With Geno nearing record, a look at other winningest coaches

Geno Auriemma is about to become the winningest coach in his sport, as defined by the greatest number of career victories.

His next win as UConn women’s basketball coach, which could come Wednesday night against FDU at Gampel Pavilion, will be No. 1,217, passing Tara VanDerveer, who retired after last season at Stanford. Both have passed Mike Krzyzewski, who won the most games in men’s college basketball, 1,202.

There are other factors to being the “winningest” coach, such as winning percentage, championships won, record in what would be considered the most important games, such as postseason games. Comparing one sport to another, to be sure, is a study in apples vs. oranges, but when such a coaching record falls, whether or not it is a counting stat, it speaks to consistency and longevity, and the nature of coaching, by which we mean job security, is such that longevity cannot be achieved without sustained excellence.

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Auriemma, 70, checks every box. In addition to the highest number of wins in what he helped to make a high-profile sport, he also has the most championships, 11, and a remarkable winning percentage of 88.2 percent across 40 years. He has 137 more wins, with 24 losses and an .852 percentage, in NCAA Tournament games and a 23-4 record in No.1-vs.-No.2 matchups; most coaches would sign for that record against unranked opponents.

So by every measure he is the most successful coach in women’s basketball and a transformational figure in its history. And as he continues to add to his win total at a torrid pace, it’s less and less likely anyone will come close for generations to come.

In most other sports, the ‘winningest coach’ title requires some explanation, as we set out to do here with a look at the career victory leaders in various sports and who is chasing them.

Major League Baseball

Winningest: Connie Mack, 3,731.

This calls for an asterisk, maybe several. Mack managed Pittsburgh from 1894-96, then bought into the Philadelphia Athletics of the new American League and managed from 1901-50. As an owner and, essentially, GM, he was not about to fire himself. He went to the World Series nine times, and won five, but had long strings of dreary seasons and, in fact, also lost more games, 3,948, than anyone else. Because he managed in civilian clothes, he was actually not allowed to step onto the field and, as he “managed” until the age of 87, his sons or other coaches did most of the actual managing over his last 10 years or so.

No other coach or manager in any sport was so entrenched, not even far more successful managers. Second on the wins list is Tony La Russa, who won 2,884, but had a .536 winning percentage. It’s unfathomable that Mack’s total will ever be approached. The winningest active manager is Bruce Bochy, now with Texas, with 2,171 wins and four championships, and he is 69.

NFL

Winningest: Don Shula, 347

As Shula, who coached the Colts from 1963-69 and Dolphins from 1970-95, approached George Halas’ mark, the NFL decided that regular season and playoff games would both count toward the official record. Shula is best known for coaching the undefeated 1972 Dolphins, and after repeating as champs, he won enough to remain in the job as long as he wanted it.

Bill Belichick, who won six Super Bowls with the Patriots, was hot on the trail and left New England after last season with 333 victories. It’s widely assumed he will coach again and chase the record, though he is 72. He would have to land in the right situation and, history tells us, have a great quarterback. The Chiefs’ Andy Reid, 66, has a way to go with 293 wins.

NBA

Winningest: Gregg Popovich, 1,394

Popovich, 75, is still active, though currently out recovering from a stroke. He passed Don Nelson (1,335) in March 2022. Popovich, who has coached the San Antonio Spurs since 1994, has won five championships and has a 62.8 percent of his games, but hasn’t had a winning season since 2018-19.
Doc Rivers, 63, is the next winningest coach still active in the league with 1,119. He won a title with the Celtics in 2008 and is now with the Bucks.

WNBA

Winningest: Mike Thibault, 379

Former CT Sun and Mystics coach Mike Thibeault has the most victories, 379, amassed between 2003-22, winning 56.7 percent of his games, and also got his teams to the playoffs 16 times, including a championship run in 2019. However, Cheryl Reeve, 58, who has coached the Lynx since 2010 and has won four titles, is poised to pass Thibeault. With plenty of help from UConn’s Maya Moore and Napheesa Collier, Reeve has 330 victories, a .647 percentage.

NHL

Winningest: Scotty Bowman, 1,244

Among pro coaches, Bowman may come the closest to Auriemma’s across-the-board dominance. He won the most regular season games and also the most playoff games (223). He won nine Stanley Cup championships, five with Montreal, one with Pittsburgh and three with Detroit, so his success cannot be pegged to one franchise, one player or core of players. In 28 playoff appearances, he had a .632 winning percentage.

Former Whaler Joel Quenneville, 66, has 969 wins. He has been out of hockey since a sexual assault scandal involved one of his staffers came to light, but teams have the green light to hire him again. Barry Trotz (914), now in the front office in Nashville, and Paul Maurice (881), the last Whalers coach who won the Cup with Florida last season, are in the distance. Maurice is only 57.

Men’s College Basketball

Winningest: Mike Krzyzewski, 1,202

Coach K, who started at Army, then moved to Duke, 1980-2022, where he won five NCAA championships. He won 100 more games, against 30 losses, in the NCAA Tournament. He retired with a .766 winning percentage.

Herb Magee, “The Shot Doctor,” who coached Philadelphia Textile (now Thomas Jefferson) from 1967-2022, won 1,144. Among active coaches, Dave Holmquist, 73, who has been at Division II Biola since 1978, has 1,056 wins, most at the NAIA level, and a .704 percentage. Jim Boeheim had 1,015 wins at Syracuse.

Jim Calhoun had 920 wins at Northeastern, UConn and Saint Joe’s, with three championships and .699 winning percentage.

Among active Division I coaches, Arkansas’ John Calipari (856, including wins ruled vacated due to NCAA infractions), Kansas’ Bill Self has 828, including vacated wins, Rick Barnes has 809, so Krzyzewski’s mark looks safe for a while.

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Women’s College Basketball

Winningest: Geno Auriemma, Tara VanDerveer, 1,216

It looked as if Auriemma and VanDerveer would duel for the title for years, but VanDerveer, 71, called it a career. Pat Summit won 1,098. Among other active coaches, NC State’s Wes Moore has 833, including 69 early in his career in D-II.

College Football

Winningest: Joe Paterno, 409

Though John Gagliardi, who coached in NAIA and at Saint John’s in Minnesota, a D-III program, won 489 games, Paterno (409-136-3, two national championships) is the standard for major Division I football for his years at Penn State, 1966-2011. However, how much of the head coaching duties he performed as he coached well into his 80s would be a question. He retired in the midst of the child sex abuse scandal involving long-time assistant Jerry Sandusky, a shadow cast over his legacy.

Paterno got one more win than longtime Grambling coach Eddie Robinson, 32 more than Florida State’s Bobby Bowden. Among active coaches at FBS programs, Mack Brown, 73, now at North Carolina leads with 288.

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Other sports

Paul Assaiante, who retired in 2023, coached men’s squash at Williams, Army and, for 30 years, at Trinity, finishing with 17 national titles and a 507-29 record, winning 252 matches in a row at one point, longest winning streak in college sports history. … In college women’s soccer, North Carolina’s Anson Dorrance, who retired last August, left behind 809 wins, an .887 winning percentage and 21 NCAA championships (of 41 Tournaments staged since 1982). … In college men’s hockey, Boston College’s Jerry York retired with 1,123 wins and five NCAA championships. … In men’s soccer, Jay Martin, who has been at Ohio Wesleyan since 1978, leads with 738. … In college baseball, Florida State’s Mike Martin won a record 2,029 games, with 736 losses with 18 trips to the College World Series, though no championships, between 1980-2019.