Top 20 Coach’s Quotes
By Joe Brown
Love of Sports Corespondent
Some are funny. Others are moving and inspiring.
Professional coaches, both real and fictional, have provided some memorable quotes through the years. Some on this list will be expected. Others? Maybe not.
For the record, there’s no method to my madness for #20 through #2. Any one of these could fit in another slot within those spots.
What matters to me is my #1 ranked quote. I’m not too proud to say this one makes the glasses fog up when it’s on.
Don’t lie, it does for you, too.
We all have our favorites, so I know I left some out. Go ahead and share which quotes you think should be on here. Enjoy!
Top 20 Coach’s Quotes
20. Coach Norman Dale, Hoosiers
“You know, in the 10 years that I coached, I never met anybody who wanted to win as badly as I did. I’d do anything I had to do to increase my advantage. Anybody who tried to block the pursuit of that advantage, I’d just push ‘em out of the way. Didn’t matter who they were or what they were doing. But that was then. You have special talent, a gift. Not the school’s, not the townspeople, not the team’s, not Myra Fleener’s, not mine. It’s yours, to do with what you choose. Because that’s what I believe, I can tell you this: I don’t care if you play on the team or not.”
19. John Wooden, UCLA Bruins
“Make sure that team members know they are working with you, not for you.”
18. Sparky Anderson, Cincinnati Reds
“People who live in the past generally are afraid to compete in the present. I’ve got my faults, but living in the past is not one of them. There’s no future in it.”
17. Jim Mora, Indianapolis Colts
“You can’t turn it over five times. Holy crap. I don’t know who the hell we think we are when we do something like that ... We’ve thrown [five] interceptions returned for touchdowns. That might be a league record. And we’ve still got six games left, so there’s no telling how many we’ll have. I mean, it’s absolutely pitiful to play like that . . . Horrible. Just horrible. Horrible.”
Playoffs? Don’t talk about playoffs. Are you kidding me? Playoffs? I’m just hoping we can win a game, another game.”
16. Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State Cowboys
“Come after me! I’m a man! I’m 40!”
15. Paul “Bear” Bryant, Alabama Crimson Tide
“Never quit. It is the easiest cop-out in the world. Set a goal and don’t quit until you attain it. When you do attain it, set another goal, and don’t quit until you reach it. Never quit.”
14. Jim Valvano, N.C. State Wolfpack
“My father gave me the greatest gift anyone could give another person, he believed in me.”
13. Eddie Robinson, Grambling State Tigers
”Leadership, like coaching, is fighting for the hearts and souls of men and getting them to believe in you.”
12. Steve Spurrier, Florida Gators
Telling Gator fans that a fire at Auburn’s football dorm had destroyed 20 books: “But the real tragedy was that 15 hadn’t been colored yet.”
11. Knute Rockne, Notre Dame Fighting Irish
“One man practicing sportsmanship is far better than 50 preaching it.”
10. Dennis Green, Arizona Cardinals
”They are who we thought they were, and we let em’ off the hook!”
Side Note: Those Coors Light commercials are some of the best around. Great response to Bud Light’s “Real Men of Genius” ads.
9. John Madden, Oakland Raiders
”The only yardstick for success our society has is being a champion. No one remembers anything else.”
Side note: I don’t think he’ll ever be confused with the sharpest knife in the drawer. If it wasn’t for Madden we wouldn’t have the hilarious Frank Caliendo impersonations. Also, I’m sure you can come up with some decent adult beverage games whenever he’s announcing a Brett Favre game.
8. Mike Ditka, Chicago Bears
”Success isn’t measured by money or power or social rank. Success is measured by your discipline and inner peace.”
7. Yogi Berra, New York Yankees
”It ain’t over ‘til it’s over.” (Overused by most of us, but a classic nonetheless.)
6. Yogi Berra, New York Yankees
”Always go to other people’s funerals. Otherwise, they won’t go to yours.” (Gotta give Yogi props for a couple quotes, because he probably has more of them than anyone.)
