Best 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

Offense is spacing and spacing is offense. — Chuck Daly

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Practice to beat the best. — Dick Bennett

Conditioning is essential to success in basketball. — John Wooden

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Great shooters are one dribble guys. — Rick Majerus

Hearing improves with PRAISE! — Mark Gottfried

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

Discipline and demand without being demeaning. — Don Meyer

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

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

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

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

You better have great practices. — Al McGuire

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

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

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

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

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

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