Basketball Coaching Quotes & Sayings

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

Help your players to control their emotions - do this through example. — Norm Sloan

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

Every day you teach attitude. — Don Meyer

All really successful coaches have a system. — Jim Valvano

Offense is spacing and spacing is offense. — Chuck Daly

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

Even the greatest players accept coaching and value the need for discipline and the order that it brings to the team — Jack Ramsay

I didn't get into teaching and coaching for the number of wins or the money. It was a passion for trying to help young people — Bo Ryan

It's what you get from games you lose that is extremely important. — Pat Riley

Coaches can talk and talk and talk about something, but if you get it on tape and show it to them, it is so much more effective. — Larry Bird

You must have a passion to coach. — Rick Majerus

The man above has given me some unbelievable abilities to play the game of basketball. I just try to take advantage of it every night. I got the trust of my teammates and my coaching staff to go in there and let it go. — LeBron James

I learned early that if I wanted to achieve anything in life, I'd have to do it myself. I learned that I had to be accountable. — Lenny Wilkens

Good players can take coaching; great players can take coaching and learn. — John Wooden

The team is an extension of the coach. — Don Meyer

Do passing drills that come from your offense. — John Wooden

Don't try to imitate other coaches. Be your own person with your own style and do your own thing. — Hubie Brown

I've always believed in quickness over strength and size. — Dean Smith

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

It doesn't matter where you coach, it matters why you coach. — Don Meyer

You must have respect, which is a part of love, for those under your supervision. Then they will do what you ask and more. — John Wooden

I never let our players get satisfied, I never let our Coaches get satisfied, I was never satisfied. We can always do it better. — John Wooden

Offensively, you do what you do best and you do it again and again. Defensively, you attack your opponent's strength. — Vince Lombardi

Bad shooters are always open — Pete Carril

We travel in Duke stuff ... They can have a hat, but it must be a Duke hat. — Mike Krzyzewski

Morale and attitude are the fundamentals to success. — Bud Wilkinson

Defense can't guard two things in a row. — Chuck Daly

When the legs go, the heart and the head follow quickly behind. — Don Meyer

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

Be quick without hurrying. — John Wooden

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

The best way to build team chemistry is the way Rupp used to substitute, when they fouled out. — Dean Smith

The most important thing is team morale. — Dean Smith

The big time is not a place; it's the state of your heart. It's not something you get; it's something you become. — Frosty Westering

As a leader, you will receive a large amount of praise and criticism and you should not unduly affected by either. — John Wooden

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

The first shot does not beat you. — Chuck Daly

As I look back on the day I signed my professional contract in 1973, I've never gone to sleep wondering if I could pay the bills or take care of my family. That's what basketball has done for me. It's given me the greatest of thrills from high school to college to the Olympics to coaching to broadcasting. — Doug Collins

Remember this, the choices you make in life, make you. — John Wooden

How did I bridge the gap from depression to elation? Well, I worked hard at improving all aspects of my game. I got stronger mentally and physically. I had good coaching, I studied the other players, and I learned from the history of the NBA. I gained confidence, ability, and intelligence. In short:I learned the game within the game. — Walt Frazier

Your ability to communicate to your young people will determine your success. — Jim Harrick

The more things we can get kids to do correctly off the court, the more they will do correctly on the court. — Mike Jarvis

When you watch the game, be a student of the game. — Don Meyer

What you specifically teach is what your players will do best. — Dick Bennett

Know what you want to emphasize, then do it daily. — Larry Shyatt

Defense doesn't break down on the help, it breaks down on the recovery. — Chuck Daly

If you don't hold your team accountable then you will lose credibility and your team will be spoiled. — John Brady

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

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

The nicest thing about coaching is that one day you feel like you can play handball against a curb, and on other days you feel like you can fly to the moon. — Al McGuire

To be a team, you must be a family. — Don Meyer

Basketball is sharing. — Phil Jackson

He who controlleth the backboard, controlleth the game. — Adolph Rupp

If you get tough mentally, you can get tough physically and overcome fatigue. — Pat Riley

For us to be successful on defense, we must get back and stop the basketball, eliminate easy baskets, keep the ball out of the lane, and bother the shooters. — Dick Bennett

You better have great practices. — Al McGuire

Good people are happy when something good happens to someone else. — Dean Smith

Unless you plan to out-rebound and out-shoot everyone you play, then you better learn to handle the ball. — Henry Iba

