The most successful coaches of all time in sports

It takes a lot to be a successful coach. To win professional games consistently, you need to be an exceptional motivator, a near-genius tactician, and by far the hardest working person at the club.

There are some coaches that have stood head and shoulders above the rest, leading their teams to success upon success. Here are some of the all-time greats.

Sir Alex Ferguson (Football)

Sir Alex Ferguson was in charge of Manchester United for an incredible 26 years turning the team into a global footballing force (Getty Images)

Alex Ferguson is undoubtedly one of the most successful football club coaches of all time. Leading Manchester United to no less than 38 different trophies over 26 years, including two European Champion’s League wins.

The only regret among English football fans is that he could never be prized away from Manchester to lead the country to international success.

Pundits put his success down to rare combination of masterful strategic acumen, along with a monumental ability to motivate players and get the best out of them.

His longevity is impressive – given his consistently explosive nature on the sidelines, fans and press have wondered how he’s lasted so long without keeling over. In fact, the man only just retired, at a ripe old 71 years old.

The fact is though, tough old Sir Alex has led Manchester United to success after success, and will go down in history as the most successful football coach of our era.

Robbie Deans (Super Rugby)

Robbie Deans guided the Canterbury Crruasaders to record success in Rugby League and also managed the Australian national side (Getty Images)

New Zealand’s own Robbie Deans boasts the record as the world’s most successful super rugby coach in Super 12 history.

Say what you want about his performance for the Wallabies, when it comes to 12-man rugby, Robbie Deans is unarguably the master. He’s led the Canterbury Crusaders to no less than seven super rugby titles, and has since had a stand erected in his honour.

Somewhat less successful for the Australian national Rugby Union team, Deans nevertheless made his mark on Australian rugby and will go down in history as a juggernaut of Super 12 success.

Richard Williams (Tennis)

The Williams sister owe much of their success to father and coach Richard Williams (Getty Images)

Both the father and professional coach of Venus and Serena, Williams has coached his daughters to an unprecedented number of tennis championship wins.

The pair have dominated the women’s game for several years, and general consensus is that it was Richard Williams’ tenacity, impeccably high standards and motivational ability that was the driving factor behind their success.

He’s claimed in the past that theirs is a rags-to-riches story, recounting stories of tennis practice in gang-land Los Angeles with the sound of gunfire in the distance, which have been met with some scepticism.

However, his achievements are unarguably inspiring – after hearing how much tennis players earned, he taught himself tennis and then taught his daughters, relentlessly driving them forward from obscurity to international domination of the sport.

John Wooden, (Basketball)

John Wooden has been dubbed the “winnningest coach of all time” (Getty Images)

John Wooden is perhaps the most famous American basketball coach, having been labelled “the winningest coach of all time”, and was widely adored by his players during his time court-side.

He won dozens of titles during his lengthy career, notably guiding the UCLA Bruins to an unheard of ten championship wins over two decades.

Many of his former players have remarked that he was much more than a coach to them, fondly describing him using words like “teacher”, “father figure” and “mentor”.

He passed away recently, at the grand old age of 99, and the NBA rightly paid great tribute to the man who gave so much to the game.

Graham Henry (Rugby Union)

Graham Henry managed the All Blacks for over 7 years between 2004-2011 as they dominated the international rugby scene (Getty Images)

As much as we’d like to deny it, the most successful rugby union coach of all time is arguably Sir Graham Henry, coach of the All-Blacks from 2004-2011. He coached the New Zealanders to 88 wins from 103 tests; a staggeringly impressive winning ratio of 85.4%.

Naysayers might argue that he took the reins of a country with one of the most naturally strong pools of rugby talent in the world, and they’d be right.

However, his ability to take that raw individual strength and talent and turn it into a shockingly disciplined and efficient try-scoring team was simply unparalleled.

It’s fair to say that he was the reason why the All-Blacks maintained dominance of international test rugby for the better part of a decade, culminating in a triumphant World Cup Final victory over France in 2011.