Marcum was Born to Coach
Published on February 26, 2003 under Arena Football League (1987-2008) (AFL I) News Release
NEW YORK -- TIM MARCUM prides himself on his pragmatism.
He has been known to answer questions about how his team will handle its next challenge with lectures on the crossing of the Rubicon. Rarely is there a situation for which he can't find some historical perspective.
Except for his own.
Instead, it will be Arena Football coaches to come that will forever be measured by Marcum, the Denver Dynamite, Detroit Drive and current Tampa Bay Storm head coach. He has won ArenaBowl championships at each stop, six in all, and finished second another three times. Until 1997, the League's marquee event had only twice been played without the sly silver-haired coach on one sideline - in 1990 and '94, when he was out of the League and coaching in the college and NFL ranks.
Detroit fans recognize Marcum's name as the engineer of their own AFL dynasty where he claimed four of his six AFL titles as head coach of the Detroit Drive, before venturing south to join Tampa Bay. Against the Fury, who began play in 2001, Marcum's Storm squads are 2-0, including a narrow 49-47 victory at The Palace at Auburn Hills last July.
Historically, when it comes to coaching Arena Football, Marcum has had no equal.
"If there is one guy out there that has been the strongest in overall developing teams, it's him,'' said former Detroit Fury Head Coach MOUSE DAVIS, who initially hired Marcum for the AFL in 1987. "He knows how to build great football teams.''
Marcum won the first three AFL championships, taking Denver (1987) and Detroit (1988-89) to titles. After a year away coaching at the University of Florida with STEVE SPURRIER, he returned to the game and took Detroit to the next three ArenaBowls, winning a '92 championship that was sandwiched by losses in '91 and '93 to Tampa Bay.
Marcum then joined that very Tampa Bay team in '95 after another brief sabbatical coaching for the Atlanta Falcons and took the Storm to championships that year and the next.
The winningest coach in AFL history boasts a 145-53 overall record (.732) and is one of only two AFL coaches (Arizona's DANNY WHITE) to surpass the century-mark in victories. Marcum has become the League's standard.
"He's a well-respected coach throughout the ranks,'' said Miami Dolphins defensive coordinator JIM BATES, a former Marcum assistant in Detroit. "Everybody that knows Tim or who has worked with Tim really respects him as a football coach and a friend.''
Marcum was able to build AFL powerhouses with an knack for scouting talent (see GEORGE LAFRANCE and current New York Giant JOHNNIE HARRIS) and by figuring out before everyone else the keys to Arena Football: you need a great quarterback, solid short-yardage running game and defense; all of which hardly seem a consideration in a League that was priding itself on 50-49 games.
For Marcum, it was a serious consideration, as he helped design the original plans for the League. His calling card was finding and employing speed rushers and converting them into offensive linemen for the League's two-way play, not the other way around as many teams did.
Rarely has any team won a title without having one of the League's top defenses. With his defensive background and quarterback's mentality (he played the position in college at Texas A&M and McMurry University), Marcum was a perfect fit for the AFL game.
Marcum was, quite literally, born to be a coach. Though his father passed away in 1978, D.V. MARCUM's influence is still a strong guiding force in his son's life. One of eight children and the son of migrant workers, D.V. was a tough-nosed, hardscrabble coach and educator, a Southern Baptist who served in the Army and raised a good family.
Marcum can remember following his father to all his practices at Rotan High School in 1949, and though he was only five, he had his own uniform complete with a pair of black high-top football shoes that were the smallest they had, but still five sizes to big.
"That's all I ever thought I was going to be,'' Marcum said. "I was the son of a football coach. I knew I was going to be a football coach.''
In 1978, Marcum earned his first head-coaching job at Ranger Junior College and one year later won his first championship. Marcum went on to coach at Rice, then San Antonio and Arizona in the USFL. When the League folded Aug. 5, 1986, Marcum had come to his own Rubicon. He beat the pavement for jobs, attended the national coaching clinic in San Diego, and made call after call and could not find work.
While he waited, he sold cars. Mouse Davis, who Marcum had met in the USFL, called in March of 1987 and welcomed him to the world of Arena Football.
Marcum has made both friends and enemies in Arena Football despite his success, or perhaps in spite of his success. Bates thinks it is mostly envy, but Marcum has been described as outspoken, headstrong and stubborn. He has butted heads many, but when it comes to the actual game itself, there have been few better ambassadors. He is the game's ultimate pitchman, more than willing to sell a visitor on the game's excitement, affordability and great possibilities.
Arena Football League (1987-2008) Stories from February 26, 2003
- Coaching Legends Square Off - AFL I
- Garcia on Record Pace - AFL I
- Philyaw Sidelined for at Least Two Weeks - Albany/Indiana Firebirds
- Cobras Game Notes - Carolina Cobras
- Cobras Add Three To Active Roster - Carolina Cobras
- Marcum was Born to Coach - AFL I
- Dragons Game Notes - New York Dragons
- Firebirds GAme Notes - Albany/Indiana Firebirds
- Dragons Hire Todd Shell as New Head Coach - New York Dragons
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
