Les Bartley (March 11, 1954 – May 15, 2005) was a Canadian lacrosse coach. Bartley led the Buffalo Bandits to three of their four championships in the Major Indoor Lacrosse League (MILL), and won four more championships with the Toronto Rock in the renamed National Lacrosse League (NLL). He was named NLL Executive of the Year in 2005.
Personal and early life
Bartley was born in St. Catharines, Ontario. He attended St. Catharines Collegiate, playing football and lacrosse. After graduating from high school, he worked at the GM plant in St. Catharines, and later became a union official.
Coaching career
Buffalo Bandits
Bartley became the assistant coach of the Bandits in 1992. When the team started off the 1992 season 0-3, Bandits head coach Buff McCready was fired, and Bartley was given the job of head coach. He then led the team on a 22-game winning streak and MILL championships in 1992 and 1993. The streak included the entire 1993 season, during which the Bandits were 8-0, the only undefeated season in NLL/MILL history. The streak came to an end on February 19, 1994.
Bartley's only losing season as a professional lacrosse coach came in the 1995 season after going 3-5. In 1996, he coached the Bandits to their third championship in the MILL. After the 1997 season, Les left the Bandits after leading them to a 36–13 record in six seasons.
Toronto Rock
When the MILL became the NLL in 1998, the league added its first Canadian franchise: the Ontario Raiders, who played in Copps Coliseum in Hamilton, Ontario. Bartley, a native of nearby St. Catharines, Ontario, helped get the new franchise off the ground. In 1999, the Ontario Raiders moved to Toronto and became the Toronto Rock. Les coached the Rock to four championships in five years.
Prior to the 2005 season, Bartley lent his labour negotiation expertise to the league, helping the NLL to reach a collective bargaining agreement with the NLL players' association. On May 9, 2005, Bartley was named by the NLL as its Executive of the Year, and renamed its coach-of-the-year award the Les Bartley Trophy. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame at the 2006 NLL All-Star Game in Toronto.
In March 2007, the Toronto Rock announced a new award in honour of Bartley. The Les Bartley Award (not to be confused with the Les Bartley Award given by the league) will be "given annually to the Rock player that best exemplifies Les' emphasis on the importance of character and commitment to the team".
MILL/NLL head coaching statistics
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
! rowspan="2" |Team
! rowspan="2" |Season
! colspan="4" |Regular Season
! colspan="4" |Playoffs
! rowspan="2" |Playoff result
|-
!GC
!W
!L
!W%
!GC
!W
!L
!W%
|- style="background:#FDE910"
|Buffalo Bandits
|1992*
|5
|5
|0
|1.000
|3
|3
|0
|1.000
|Won North American Cup (PHI)
|- style="background:#FDE910"
|Buffalo Bandits
|1993
|8
|8
|0
|1.000
|2
|2
|0
|1.000
|Won North American Cup (PHI)
|-
|Buffalo Bandits
|1994
|8
|6
|2
|.750
|2
|1
|1
|.500
|Lost North American Cup (PHI)
|-
|Buffalo Bandits
|1995
|8
|3
|5
|.375
|1
|0
|1
|.000
|Lost Semifinal (PHI)
|- style="background:#FDE910"
|Buffalo Bandits
|1996
|10
|8
|2
|.800
|2
|2
|0
|1.000
|Won North American Cup (PHI)
|-
|Buffalo Bandits
|1997
|10
|6
|4
|.600
|2
|1
|1
|.500
|Lost North American Cup (ROC)
|-
|Ontario Raiders
|1998
|12
|6
|6
|.500
|–
|–
|–
|–
|Did not qualify
|- style="background:#FDE910"
|Toronto Rock
|1999
|12
|9
|3
|.750
|2
|2
|0
|1.000
|Won Champions' Cup (ROC)
|- style="background:#FDE910"
|Toronto Rock
|2000
|12
|9
|3
|.750
|2
|2
|0
|1.000
||Won Champions' Cup (ROC)
|-
|Toronto Rock
|2001
|14
|11
|3
|.786
|2
|1
|1
|.500
|Lost Champions' Cup (PHI)
|- style="background:#FDE910"
|Toronto Rock
|2002
|16
|11
|5
|.688
|2
|2
|0
|1.000
|Won Champions' Cup (ALB)
|- style="background:#FDE910"
|Toronto Rock
|2003
|16
|11
|5
|.688
|2
|2
|0
|1.000
|Won Champions' Cup (ROC)
|-
!Totals:
!12
!131
!93
!38
!.710
!22
!18
!4
!.818
!
|}
<small>* - Took over HC duties from Bob McCready</small>
References
External links
- Les's Fund
- Remembering Les (an obituary at the NLL website)