Mike Krzyzewski Quotes & Sayings

Defense is one man guarding the ball and four others helping him — Mike Krzyzewski

Throughout my life, my mom has been the person that I've always looked up to. — Mike Krzyzewski

My mom gave me unconditional support and unfailing love. You can't get any better than that. That's why I've never been afraid to lose. — Mike Krzyzewski

I didn't miss any games, but Coach Knight came out and spent three days with my family in Chicago when my dad passed away. I came back and played and it was good therapy for me. Having a basketball family and a coach who understood and actually became like a father figure for that time was comforting to me, and I'm sure that will be comforting to Coleman. — Mike Krzyzewski

As teachers and coaches, we must remember that when mere winning is our only goal, we are doomed to disappointment and failure. But when our goal is to try to win, when our focus is on preparation and sacrifice and effort instead of on numbers on a scoreboard then we will never lose. — Mike Krzyzewski

Confidence shared is better than confidence only in yourself. — Mike Krzyzewski

Leaders have to give time for relationships. But more demands will be placed on their time as they become more successful. So if a person's success is based on developing relationships, then they have to continually find new ways of getting it done — Mike Krzyzewski

Leadership is an ever-evolving position. — Mike Krzyzewski

There are five fundamental qualities that make every team great: communication, trust, collective responsibility, caring and pride. I like to think of each as a separate finger on the fist. Any one individually is important. But all of them together are unbeatable — Mike Krzyzewski

Footwork is one of the primary prerequisites to becoming a great player — Mike Krzyzewski

Always get back to your core principles. — Mike Krzyzewski

When I was growing up, there weren't any Little Leagues in the city. Parents worked all the time. They didn't have time to take their kids out to play baseball and football. — Mike Krzyzewski

For a college basketball player or coach, to reach the Final Four is la-la land. You've achieved, you've got your stamp of approval. My first team to do that was in 1986. Then we did it in '88, '89 and '90. — Mike Krzyzewski

If you win a National Championship, or you win two, people think you have not only seen the Holy Grail, but you've embraced it. Basically, I do what a lot of people do, but I've been able to win. — Mike Krzyzewski

Talent is important. But the single most important ingredient after you get the talent is internal leadership. It's not the coaches as much as one single person or people on the team who set higher standards than that team would normally set for itself. I really believe that that's been ultimately important for us. — Mike Krzyzewski

I think you're not a human being unless you have doubts and fears. — Mike Krzyzewski

When you win, sometimes it overshadows a poor performance. — Mike Krzyzewski

Why do you play a game? I play a game to see how good we can be. — Mike Krzyzewski

I hated to lose. — Mike Krzyzewski

Believe that the loose ball that you are chasing has your name wirtten on it. — Mike Krzyzewski

Don't do anything as an individual that will make you stand out from your teammates. — Mike Krzyzewski

I'm fortunate now that I coach at Duke University and we've won a lot. I have some kids who haven't failed that much. But when they get to college, they're going to fail some time. That's a thing that I can help them the most with. — Mike Krzyzewski

The person who has inspired me my whole life is my Mom, because she taught me commitment. She sacrificed. — Mike Krzyzewski

You cannot merely expect culture to be a natural occurrence; it has to be taught and made a part of your everyday routine. — Mike Krzyzewski

In leadership, there are no words more important than trust. In any organization, trust must be developed among every member of the team if success is going to be achieved — Mike Krzyzewski

I don't think we surprise people. We try to out-execute them. — Mike Krzyzewski

It takes courage not only to make decisions, but to live with those decisions afterward — Mike Krzyzewski

When you first assemble a group, it's not a team right off the bat. It's only a collection of individuals — Mike Krzyzewski

I believe a big part of leadership is about winning the moment. — Mike Krzyzewski

I always wanted to teach. — Mike Krzyzewski

Leaders have to search for the heart on a team, because the person who has it can bring out the best in everybody else. — Mike Krzyzewski

Our goal is not to win. It's to play together and play hard. Then, winning takes care of itself. — Mike Krzyzewski

Courage gives a leader the ability to stand straight and not sway, no matter which way the wind blows. — Mike Krzyzewski

