Rick Pitino Quotes & Sayings

Football is only once a week. NASCAR is once a week. Those sports are insanely popular. Horse racing is oversaturated. Unless tracks cut back to three days a week of full fields, a lot of people will really hurt down the road. Horse racing, to survive, has to go to that. Let's face it: Churchill Downs only does well on Derby Week. — Rick Pitino

Tackle the difficult things first in the morning; make changes in the way you network. Treat everyone with respect and dignity. This stops you from cynicism and negativity. End your day with that same attitude you started. Renew your contract with a day well completed. — Rick Pitino

Nothing meaningful or lasting comes without working hard at it. — Rick Pitino

The basic premise of my system is to fatigue your opponents with constant pressure defensively and constant movement offensively. — Rick Pitino

Humility is the true key to success. Successful people lose their way at times. They often embrace and overindulge from the fruits of success. Humility halts this arrogance and self-indulging trap. Humble people share the credit and wealth, remaining focused and hungry to continue the journey of success. — Rick Pitino

Excellence is the unlimited ability to improve the quality of what you have to offer. — Rick Pitino

Postponing action is only postponing achievement. — Rick Pitino

You are trying not only to reach your potential but to move beyond it. If you are not in the best shape you can be, these things simply become more difficult to achieve. — Rick Pitino

If you are not willing to work hard and establish discipline in your life, then all your dreams are merely pipe dreams. — Rick Pitino

Passion and hunger are the two ingredients that I look for in first making the judgment on - whether an athlete, an assistant coach, or a horse trainer or anybody I do business with. — Rick Pitino

I care what people think, but it doesn't change my opinion of how to do things. — Rick Pitino

The bone's 6 inches out of his leg and all he's yelling is, 'Win the game, win the game.' I've not seen that in my life. Pretty special young man. I don't think we could have gathered ourselves - I know I couldn't have - if Kevin didn't say over and over again, 'Just go win the game,' I don't think we could have gone in the locker room with a loss after seeing that. We had to gather ourselves. We couldn't lose this game for him. We just couldn't. — Rick Pitino

Self-esteem is directly linked to deserving success. You must deserve victory to feel good about yourself. — Rick Pitino

I actually think if you have a strong junior class, that's the best possible scenario. In their senior year, guys who are on the threshold of making it to the NBA start getting preoccupied in their thoughts elsewhere more than concerning themselves with the present. The junior class is the perfect age. — Rick Pitino

Set higher standards for your own performance than anyone else around you, and your only competition will be with yourself — Rick Pitino

When you coach Russ Smith, you have a nervous breakdown on every possession. He's not from a different country. He's from a different planet. — Rick Pitino

People with high self esteem are risk takers, but more importantly, they are achievers. — Rick Pitino

I loved going to the Knicks because we won the Atlantic Division championship. We went from winning 21 games or 19 games to winning 52 games in a short period of time. I loved coaching Patrick Ewing and Charles Oakley and all those guys. — Rick Pitino

Learning what not to do is sometimes more important than learning what to do. — Rick Pitino

When you build bridges you can keep crossing them. — Rick Pitino

I can say that hands down from being in this business 32 years; we're going to be much better than we were last year just because there's eight new players that now have experience and Palacios will be healthy. — Rick Pitino

Basketball is my passion, and I love it, and I love to see my players succeed. I'm here for them and my children. That's my passion. — Rick Pitino

Inferior guards play on the sidelines and great guards play in the middle. Isiah, Magic, Chris Paul, all get to the middle — Rick Pitino

Lying makes a problem part of the future; truth makes a problem part of the past. — Rick Pitino

One thing I've learned to do with my age, I really don't look ahead. For years, I've been preaching the precious present and having to always subscribe to it. — Rick Pitino

Learning to live in the present tense-one that's free from the failures of the past and the anxieties of the future-is a wonderful gift, and one you always should be striving for. — Rick Pitino

Failure is good. It's fertilizer. Everything I've learned about coaching, I've learned from making mistakes. — Rick Pitino

I just don't deal with the negativity. I can't get involved in that side of it. I don't understand it, and you can't let it take away from your life and what you are trying to do. — Rick Pitino

It could happen to anyone when you get hired by a different president. There's a difference in philosophies. It happens. It's a change in CEOs. They have their own people, their own philosophies, and it's different than what Bob stands for. — Rick Pitino

I give myself 24 hours after a loss. After that, I'm totally on to the next game. But for 24 hours, I'm not a happy man. — Rick Pitino

Technology is a compulsive and addictive way to live. Verbal communication cannot be lost because of a lack of skill. The ability to listen and learn is key to mastering the art of communication. If you don't use your verbal skills and networking, it will disappear rapidly. Use technology wisely. — Rick Pitino

What I've found in my life with our children is that often you can give them advice and tell them to eat the right things, stay in shape and wear sunscreen, and they don't really want to listen. But then they hear it from someone else, and they do listen. — Rick Pitino

I am a slow walker," Lincoln said. "But I never walk backwards. — Rick Pitino

When it comes to team dynamics - on a basketball court or in a corporate setting - maintaining a positive atmosphere is crucial. — Rick Pitino

Long term success is a direct result of what you achieve everyday. Goals provide your daily routine — Rick Pitino

Basketball has consumed me since the age of 7 or 8. I don't know what I would do without it. — Rick Pitino