5. Bobby Knight, Indiana Hoosiers
”When my time on Earth is gone, and my activities here are passed, I want them to bury me upside down, and my critics can kiss my ass.”
4. Red Auerbach, Boston Celtics
”He who believes in nobody knows that he himself is not to be trusted.”
3. Vince Lombardi, Green Bay Packers
“I’ve never known a man worth his salt who, in the long run, deep down in his heart, didn’t appreciate the grind … the discipline. I firmly believe that any man’s finest hour - this greatest fulfillment to all he holds dear - is that moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle, victorious.”
2. Woody Hayes, Ohio State Buckeyes
“I’ve had smarter people around me all my life, but I haven’t run into one yet that can outwork me. And if they can’t outwork you, then smarts aren’t going to do them much good. That’s just the way it is. And if you believe that and live by it, you’d be surprised at how much fun you can have.”
1. Jim Valvano, N.C. State Wolfpack
”To me, there are three things we all should do every day. We should do this every day of our lives. Number one is laugh. You should laugh every day. Number two is think. You should spend some time in thought. And number three is, you should have your emotions moved to tears, could be happiness or joy. But think about it. If you laugh, you think and you cry, that’s a full day. That’s a heck of a day. You do that seven days a week, you’re going to have something special.”
And of course, the classic: “Don’t give up, don’t every give up”
Side note: We probably all remember as he was giving his speech, a director in the background flashed him the “30 second” sign to let him know his speech was winding down. Valvano responded as only he could …
“Like I care about that screen right now, huh?” he said with a big smile and a chuckle. “I got tumors all over my body. I’m worried about some guy in the back going ‘30 seconds’? Hey, finabla, pal!”
The way he said it is what gave a true glimpse into the type of person he was. He didn’t say it with annoyance and anger towards the guy doing his job. Instead, he said it with an eerie calm and sharp sense of humor. A true man of genius.
OTHER TOP STORIES
--Marion Barber .. Bigger, Faster, Stronger, Barber
--The 20 Most Appropriate Athlete Names
Comments
Ruge on 09/04 at 11:22 AM
Your list is terrific! Your intro was right on and you nailed #1. Here are my additions:
Jimmy Dougan “A League Of Their Own” - (During pre-game prayer) ..."May our feet be swift, may our bats be mighty, and may our balls… be plentiful...”
Lou Brown “Major League” - “You may run like Hayes, but you hit like sh*t!”
And proving reality is stranger than fiction, Jim Mora in his lesser-publicized tirade:
“We couldn’t do diddly poo offensively. We couldn’t make a first down, we couldn’t run the ball, we didn’t try to run the ball, we couldn’t complete a pass. We sucked sh*t. The second half we sucked sh*t. We couldn’t stop the run, every time they got the ball they went down and got points, we got our ass totally kicked in the second half. It was a horse sh*t performance in the second half, a horse sh*t. I’m totally embarrassed and totally ashamed. Coaching, our coaching did a horrible job, the players did a horrible job, we got our asses kicked in that second half. It sucked sh*t.”
nutinbutnet on 09/04 at 11:39 AM
Sweet list man....liked adding in the classics like Jimmy V and also the modern ones like the okl. state coach and the dennis green/jim mora meltdowns!
Joe on 09/05 at 03:09 AM
Good Call Ruge on those additions! Especially that Mora one....who says “diddly poo” to open the speech and then drops a bunch of sh*t bombs??
Chris on 09/09 at 07:36 PM
What? No John McKay quotes???
In response to a question about the team’s execution: “I’m all for it.”
“We didn’t tackle well today but we made up for it by not blocking.”
After the Bucs broke their 26-game losing streak: “Three or four plane crashes and we’re in the playoffs.”
Charlie on 09/10 at 08:43 AM
Ever hear of Herb Brooks?
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