[1] Jeans was known for his oratory and motivation skills as a coach and led St Kilda and Hawthorn to a total of four premierships.

Allan Jeans was recruited to St Kilda after playing in Finley Football Club's 1954 Murray Football League (MFL) senior premiership,[2] and he was also runner-up in the 1954 MFL O’Dwyer Medal.

He coached St Kilda to successive grand finals, in 1965 and 1966, including the Saints' first (and only) VFL premiership in 1966.

He coached them until 1990 (excluding a year off in 1988 due to brain injury) establishing them as the dominant VFL team of the 1980s, with premierships in 1983, 1986 and 1989 from seven consecutive grand finals.

Finally, he had a short-lived one-year stint at Richmond in 1992, winning only five out of 22 games.