I ignore the jealous, I ignore the malicious, I ignore the ignorant, and I ignore the paranoid. If the shoe fits anyone, wear it. — Rick Pitino

Doubt is one of the main paths on the highway to failure. — Rick Pitino

When you have a problem, if you tell the truth, the problem becomes part of your past. If you lie, it becomes part of your future. — Rick Pitino

A lot of people always use the term, 'I'm so blessed.' Most of it they believe is true. — Rick Pitino

The key to coaching is not what you do, but the way you do it. The intangibles, the motivational parts of the game are the most important facets of it. — Rick Pitino

I'm at the stage of my career when it's not only about winning and developing players, it's about having fun. That's a void in your life right now, but it's something you're going to have here. — Rick Pitino

This is not the beginning of American civilization where we need guns because it's the Wild, Wild West ... There should not be guns in our society, and we all know that; politicians know that. — Rick Pitino

All good things have to come to an end, and the male cheerleader has come to an end — Rick Pitino

Ego is the greatest killer of one's potential — Rick Pitino

I'd learned how much happiness money can bring you. Very little. — Rick Pitino

When love and discipline come together you have great chemistry. — Rick Pitino

Make incremental progress, change comes not by the yard, but by the inch. — Rick Pitino

He knew I enjoyed the relationships of college basketball. All along, he was the wise one. — Rick Pitino

The term 'overachiever' sort of makes it look like the person has mediocre talent and he just works so hard that he achieves beyond what you would think. 'Overachiever' is sort of a - it's sort of an incorrect term. An overachiever is someone that's just willing to pay the price to get so much more out of his performance. — Rick Pitino

After September 11, I don't think people really believe things like this are all that important. — Rick Pitino

If I didn't have a recruiting engagement, I was going to be here. I did everything possible to change the recruiting thing. I'm a very small part of this night, but I did want to be a part of it. — Rick Pitino

True motivation is not getting people to play to their potential. It's getting people to play beyond their potential — Rick Pitino

The only way to get people to like working hard is to motivate them. Today, people must understand why they're working hard. Every individual in an organization is motivated by something different. — Rick Pitino

The more you lose, the more positive you have to become. When you're winning, you can ride players harder because their self-esteem is high. If you are losing and you try to be tough, you're asking for dissension. — Rick Pitino

If I had one regret in life ... it's that I was not more humble at an earlier age. — Rick Pitino

It's better to have a good player with the basketball in late game situations than to have plays. — Rick Pitino

Those who work the hardest are the last to surrender. — Rick Pitino

Coaches are bridge builders. It's our job to build a bridge for our athletes to cross over. — Rick Pitino

At Boston University, I motivated negatively, and I found that although it can work at first, by the end of the year everyone is dying for the year to end and you have lost them. The last two years at BU, I motivated positively and got much better results. — Rick Pitino

Avoid cynical and negative people like the plague. They are killers of potential. — Rick Pitino

Success is determined by your daily choices and habits — Rick Pitino

I never thought that shoes would be the reason that you recruit players, but it's a factor. I think we need to get the shoe companies out of the lives of the athletes. I think we need to get it back to where parents and coaches have more of a say than peripheral people, but that's easier said than done. — Rick Pitino

The one thing I've always said: Let your family and close friends be the judge of who you are as a person. Don't worry about being judged by others who don't know you, because your family and close friends know what you're all about, good and bad. — Rick Pitino

Working hard is not always fun - that's why it is called work. — Rick Pitino

I'd tell any coach not to move for money ... Stay at your job if you're really happy. — Rick Pitino

Humility is what makes teams great. I've preached it for a long period of time. — Rick Pitino

Set higher standards for you own performance than anyone around you, and it won't matter whether you have a tough boss or an easy one. It won't matter whether the competition is pushing you hard, because you'll be competing with yourself. — Rick Pitino

I plan to coach at University of Louisville for as long as I can maintain the passion I have for the game of basketball. I don't want to coach anywhere else. I don't believe in anything else as much as I believe in this university and this state. I want to coach as long as they will have me. — Rick Pitino

I think I do regret leaving Kentucky because I took over a team with 15 wins banking everything on the Tim Duncan lottery, and once we didn't get Tim Duncan, I realized that leaving Kentucky was not a good move. — Rick Pitino

I learned quickly that motivating people would be the most important responsibility of my career. — Rick Pitino

I don't get into these petty things, Kentucky-Louisville. To me, it's nonsense ... There will be people at Kentucky that will have a nervous breakdown if they lose to us ... They've got to put the fences up on bridges. There will be people consumed by Louisville. — Rick Pitino

I try not to get too low. I fight adversity as hard as I can fight it, not to get too low. When good things happen, I don't really embrace it. I just say it's a lucky day. — Rick Pitino

When you describe passion at any age, passion is derived from everything, from the people you work with to enjoying the last years. — Rick Pitino

The other guys just caught lightning in a bottle with a great game. — Rick Pitino

Live in the precious present. — Rick Pitino

Dreamers are not content with being mediocre. — Rick Pitino

Francisco Garcia could have been a high draft choice last year, probably in the 20s. He's the best wing player I've ever coached. But he's done it the right way. He knew he had to work on his body to become a good pro. When he goes into the pros, he'll be physically ready. — Rick Pitino

Never let anyone out work you or out hustle you. Ever. — Rick Pitino