Following a largely unremarkable early coaching career serving primarily as a
collegiate and
USFL assistant, Marcum became the coach of the
Denver Dynamite, one of the original AFL franchises, and led them to the championship of the first-ever
ArenaBowl, but the team suspended operations after its initial season in
1987. Not waiting for the Dynamite to resume operations (which they later did for three years starting in
1989), he then went on to coach the
Detroit Drive for that team's entire existence save 1990, when he was an assistant with the
University of Florida. This team became the AFL's first
dynasty, playing in the ArenaBowl during every year of its existence. However, this team likewise folded, but Marcum's success with them became the basis for his hiring and tenure with the most successful Arena team ever, the
Tampa Bay Storm, where he achieved his greatest fame, and arguably the greatest fame of any Arena coach (as of 2014), winning four more ArenaBowl championships, including another back-to-back run (
1995 and
1996). On February 17, 2011, Marcum resigned as head coach and
general manager of the Tampa Bay Storm after 15 seasons with the team, less than a month before the season was set to begin. His resignation came after it was revealed that in a
deposition given in a lawsuit between himself and former team owner Robert Nucci, Marcum had admitted to receiving and forwarding via his work e-mail account material that was
pornographic and racially insensitive. Marcum stated that he would not be able to go forward as head coach as the controversy would cause too much of a distraction. It was reported that Marcum may have been fired had he not resigned. Marcum went on to serve as an assistant coach with the
New Orleans Voodoo in 2012 and the Storm's fiercest rivals, the
Orlando Predators, in 2013. ==Death==