Practice to beat the best. — Dick Bennett

Promise yourself to make all your friends know there is something in them that is special and that you value. — John Wooden

I'm a Christian first. I'm a family guy second. As much as I like coaching, as much as I like basketball, it's third, fourth, or fifth down the line. — Steve Alford

Players must do what you want them to do in pressure situations. — Don Meyer

Coaching staff: I know there's days you look at that film and you want to kill me. I'm not playing defense, taking bad shots, getting too many techs. But you always believe that I can be the guy. Through the tough times, you guys never left my side ... That's something that I really appreciate and I never want to take you guys for granted. I thank you so much for being part of my life. And not just on the basketball court, but giving me talks about growing as a man first, and a basketball player next. — Kevin Durant

Regardless of what you do put in, every game boils down to doing the things you do best and doing them over and over again. — Vince Lombardi

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

When people ask me now if I miss coaching UCLA basketball games, the national championships, the attention, the trophies, and everything that goes with them, I tell them this: I miss the practices. — John Wooden

Nobody travels better than Northern State fans and nobody knows the game better than Northern State fans. If I'd die and went to heaven and I was coaching, it would be at Wachs Arena. — Don Meyer

I have been coaching recently. I coached high school basketball in Arizona, and I hope that more opportunities become available. — Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

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

When it comes to celebrating, act like you've been there before. — Terry Bowden

Most of my learning and philosophy regarding coaching basketball was developed after great frustration. — Dick Bennett

Discipline and demand without being demeaning. — Don Meyer

Simplify the game as much as possible. When you add, you must subtract. — Don Meyer

Hearing improves with PRAISE! — Mark Gottfried

Great shooters are one dribble guys. — Rick Majerus

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

Losing is only temporary and not encompassing. You must simply study it, learn from it, and try hard not to lose the same way again. Then you must have the self-control to forget about it. — John Wooden

We teach offense 5-0/5-5 (whole method) and defense by part (1-1/3-3). — Dick Bennett

Leadership starts at the top. — Morgan Wootten

It's not what you teach, it's what you emphasize. — John Wooden

Criticize on defense and encourage on offense. — John Brady

I hold it more important to hold the player's confidence than their affection. — Vince Lombardi

Coaching is preparation. — Pete Carril

In planning any type of offense, when a player leaves a spot always replace him with another offensive player. — Hubie Brown

Players will never do more than you demand. — Jimmy Tillette

Your defense will save you on the nights that your offense isn't working. — Adolph Rupp

If you do the following three things, you will be successful in major college basketball. If you don't do them, it will be most difficult." He didn't say it would be impossible - typical of John Wooden - but he said it would be difficult. I was scrambling for my pen when he said, "Those three things are fairly simple: Number one, make certain, Dale, you always have better players than anybody you play. Now, with that locked up, make sure you always get the better players to put the team above themselves. And number three - this is very important, Dale Brown," he said, "don't try to be some coaching genius, or give the guys too much information, or too much stuff; always practice simplicity with constant repetition. — John Wooden

It is not what you teach, but what you emphasize. — Don Meyer

And I would be the first to admit that probably, in a lot of press conferences over the time that I have been in coaching, indulging my own sense of humor at press conferences has not been greatly to my benefit. — Robert Montgomery Knight

We have to move the meter in sports in Africa, especially basketball. With the growth of the NBA globally, we have to figure out more ways to develop facilities, coaching, leagues, and youth development in Africa. The talent is incredible. Especially physically. How do we get the youth to start playing at an early age just like in soccer? The future is bright. We now have an NBA office in Africa, we have legends and Hall of Famers, we have African assistant coaches, front office members, and some prominent African players over the last 10 years. So we must plan well for the next 10. — Masai Ujiri

Prepare for every game like you just lost your last game. — Lon Kruger

You build your program from the ideas of great coaches. — Don Meyer

Sometimes you learn more from losing than winning. Losing forces you to reexamine. — Pat Summitt

The worst day coaching is better than the best day doing anything else — Don Meyer

I only use statistics to reinforce what I already think, or if it's something unusual. — Dean Smith

Good shooters take the shots; best shooters take most of the shots. — Don Meyer

Conditioning is essential to success in basketball. — John Wooden

Coach now the way you want to coach 10 years from now. — Jerry Krause

Teamwork doesn't come naturally. It must be taught. — Pat Summitt