Never delegate. Always empower. — Mike Krzyzewski

When I had troubles, I'd go out with basketball - you can do it by yourself, too. So you'd go out and shoot, and you'd fantasize. — Mike Krzyzewski

Players' attention spans get less and less as they progress. — Mike Krzyzewski

That's why basketball was so good, because I didn't really need you or anyone else to play it. It would be better if we played four-on-four or five-on-five, but I could go out there alone. — Mike Krzyzewski

It's funny what happens when you become a grandparent. You start to act all goofy and do things you never thought you'd do. It's terrific. — Mike Krzyzewski

The best teams are team in any sport that lose themselves in the team. The individuals lose their identity. And their identities come about as a result of being in the team first. — Mike Krzyzewski

Even though we want huge individual egos, our collective ego is unbelievable. — Mike Krzyzewski

First of all, what happens is, when you're good at something, you spend a lot of time with it. People identify you with that sport, so it becomes part of your identity. — Mike Krzyzewski

In high school, in sport, I had a coach who told me I was much better than I thought I was, and would make me do more in a positive sense. He was the first person who taught me not to be afraid of failure. — Mike Krzyzewski

During critical periods, a leader is not allowed to feel sorry for himself, to be down, to be angry, or to be weak. Leaders must beat back these emotions — Mike Krzyzewski

I think leadership is never singular. In a good organization, it's plural. — Mike Krzyzewski

The worst thing we can do is put the (other) team in a one-and-one. — Mike Krzyzewski

Everybody wants to take responsibility when you win, but when you fail, all these fingers are pointing. — Mike Krzyzewski

Play and practice like you are trying to make the team. — Mike Krzyzewski

I've been so fortunate in my life that my family has never been jealous of my success. They have shown true love and commitment to me by being supportive. They shared in it. — Mike Krzyzewski

When you are passionate, you always have your destination in sight and you are not distracted by obstacles. Because you love what you are pursuing, things like rejection and setbacks will not hinder you in your pursuit. You believe that nothing can stop you! — Mike Krzyzewski

Fun is to experience things you would not have been able to experience in any other setting. — Mike Krzyzewski

To me, teamwork is the beauty of our sport, where you have five acting as one. You become selfless. — Mike Krzyzewski

I love practice. It is when a coach exercises the most control over the improvement of his or her team. — Mike Krzyzewski

Playing sport was somewhat frivolous, but I liked it. I rebelled a little bit, and wouldn't go to music lessons and things like that, but I would go and play ball. My parents learned to love it because they saw how much I got out of it. — Mike Krzyzewski

I'm looking for players who make their teammates better. You do that with enthusiasm and passion. — Mike Krzyzewski

When you are speaking to your team after a game, never talk about the kid who was the star of the game. Talk about what your other players did to help the team win. Be sure to spread the wealth ... Then have individual meetings with one to three players to praise and reinforce. Make sure you touch them. — Mike Krzyzewski

Good sound habits are more important than rules - use concepts. — Mike Krzyzewski

You don't just be a team. You become a team. Through tough games you find that you need each other — Mike Krzyzewski

A leader has to be positive about all things that happen to his team. Look at nothing in the past as failure. — Mike Krzyzewski

That's what I do now: I lead and I teach. If we win basketball games from doing that, then that's great, but I lead and teach. Those are the two things I concentrate on. — Mike Krzyzewski

In all forms of leadership, whether you are a coach, a CEO, or a parent, there are four words that, when said, can bring out the best in your team, your employees, and your family. I BELIEVE IN YOU. Those four words can mean the difference between a fear of failure and the courage to try. — Mike Krzyzewski

Two are better than one if two act as one. — Mike Krzyzewski

Pete Newell told me 'get as much information and learn as much about the game as you can, but use your own personality to teach it.' — Mike Krzyzewski

I don't think you play for other people's expectations, you know. You don't go and become a lawyer because your mother or father want you to, you don't become a coach because somebody wants you to. — Mike Krzyzewski

I don't look at myself as a basketball coach. I look at myself as a leader who happens to coach basketball. — Mike Krzyzewski

Leaders show respect for people by giving them time. — Mike Krzyzewski

The team that trusts-their leader and each other-is more likely to be successful. — Mike Krzyzewski

Almost everything in leadership comes back to relationships. — Mike Krzyzewski

The only way you're going to grow is to be in difficult situations. — Mike Krzyzewski

