Scotty Bowman Biography

1933-

Canadian hockey coach

Scotty Bowman

Scotty Bowman is the most successful professional hockey coach in history, winning an unprecedented nine Stanley Cup Championships in a career that spanned thirty-four years. It is a record that may never be surpassed. Bowman, who retired at age sixty-eight after the 2001-02 season, also holds records for the most regular-season games coached (2,141); most wins in the regular season (1,244); and most wins in the playoffs (223). He is the only NHL coach to lead three different teams to the Stanley Cup. Bowman's success reaches beyond hockey and the NHL, however. He is one of the best coaches of any sport or any era—in a class with football's George Halas and Vince Lombardi, basketball's Arnold 'Red' Auerbach, and baseball's Casey Stengel and Connie Mack. Sports Illustrated took that a step further in 1998, proclaiming Bowman the best coach ever in any of North America's major professional sports. The magazine noted that no other coach has been as successful with as many teams or as many generations of athletes. Bowman's ability to adapt—to both the conditions of a particular game and to changing times—was remarkable given his demanding, churlish nature. "He started coaching guys who had summer jobs and crew cuts, and now he's coaching guys with Ferraris, earrings, blond streaks and agents," said Brendan Shanahan, who played for—and won three Stanley Cups with—Bowman in Detroit.

CONTACT INFORMATION

Address: c/o Detroit Red Wings, Joe Louis Arena, 600 Civic Center Drive, Detroit, MI 48226-4419. Phone:(313) 396-7444.