. He certainly knows what it takes to win at this level," co-owner Robert Burch said. "We feel he's going to be a perfect fit with our organization and our new affiliation with the Tampa Bay Lightning."

Marks, a 60-year-old native of Winnipeg, Manitoba, is the all-time ECHL wins leader as a head coach with a 485-412-63-32 record in 990 career-regular season games over 13 seasons with Charlotte, Greenville and Pensacola. A two-time ECHL champion, Marks has guided two separate clubs to ECHL championships during his career, first winning the Riley Cup in 1996 with Charlotte, and then the Kelly Cup in 2002 with Greenville. Marks has also won a championship in the Southern Professional Hockey League, as he guided the Fayetteville FireAntz to the President's Cup in 2006, his only season coaching in that league.

Marks has a career professional coaching record of 757-626-61-78 in 1522 regular-season games, good for a .569 winning percentage over 21 seasons in the former International Hockey League, the ECHL and SPHL. His teams have qualified for the postseason in 14 of 20 full seasons.

Prior to his coaching career, Marks had 275 points (112 goals, 163 assists) and 330 penalty minutes in 657 career regular-season NHL games as a defenseman with the Chicago Blackhawks from 1972-73 through the 1981-82 season.

Marks began his coaching career as an assistant in 1983 at the University of North Dakota, his alma mater. He began his career as a professional coach in 1987 with Kalamazoo of the IHL. Marks was most recently the head coach of the Pensacola Ice Pilots during the 2007-08 season.

Tabor, an Artist in Residence for dance in both South Carolina and Georgia, attended the North Carolina School of the Arts and has danced across the southeast as well as St. Petersburg, Russia. She currently lives in North Augusta where she is owner and director of the Dance Shoppe.

The Lady Lynx plan to host open tryouts to ladies 18 and older on Saturday, August 23 at 10:30 a.m. at the YMCA on Wheeler Road. Those interested in auditioning may write ladylynx@augustalynx.com.

The Augusta Lynx will begin their 11th season of play this October. Season tickets, group tickets, small business packages and fundraisers are all available by calling 706.724.4423 or by logging on to augustalynx.com.



ECHL Stories from July 31, 2008


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