Quotes & Sayings About A Basketball Coach

No matter how you total success in the coaching profession it all comes down to a single factor - talent. There may be a hundred great coaches of whom you have never heard in basketball, football, or any sport who will probably never receive the acclaim they deserve simply because they have not been blessed with the talent. Although not every coach can win consistently with talent, no coach can win without it. — John Wooden

As a coach, you're just trying to figure out how to keep a team on edge. You've got to find that edge. — Don Meyer

What makes a good coach? Complete dedication. — George Halas

True basketball coaches are great teachers and you do not humiliate, you do not physically go after, you do not push or shove, you do not berate, if you are a true coach. If you humiliate or curse them, that won't do it. Coaches like that are not coaches. — Morgan Wootten

Coach Wooden, when he speaks, you listen. I've taken a lot of things from him and his little blue book because to him, it's not just about basketball, it's about life as well. — Kevin Love

I concluded some time ago that a major part of success of a team, or of an individual, has a great deal to do with the intangible qualities possessed. The real key is in how a person see himself (humility), how he feels about what he does (passion), how he works with others (unity), how he makes others better (servanthood), and how he deals with frustration and success, truly learning from each situations (thankfulness). I believe those concepts are the essence of a good player, team, coach, or individual in any capacity in life. — Dick Bennett

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

I'm just right down the middle, man, ... It doesn't matter to me. I'd love him (Phil Jackson) as a coach. It doesn't matter to me. If they want him here, he'll be here. If he wants to come, he'll come, he'll coach and we'll go from there. — Kobe Bryant

Oh, you know. I'm queen of the rumor mill. It seems like there's been a new rumor about me every week since I got here. Comes with being the new girl, I guess. Have you heard the one where I seduced the basketball coach? That's a personal favorite. — Cynthia Hand

The basketball coach cut me within two days, so I was back in the pool. I was the first one in the wall after the first 25 yards, but the last one out because I didn't have a flip turn. — Merlin Olsen

You must have a passion to coach. — Rick Majerus

When players are used to winning, they put out a little more. Basketball 3rd winningest coach (regular season and playoffs) in NBA history; won 1,037 times in 20 years; — Red Auerbach

X & O's aren't worth a damn without a team. If your team isn't with you it doesn't matter what you draw up. The team must respect what the coach is asking them to do — Hubie Brown

I was always making decisions and they were easier decisions because I had control of the game, I had control of the ball. As a coach you sort of put the ball in other player's hands and let them make decisions for you. But I still get a kick out of winning basketball games and that's what I'm in this for. — Larry Bird

The greatest sin a coach can commit is to allow kids to slide by. This goes for the classroom as well as the court — Hubie Brown

A team should be an extension of a coach's personality. My teams are arrogant and obnoxious. — Al McGuire

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

Players draw confidence from a poised, alert coach who anticipates changing in game conditions — Jack Ramsay

Your contribution as a coach is defending and rebounding. — Dick Motta

I'm a lot better coach when I have really good players — Chuck Daly

I have an incredible amount of basketball knowledge, and I think a lot of that is derived from having a Hall of Fame college basketball coach who was very knowledgeable of the game and I had a great high school coach who was also very knowledgeable. — Alonzo Mourning

Coach McConaughy grabbed the whistle swinging from a chain around his neck and blew it. "Seats,
team!" Coach considered teaching tenthgrade
biology a side assignment to his job as varsity basketball
coach, and we all knew it.
"It may not have occurred to you kids that sex is more than a fifteenminute
trip to the backseat of a car.
It's science. And what is science?"
"Boring," some kid in the back of the room called out.
"The only class I'm failing," said another. — Becca Fitzpatrick

So you're dealing with a coach, and you're dealing with a guy who's actually experienced NBA basketball from a player's perspective and actually goes about it that way. — Kevin Garnett

I've never felt my job was to win basketball games - rather, that the essence of my job as a coach was to do everything I could to give my players the background necessary to succeed in life. — Bobby Knight

John Wooden, the legendary basketball coach, says you aren't a failure until you start to blame. — Carol S. Dweck

If a Coach is determined to stay in the coaching profession, he will develop from year to year. This much is true, no coach has a monopoly on the knowledge of basketball. There are no secrets in the game. The only secrets, if there are any, are good teaching of sound fundamentals, intelligent handling of men, a sound system of play, and the ability to instill in the boys a desire to win. — Adolph Rupp

Any old coach will say the game was meant for finesse. It's a beautiful game, especially on television. — Dean Smith

