Great Coaches in the History of Sports

Sportspersons no matter what they achieve, always are indebted to their coaches for shaping out their careers in ways which they never thought of. Be it Sachin Tendulkar, Lionel Messi, Michael Phelps, Vishwanathan Anand or any other player, each of them is incomplete without their coach. The person who taught them the little details of the game, who put in the hard hours with them, to make them the champions they are. We bring you some of the great coaches in the history of sports.

Glen Mills, Coach of Usain Bolt

Usain Bolt had approached Mills after the 2004 Athens Olympics. Bolt who was a 200m specialist in his early days, was made to improve his stamina so that he can run the 400m race. But Bolt wanted to run the 100m and Mills had one condition, that he would have to beat the national record in 200m race. During the Jamaican Championships in June 2007, Bolt broke Donald Quarrie’s 36 year old record by winning it in 19.75 seconds.

Before the Beijing Olympics 2008, Bolt would work on his speed for the 100m run, while Mills made sure that he was building up the required stamina to run in the 200m race also. The efforts of the duo paid rich dividends as Bolt not only claimed the gold in the both the 100m and 200m race, but created World Records as well.

Bolt gave credit for his performances to Mills saying that it was his coaching that made all the difference.

Phil Jackson, Coach of Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers

Phil Jackson is considered to be one of the best coaches in the history of Basketball. Jackson has won 11 NBA titles as a coach, eclipsing the nine won by Red Auerbach. He won six NBA Championships with Chicago Bulls during his tenure from 1989- 1998, and five with Los Angeles Lakers during his tenure from 2000-2010. 

Ramakant Achrekar, Coach of Sachin Tendulkar

Ramakant Achrekar with his students Sachin Tendulkar and Vinod Kambli. Image Credits: www.thehindu.com  

Stories from the life of Sachin Tendulkar are generally known to all and every Tendulkar fan is acquainted with the fact that Ramakant Achrekar has played a major role in shaping his career. From taking Sachin to matches on his scooter to placing a coin on his stumps, which he would get if he remained not out for the whole session. Ramakant Achrekar made sure that the young prodigy becomes a world beater one day.

Bob Bowman, Coach of Michael Phelps

Robert “Bob” Bowman started coaching Michael Phelps during his stay at North Baltimore Aquatic Club (NBAC)  from 1996-2004. Under Bowman, Phelps won five gold medals at World Championships, and won American Swimmer of the Year Award in 2001 and 2003. Bowman was serving as the primary coach for Phelps in the 2004 Athens Olympics, and helped him to six gold medals and two silvers. In Beijing Olympics, Phelps won eight gold medals, the most by an athlete in a single Olympics. 

Sir Alex Ferguson, Coach cum Manager of Manchester United

“’At the end of this game, the European Cup will be only six feet away from you, and you’ll not even able to touch it if we lose. And for many of you, that will be the closest you will ever get. Don’t you dare come back in here without giving your all.’ (1999 European Cup final with Bayern Munich, half-time team-talk)”

Sir Alex Ferguson is widely regarded as the greatest football manager of all time, was also widely feared as a strict disciplinarian and fearsome teacher. He is most famous for coaching, nurturing and presenting the “Class of 92” to the footballing arena, with the likes of Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, David Beckham, Nicky Butt and the Neville brothers being his “fledglings”.

From 1986 to 2013, 26 years, he created and developed victorious sides for four different eras and managed sides to unprecedented success in five different eras, in Manchester United.

Toni Nadal, Coach of Rafael Nadal

Uncle Toni Nadal, who was himself a professional tennis player, introduced Rafael Nadal to the game at the age of 3, and the rest as they say, is history. There have been a lot of stories about the duo and few of them are:

• At the age of 8, Uncle Toni Nadal intensified Rafa’s training and encouraged him to play left handed to get a natural advantage, when he observed that Rafa used both his hands to hit the forehand.
• To make Nadal understand that winning is just about shear will, attitude, determination and dedication, Uncle Toni used to make Nadal play in the poorest conditions possible, that is, poor tennis courts and with bad balls.

Because of the long tenure in which he has coached Nadal, Toni Nadal holds the record for the most successful coach with 14 Grand Slams under his name. Such has been the relationship between Toni and Rafa, that despite heavy criticism of his coach Toni Nadal, Rafa has always backed him and taken responsibilities to any and every defeat he has suffered.

Jelena Genčić, Coach of Novak Djokovic

Jelena Gencic spotted Novak Djokovic in 1993, when he was just 6 years old. See Djokovic play, Jelena said, “This is the greatest talent I have seen since Monika Seleš.” She coached Djokovic and worked on his game for the next 6 years, after which she decided to send him abroad for better training because of the rapid improvement in his game. For the next four years, Djokovic practiced in the Pilić Tennis Academy in Oberschleißheim, Germany.

Apart from Djokovic, Jelena had also discovered players like Monica Seles and Goran Ivanisevic. 

Sunil Fernando, Coach of Muralidharan and Sangakkara

Had it not been for Sunil Fernando’s advice to Muttiah Muralitharan to be a spinner than a fast bowler, Shane Warne might have been the highest wicket taker in Tests, and Wasim Akram in ODIs. When for the first time he asked Murali to bowl spin, he picked up a fifer in what was his first club game.

Later on, Fernando also became the coach of legendary Kumar Sangakkara. Sangakkara’s father, who was quite impressed by the boys of St. Antony’s College in a match against Trinity College (Sangakkara’s College), asked Fernando if he could take Sangakkara under his guidance.

“I’m impressed with the way your boys played, can you coach my son too?” he asked Fernando. Special permissions were taken and Fernando started coaching Kumar Sangakkara.

Talking to Cricbuzz,  Fernando said, “I could see his talent when he was very young. I used to tell him that you’ll become like Steve Waugh, one day (and) now he’s become even bigger. I coached him from his school days until the time he went to the national side. Even now, we discuss cricket sometimes.”

Fernando shaped the careers of the two of the greatest Cricketers Sri Lanka has ever produced, and who would probably walk into any World XI side, but sadly he didn’t get much credit which he deserved. 

Satpal Singh, Coach of Sushil Kumar

An Asian Games Gold medallist himself, Satpal Singh was the coach of India’s only two time Individual Olympic Medallist, Sushil Kumar. He also coached Yogeshwar Dutt, who won a bronze in the 2012 London Olympics.

Under Satpal Singh, Sushil Kumar won bronze in freestyle wrestling in 2008 Beijing Olympics through repechage round, while in 2012 London Olympics, he won a silver medal. Satpal Singh won the Dronacharya Award in 2009, and was then awarded Padma Shri in 2015. 

Dave Whatmore, Coach of Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe

Dav Whatmore’s first coaching stint was with a Sri Lankan side which was still finding it’s feat at the international level. Under Dav Whatmore, Arjuna Ranatunga guided to Sri Lanka’s to it’s first World Cup victory in 1996, when Sri Lanka defeated Australia in the finals at Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore.

In his second international coaching stint, where he coached a relatively new Bangladeshi team on the international scene, Bangladesh registered it’s first test match victory in 2005, first victory over India in 2004, first victory over Australia in 2005 and then defeating India and South Africa at the 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup. The Bangladeshi Cubs started the transformation to Bangladeshi Tigers under him.

Whatmore then coached Pakistan, who won the Asia Cup under him, and is currently the coach of ever improving Zimbabwe side who had stopped voluntarily given up their test match status for a year.