The Manchester Monarchs, the primary affiliate of the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings, have named Mark Morris as the club’s head coach.
Morris, formerly the head coach of Clarkson University, has signed a multi-year contract to coach the Monarchs. He replaces Jim Hughes, who was relieved of his head coaching duties on June 17.
Morris, 48, coached the Golden Knights to 10 consecutive 20-plus-win seasons during his 14-year reign. Hired by Clarkson in 1988, Morris compiled an overall record of 306-156-42 in 504 regular-season games and a playoff record of 39-19-1. His teams appeared in 14 ECAC tournaments, five ECAC league championships, three ECAC tournament championships, nine NCAA tournaments and one Frozen Four. He is the winningest coach in the history of Clarkson University, and the team won eight ECAC titles in his 14 seasons head coach.
Morris received the ECAC Coach of the Year Award in 1991 and 2001, along with the Humanitarian Award in 1999.
At Clarkson, Morris coached five future Olympians, three Hobey Baker Award finalists and 12 NHL players, including the Kings’ Craig Conroy and Erik Cole of the Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes.
Following his time at Clarkson, Morris served as a special assistant coach for the Vancouver Canucks from February-April 2003 under current Kings head coach Marc Crawford. Morris moved on to be the interim assistant coach for the Saginaw Spirit (OHL) from November 2003 to March 2004.
For the past two seasons, Morris has been the director of boy’s hockey, the boy’s junior hockey coach and an administrator for Northwood School in Lake Placid, N.Y. In 2004-05, Northwood finished the season with a record of 32-11-4, and the team set a new school record for most wins in a season with a record of 40-8-0 under Morris’s supervision during the 2005-06 season.
Morris played three seasons in the AHL as a defenseman with the New Haven Nighthawks (1982-84), recording nine goals and 33 assists for 42 points.