Building relationships is the key for being happy as a coach. Players must want to play for you. If they are comfortable with you, they will work hard for you. — Mike McConathy

Coach John Wooden20, one of the best basketball coaches and teachers of all time. To be effective teachers, he tells us "we have not taught students, until they have learned." We shouldn't judge our effectiveness by how much we teach, what we teach, and how we teach. Rather, we make a positive judgment if we've approached students every day knowing that our success depends on how well students learn. — Janet Pilcher

You know how when you step on court your coach is like "go go go!"? And all throughout you just keep telling yourself to hit harder and harder and keep at it? You know how much you treasure those five-minute timeouts? You know how good you feel at the end of a session? You know how you're glad you're tired? No pills, no shots, just plain energy. I want to work like that. Whether I have to write ten thousand words or send five hundred emails, brainstorm for hours at a time, I want to have that energy. To keep fighting. To know it's all worth it.
Oh, yeah. That's my perfect day. — Thisuri Wanniarachchi

When I went to Catholic high school in Philadelphia, we just had one coach for football and basketball. He took all of us who turned out and had us run through a forest. The ones who ran into the trees were on the football team. — George Raveling

Anytime you're playing basketball, and you have a coach who you have to respect, you've got to be very disciplined. — Romeo Miller

You don't win games as a coach during games. You win games as a coach before games. Players win during games, not coaches — Red Auerbach

I would never recruit a player who yells at his teammates, disrespected his high school coach, or scores 33 points a game and his team goes 10-10. — Dean Smith

In 2001 we didn't have all the talent in the world, we just had me on offense and just a bunch of tough ass dudes, and a great coach in Larry Brown. — Allen Iverson

What excites me the most is when a coach calls a timeout and chews out his forward because I just dunked on his head. — Karl Malone

Many of the most successful coaches and managers have come from players who never reached the highest level. The one exception seems to be basketball, where many of the greatest stars at least tried to coach a team. — George Vecsey

Famed basketball coach Phil Jackson, a meditator himself, arranged to have his players - first the Chicago Bulls, and then the L.A. Lakers - learn meditation as a way to improve their focus and teamwork. Jackson finds that mindfulness assists players in paying attention to what's happening on the court moment by moment. Such precise training in attention has paid off during tense playoffs; Jackson has led more teams to championships than any coach in NBA history. Meditation — Sharon Salzberg

I've had a desire to coach for years. This was something I felt I should do. — Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

The night before my amputation, my former basketball coach brought me a magazine with an article on an amputee who ran in the New York Marathon. It was then I decided to meet this new challenge head on and not only overcome my disability, but conquer it in such a way that I could never look back and say it disabled me. — Terry Fox

I grew up in a small town in Illinois, and my dad was a basketball coach. Thanks to him, I have excellent fundamentals in both basketball and baseball. — Nick Offerman

When you're a coach you've got to go up the ladder, you've got to be ready to travel. That's the nature of coaching — Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

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

My dad was a huge basketball influence in my life on and off the court. Playing for him and having him around, having him push me harder than maybe another coach would have was a huge blessing for me. Getting to play with my brother was an unreal experience at Oklahoma, in college, it's some of the funnest times I've had in basketball, and I'll cherish those memories forever. — Blake Griffin

All great athletes essentially come to a fork in the road where they have to change their approach to succeed. It's a sign of intelligence and character. My college coach, Jack Hartman, made me play only defense for a full year in practice when I became academically ineligible for my junior year at Southern Illinois. Embarrassed, I thought at first about arguing with Coach Hartman over what I felt was a tremendous slight. But instead I started lifting weights and working so hard on my defense that my teammates hated to see me match up against them in practice. That was the turning point of my life, on and off the court. — Walt Frazier

I am not a strategic coach; I am a practice coach. — John Wooden

Perhaps the toughest call for a coach is weighing what is best for an individual against what is best for the team. Keeping a player on the roster just because I liked him personally, or even because of his great contributions to the team in the past, when I felt some one else could do more for the team would be a disservice to the team's goals. — Tom Landry

The idea of going back to basketball drills made her stomach tighten, but she stood up on her tiptoes and leaned into Jay, whispering against his cheek. "I got your note last night. Would've been better if I'd have found you in my bed instead."
Jay groaned and grabbed her by the shoulders. There was the hint of accusation buried behind his breathy chuckle as he set her away from him. "You're playing with fire, Vi. You shouldn't tease me at school. Besides, I think if I hid in your room, your father - check that, your mother - would skin me alive."
Violet heard the coach shouting her name, and she knew she'd be getting a demerit for slacking off. But she didn't care.
She flashed him her most wolfish smile. "Next time, you should totally take that chance. It could've been fun," she promised before sauntering away. — Kimberly Derting

