Marc Crawford Resigns As Zurich Coach For Health Reasons

Marc Crawford is resigning as head coach of the ZSC Lions – the Zurich-based team in Switzerland’s top-tier National League, the club announced on Monday.

The Lions are the defending champions in Switzerland and currently sit first in the 14-team National League with 61 points in 29 games. The team has also advanced to the Champions Hockey League semifinals.

Crawford, 63, has coached hockey professionally in the NHL, AHL and in Switzerland almost continually since retiring as a player in 1989.

It is with sincere gratitude and a lot of humility, that I announce that I am resigning immediately as the head coach of the ZSC Lions.

For the last several months I have been investing in intensive therapy with the hope of understanding the depths of my own mental health. This process has proven to be both challenging and revealing to me as a coach, a husband, a father, and an expecting grandfather and finally as a person.

First, I would like to acknowledge the ZSC organization, headed by Herr Walter Frey and the Frey family, along with Peter Zahner and Sven Leuenberger have been extremely supportive of me and my family throughout this transition. Their care and understanding have been nothing short of amazing during these last few months. I want to thank them for their humanity and understanding.

I also owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to the ZSC coaches, Magnus Wennström, Fabio Schwarz, Mattia Stendahl, and especially Rob Cookson who has been a great friend throughout this process.

To the players and staff of the team, I am in awe of your continued efforts this season. This is a great team on the cusp of even greater success, and I have complete confidence that they will achieve everything that they set out to accomplish at the start of this season.

I have always expected that the players of ZSC give 100 percent effort to the team, and I now realize that because I am not able to give the same commitment, effort, and focus, I must step away and allow this talented group to move forward with someone who can give the effort this team deserves.

To the fans and supporters of ZSC, you made me feel instantly welcomed and at home here in Zurich. I have loved every minute of being the caretaker of your team. Your passion for the team is something that continually amazes me, and out of the respect and admiration that I have for this club, I know that this is the right time to step away.

ZSC will always hold a special place in my heart and the hearts of my family. I look forward to spending more time with my family and to continuing to grow as a mentally healthy human being.

Hopp ZSC!

Dankeschon.

Marc Crawford

As a player, Crawford recorded 60 points in 176 NHL regular-season games with the Vancouver Canucks between 1981 and 1987. He also had three points in 20 playoff games. He earned the nickname “747” for his frequent cross-continental flights between the Canucks and their distant AHL affiliate in Fredericton, N.B.

As an NHL coach, Crawford has coached the Quebec Nordiques, Colorado Avalanche, Canucks, Los Angeles Kings, Dallas Stars and briefly as an interim coach for the Ottawa Senators, accumulating 556 regular-season wins, which currently ranks 25th all-time.

In his first year as an NHL head coach, he won the Jack Adams Award as coach of the year in 1995. The next season, after the franchise moved to Colorado, he guided the Avalanche to the Stanley Cup.

Crawford’s first tenure in Zurich went from 2012 to 2016, in which he guided the Lions to the 2013-14 national title. He also coached 18-year-old Auston Matthews in 2015-16, the season before the American phenom was drafted first overall by the Toronto Maple Leafs. He then returned to the NHL as an assistant coach with Ottawa, and later with the Chicago Blackhawks.

Crawford was behind the Vancouver bench in March 2004 when Canucks player Todd Bertuzzi attacked Steve Moore of Colorado. Crawford was one of the defendants named in Moore’s lawsuit. In later years, several former players came forward with stories of abuse at the hands of Crawford, for which he was briefly suspended from his job in Chicago but was reinstated after a review. Crawford issued a public apology for these incidents.

His second stint in Zurich began during the 2022-23 season, when he took over from Rikard Grönborg, and he led the Lions to another championship last season.

Marco Bayer, head coach of the GCK Lions – ZSC’s farm team that plays in the second-tier Swiss League – takes over as interim head coach.

“We as a club deeply regret this development, but have full understanding and great respect for his courageous step,” said Zurich sports manager Sven Leuenberger. “We also ask everybody – fans, sponsors, partners and media – for their understanding.”

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