Ross began his career as a hockey coach in the midst of his playing days, when at age 25 he led the McGill University Redmen to a 4–2–1 record during the 1910–11 season. In 1915, Art Ross was the Coach of The Canadian Grenadier Guards Hockey Club. Following his playing career, Ross became a NHL referee. He was hired to coach the Hamilton Tigers for the 1922–23 season, and adopted new methods in training camp that emphasized physical fitness, including work off the ice. However, the Tigers finished with a record of six wins and eighteen losses, last in the NHL for the third successive year, and Ross did not return the next season. His next coaching appointment arose from meeting Boston grocery store magnate Charles Adams during the 1924 Stanley Cup Finals. Before the 1924 season, the NHL awarded Adams an expansion team. Adams' first move was to hire Ross as vice president, general manager, coach and scout. Adams instructed Ross to come up with a nickname portraying an untamed animal displaying speed, agility and cunning. With this in mind, Ross named the team the Boston Bruins, after the Old English word for a bear. The team's nickname went perfectly with the original colours of brown and yellow, which were the same colours of Adams' grocery chain, First National Stores.