Friendships, along with love, make life worth living. — Mike Krzyzewski

If you have talent with teamwork, you've got a chance to be a championship team. — Mike Krzyzewski

Goals should be realistic, attainable, and shared among all members of the team — Mike Krzyzewski

The other thing I knew I had was a high level of competitiveness. — Mike Krzyzewski

Each group and each youngster is different. As a leader or coach, you get to know what they need. — Mike Krzyzewski

One of the worst things anybody can do is assume. I think fools assume. If people have really got it together, they never assume anything. They believe, they work hard, and they prepare- but they don't assume. — Mike Krzyzewski

Actually, the Kentucky moment was better than winning the two National Championships, because it was the epitome of what I try to get from a team in a crisis situation. — Mike Krzyzewski

A basketball team is like the five fingers on your hand. If you can get them all together, you have a fist. That's how I want you to play. — Mike Krzyzewski

It's simply doing what you're supposed to do as well as you can when you're supposed to do it. — Mike Krzyzewski

Discipline is doing what you are supposed to do in the best possible manner at the time you are supposed to do it. — Mike Krzyzewski

Sometimes it's not bad to hurt. Sometimes you don't want things until you get hurt. We got hurt today, let's see what we do. — Mike Krzyzewski

In our program, the truth is the basis of all we do. There is nothing more important than the truth because there's nothing more powerful than the truth. Consequently, on our team, we always tell each other the truth. We must be honest with one another. There is no other way. — Mike Krzyzewski

That's another thing, we made up games. We didn't have equipment. When it snowed, we would play slow motion tackle football. We would play hockey, but we wouldn't skate. We just made things up. I loved doing that. — Mike Krzyzewski

I have a plan of action, but the game is a game of adjustments. — Mike Krzyzewski

Visualize a wagon wheel as a complete team. A leader might be the hub of the wheel at the center. Now suppose the spokes are the connecting relationships the leader is building with people on the outer rim of the wheel. If the hub is removed, then the entire wheel collapses. In a situation like that, if a team loses the leader, the entire team collapses. — Mike Krzyzewski

Therefore, as a player, as a coach, even though we might have lost in a season or not won a championship, it was like a self-fulfilling prophecy that I'm going to win some time. I've never felt myself a loser. — Mike Krzyzewski

You start developing a championship attitude by, first of all, telling kids that they are really good and that they have the potential to become better. — Mike Krzyzewski

I'm still not a great reader, but my wife is and my daughters are, and I envy them. I think I got into a bad habit of trying to do something all the time, instead of trying to sit down and take my time a little bit. — Mike Krzyzewski

You should do things because of what your expectations are of yourself. — Mike Krzyzewski

I always won in my imagination. I always hit the game-winning shot, or I hit the free throw. Or if I missed, there was a lane violation, and I was given another one. — Mike Krzyzewski

There are always those times when you're going to be down. It's how you step through it that makes you the person you are. — Mike Krzyzewski

Turning down the Lakers was tough, but it is always good to renew your vows to the loves of your life. — Mike Krzyzewski

You can see and you can listen, but you have to have moments in which you feel. — Mike Krzyzewski

You develop a team to achieve what one person cannot accomplish alone. All of us alone are weaker, by far, than if all of us are together. — Mike Krzyzewski

A leader is someone who puts their people in position to be successful all the time — Mike Krzyzewski

The truth is that many people set rules to keep from making decisions. — Mike Krzyzewski

In order to be a winner, you have to look for ways of getting things done and not for reasons why things can't be done. People who live with excuses have things that can't be done hovering around them all the time. — Mike Krzyzewski

Confrontation simply means meeting the truth head-on. — Mike Krzyzewski

If the only reason I coached was to win basketball games, my life would be pretty shallow — Mike Krzyzewski

In developing teams, I don't believe in rules. I believe in standards. Rules don't promote teamwork, standards do — Mike Krzyzewski

Champions play as they practice. Create a consistency of excellence in all your habits. — Mike Krzyzewski

I think coaching is confused at times as being an arrow that only goes to a player. Those players send arrows back to you, and that's where a relationship is developed. I don't make a player, and a player doesn't make me a coach. We make each other. — Mike Krzyzewski