Phil Jackson is on top of the NBA coaching world.

The Los Angeles Lakers' head coach picked up his 10th league championship this season, one more than the legendary Red Auerbach attained with the Boston Celtics.

And, yes, Jackson is the greatest NBA coach of all-time.

To win six league titles with one team, as he did with the Chicago Bulls, and four more with another is unprecedented in any sport.

Auerbach's titles all came with one team and during an era in which only eight teams reached the playoffs.

Jackson's successes have come in an era where 16 teams qualify for the postseason.

Jackson has a career winning percentage above .700 with both the Bulls and the Lakers. Auerbach's career winning percentage with the Celtics was .662.

Add on the fact that Jackson coached the Bulls to a 72-10 record in 1995-96, eclipsing by three games the NBA record for most wins in a season.

Jackson has a resume that nobody — including the victory cigar-puffing Auerbach — can match.

In basketball, that is.

In all professional sports, there is still one coach who trumps Jackson's remarkable record and he performed his craft in our neck of the woods for a while: Scotty Bowman.

Bowman remains the only coach in professional sports to win league championships with three different franchises: the Montreal Canadiens, Pittsburgh Penguins and Detroit Red Wings.

He has been part of 11 Stanley Cup championships, coaching Montreal to five, the Penguins to one and Detroit to three. Bowman also was director of player development for the Penguins' 1991 Cup championship team and was a consultant for the Red Wings when they won it last year.

While Jackson broke the NBA record for wins in a season once, Bowman snapped the NHL mark for wins in a season twice.

Bowman led the 1976-77 Canadiens to a 60-8-12 record in the regular season, then a 12-2 mark in the playoffs, winning the Stanley Cup with a combined record of 72-10-12.

He guided Detroit to a 62-13-7 record in 1995-96, breaking the single-season record he set 19 years earlier.

That's longevity and consistency — even more so than Jackson.

Bowman won 1,248 regular season and 223 playoff games in his career. Jackson's totals are 1,041 and 209.

Chuck Noll won four Super Bowls. Connie Mack managed in the major leagues for 50 years. Vince Lombardi, Don Shula, Casey Stengel, John McGraw, Sparky Anderson, Tony LaRussa, Bobby Cox, Pat Riley are all legends.

But in pro sports coaching, Bowman is No. 1. Jackson is No. 1A. Both commanded and received immediate respect from the teams and superstars they coached.

John Enrietto is sports editor of the Butler Eagle