Practice gotta be harder than the games and it never is unless you want it to be as a player. The coach can't drive that — John Calipari

My teammates at Duke - all of them, black and white - were a band of brothers who came together to play at the highest level for the best coach in basketball. — Grant Hill

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

I tried to teach them [his sons] that about the importance of self-discipline, and that the culture of yes is built on a foundation of no. — Bill Walton

I am very excited to be the head women's basketball coach at Beloit College, ... This is a great opportunity for me. I am looking forward to putting my stamp on the program. I am confident that I can and will be successful here. — Don Adams

A good coach improves your game. A great coach improves your life. — Michael Josephson

I grew up in Arkansas and that's the law. My dad was a high school basketball coach, so I was raised as a coach's son and I was a baseball player back in Arkansas, and I lived in Texas, too, so I was just surrounded by sports. So that's what I was going to do: Pitch for the St Louis Cardinals. I had no idea I was going to be an actor. So I got my collar bone broken in the Kansas City Royals training camp. And once I got hurt I started doing other things for a while. — Billy Bob Thornton

Everyone needs a coach. It doesn't matter whether you're a basketball player, a tennis player, a gymnast or a bridge player. — Bill Gates

In all the research you do as a coach, studying other coaches and championship-type situations, you find that all those teams combined talent with great defense. You've got to stop other teams to win. — Pat Riley

I was a much better writer than I was an athlete. My college coach told me flat out, he said, "Deford, you write basketball better than you play it." — Frank Deford

He looks like a woman coach sometimes. I guess he's just trying to get into certain people's heads, but it won't work with me. Like a woman who coaches and cries all the time. He can't get in my head. He's a crybaby. — Shaquille O'Neal

You need a teaching coach who understands the game of basketball, not just some guy coming on the court talking about Xs and Os. — Oscar Robertson

I think in college they give you a chance to really mature, form yourself and build relationships. I think that's what a team is all about, and when you build relationships, it shows on the court and that brings out success. I love the whole attitude of staying in college to take advantage of a free education. I just felt like Kentucky wasn't a fit for me. The whole attitude and approach of the one-and-dones, that's good for them, that's their decision. But I think [Duke] Coach [Mike Krzyzewski] is a guru of basketball. I want to learn from one of the best. — Jabari Parker

You never realize the value of coaching until your children play for a coach — Don Meyer

A Coach must never forget that he is a leader and not merely a person with authority. — John Wooden

I'm not really a big X's and O's guy, but if you want to go there, I'm more of a space-the-floor type of coach: Five out, zero in, and that's the way we play basketball, screen and roll here and there, pocket passes everywhere; it's what it's about. — Kyrie Irving

In his sophomore year Wilbanks tried out for the high school basketball team and made it. On the first day of practice his coach had him play one-on-one while the team observed. When he missed an easy shot, he became angry and stomped and whined. The coach walked over to him and said, "You pull a stunt like that again and you'll never play for my team." For the next three years he never lost control again. Years later, as he reflected back on this incident, he realized that the coach had taught him a life-changing principle that day: anger can be controlled. — Lynn G. Robbins

Flip's a player's coach, and I do know one thing, he motivates better than anybody I know. His system is very oriented around the point guard. He and Steph (Marbury) had a great relationship when Steph was in Minnesota. — Kevin Garnett

I probably would have no capability of absorbing a 60-defeat season as a coach. It would be a foreign experience. My whole career, even as a player, has been on winning basketball clubs and it just seems to have been a part of the make-up of what's been given me. That's what I've been given and that's what I've had to deal with. Some people can make fun of it or some people can have a good time with it, or some people can resent it. It's just what it is. — Phil Jackson

People really don't care, in some ways, that you have a family. With a high profile job like I have, they just want you to win basketball games. You can do that and still keep your family together. I try the best I can to be at the basketball practices or tennis practices or recitals. In my first year at Dallas my (then 11-year old) son Avery Jr., said, "You know daddy, you're still the best coach in the NBA." I was like, "But I haven't won a playoff game yet." And he said, "That's okay. You're still my daddy." That makes you feel good. — Avery Johnson

Basketball, like all sports, is predicated on the execution of fundamentals. The coach is a teacher. His subject: fundamentals — Jack Ramsay

We told Stanley Roberts to go on a water diet, and Lake Superior disappeared. Pat Williams When Xavier McDaniel plays against Orlando Wooldridge, it's a coach's dream - X vs O. — Mychal Thompson