Canadians among most all-time successful sports coaches: Study

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When it comes to coaching, Canadians are among the best.

In a study produced by sports betting website Betsperts, renowned hockey coaches Scotty Bowman and Toe Blake are among the top five most successful coaches in North America. The results were based on analyzed data such as the number of championships won, average win-rate, and highest earning coaches.

Bowman and Blake are ranked third and fourth respectively in the ranking of coaches with the most championships won. Between the two, 17 titles have been won.

Bowman holds the record for most wins in NHL history — with 1,248 wins in the regular season and 223 in the Stanley Cup playoffs. He has been behind the bench of the Montreal Canadiens, St. Louis Blues, Buffalo Sabres, Pittsburgh Penguins and Detroit Red Wings.

A former player and coach, Blake won 11 Stanley Cups — three as a player with the Montreal Maroons and Canadiens, and eight while coaching the latter.

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The Betsperts study also showed Bowman and Blake had 58.1% and 54.7% win rate percentages respectively, with more than 3,000 games between them as coaches. Another Canadian coach, Jon Cooper, was also named in the study as the highest-earning coach at $4 million annually after winning back-to-back Stanley Cups with the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Other Canadian coaches ranked in the study include Hap Day, Al Arbour, Dick Irwin, Glen Sather and Punch Imlach.

Rounding out the Top 5 were NBA coaches Phil Jackson (11 titles) and Red Auerbach (9), and MLB’s Casey Stengel (7).