Pat Riley, Phil Jackson
 

Terry Francona broke the curse – and then some – as manager of the Red Sox. As if ending an 86-year-old World Series drought with two titles in four seasons (2004, 2007) wasn't enough, Francona, now the Cleveland Indians manager, is nearly standing on the cusp of history again.

If Francona leads his team to a World Series championship (and Cleveland hasn't won since 1948) he would join elite company: Only eight men across three of the four major sports have taken two or more teams to titles.

Terry Francona

In fact, in the NFL, no coach has won a Super Bowl with different teams. The most successful coaches have, instead, built dynasties that have won year after year. Most recently, Bill Belichick has led the Patriots to four titles in 14 seasons, including a stretch of three in four years between 2001-04. And between 1989-99, San Francisco (George Seifert), Dallas (Jimmy Johnson) and Denver (Mike Shanahan) each won two Super Bowls.

But two NFL coaches have come within a few touchdowns of winning the Super Bowl with two different teams:

-- Bill Parcells won with the New York Giants in Super Bowl XXI and XXV. After coming back from a two-year "retirement" in 1993 to coach the Patriots, he very nearly made history but New England lost to the Packers in Super Bowl XXXI, 35-21.

-- Mike Holmgren led the Green Bay Packers to the title in Super Bowl XXXI. Nearly a decade later brought the Seattle Seahawks to Super Bowl XL and lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers, 21-10.

Two others lost in their first Super Bowl appearance but won when they went back with a different team:

-- Don Shula brought the Colts to the 1968 NFL championship, but lost to the New York Jets in Super Bowl III, 16-7. He went on to win back-to-back Super Bowls with the Miami Dolphins.

-- Dick Vermeil led the Philadelphia Eagles to Super Bowl XV where they fell to the Raiders, but almost 20 years later, he won the big game as coach of the St. Louis Rams.

In the pre-Super Bowl era, Weeb Ewbank coached the Colts to the NFL championship in 1958 and 1959. Then he led the Jets to victory in Super Bowl III.

And while there have been a handful of baseball managers who have won four or more World Series with a single team – see Joe Torre (4), Connie Mack (5), Casey Stengel (7) and Joe McCarthy (7), winning multiple world championships with multiple teams is elusive in any pro sport.

Phil Jackson won an incredible 11 NBA titles with the Bulls and Lakers. The NHL's Scotty Bowman is the only coach to win it all for three teams as he captured nine titles with the Canadiens, Penguins and Red Wings, plus another as an executive. Here's a rundown of those who have duplicated the magic with a different team:

Sparky Anderson

AP Sparky Anderson

1975-76 Cincinnati Reds and 1984 Detroit Tigers. Anderson presided over the Big Red Machine in the 1970s, winning back-to-back titles in Cincinnati before moving on to Detroit, where he managed another powerhouse. The 1984 Tigers went 35-5 to open the season and breezed to the World Series title by winning seven of eight postseason games. Anderson was inducted into Cooperstown in 2000.

Tony La Russa

Getty Images Tony La Russa

1989 Oakland A's and 2006, 2011 St. Louis Cardinals. La Russa, a Hall of Fame manager, not only won World Series with the A’s and Cardinals, he also won a division title while managing the Chicago White Sox (1983). He built Oakland's late 1980s dynasty that featured "Bash Brothers" Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire before moving to St. Louis where he won three more pennants and two world titles, the last in his final season (2011) before retiring after 33 seasons as a manager.

Phil Jackson

USA Today Sports Images Phil Jackson

1991-93, '96-98 Chicago Bulls and 2000-02, '09-10 Los Angeles Lakers. The most successful coach in North American pro sports created two dynasties. First it was with Michael Jordan where Jackson guided the Chicago Bulls to two three-peats in the 1990s. Then he arrived in Los Angeles and promptly took the Lakers to a three-peat of their own with Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant. Jackson left the Lakers briefly but came back one more time to win back-to-back with Kobe.

Pat Riley

Getty Images Pat Riley

1982, 1985, 1987-1988 Los Angeles Lakers and 2006 Miami Heat. Riley nearly became the only coach to guide three teams to NBA titles, having also taken the New York Knicks to the NBA Finals in 1994, where they lost to the Houston Rockets in seven games. Riley was the Heat's GM in 2006 but came out of the front office to guide Miami to that year's title as the coach. He later returned to the GM role and persuaded LeBron James to join the Heat, which went on to win two more NBA titles (2012-13) with his protégé Erik Spoelstra on the bench.

Alex Hannum

eBay Alex Hannum

1958 St. Louis Hawks and 1967 Philadelphia 76ers. Hannum is the answer to the trivia question as the only coach to deny Bill Russell championships in his 13-year playing career. Hannum coached the Bob Pettit-led St. Louis Hawks to the 1958 title a year after Russell won with the Celtics as a rookie. Hannum then joined forces with Wilt Chamberlain in Philadelphia to end the Russell/Celtics' eight-year championship streak by beating them in the Eastern Conference finals in 1967. Hannum also led Oakland to the ABA championship in 1969.

Scotty Bowman

eBay Scotty Bowman

1973, 1976-79 Montreal Canadiens; 1992 Pittsburgh Penguins; 1997-98, 2002 Detroit Red Wings. The peripatetic Bowman coached five teams over 29 seasons and led three teams to Stanley Cup glory. He guided the Canadiens to a four-peat in the late 1970s before abruptly leaving for Buffalo because he wasn't given the GM job. After winning a Cup in Pittsburgh he finished his coaching career in Detroit, where he guided the Red Wings to three titles in nine seasons before retiring in 2002.

Dick Irvin

Wikimedia Dick Irvin

1932 Toronto Maple Leafs and 1944, 1946, 1953 Montreal Canadiens. Irvin, who lost in the 1930 Stanley Cup Final with the Chicago Blackhawks, needed only two more seasons to win his first championship. In his inaugural season with the Maple Leafs, he won that first title before going on to reach the final six more times with Toronto. Irvin went on to turn the Canadiens into a force, advancing to six Stanley Cup Final and winning three in a span of nine seasons.

Tommy Gorman

Wikimedia Tommy Gorman

1934 Chicago Blackhawks and 1935 Montreal Maroons. One of the founders of the NHL, Gorman won seven Stanley Cups as the GM of four different teams. Gorman never played hockey, but initially found success as a coach, winning back-to-back Stanley Cups during an eight-year career. Though he never laced up his skates, Gorman was a top-level athlete – he was the youngest member of the 1908 Canadian gold-medal winning lacrosse team. Only two teams competed.