Coach John Wooden 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

During the toughest challenges in my life I've come to most appreciate all Coach Wooden means to me. The things he would say - "Don't lie, don't cheat, don't steal, don't whine, don't complain, don't make excuses; worry about the things you can control, and not the things you can't" - were endless. Yet there is an appropriate one for every situation. The real — John Wooden

A good coach can change a game. A great coach can change a life. — John Wooden

God is not dumb, that he should speak no more;
If thou hast wanderings in the wilderness
And find'st not Sinai, 'tis thy soul is poor. — James Russell Lowell

Coach Wooden didn't treat everybody the same; he treated people the way they deserved to be treated. — John Wooden

While I made my living as a coach, I have lived my life to be a mentor-and to be mentored!-constantly.Everything in the world has been passed down. Every piece of knowledge is something that has been shared by someone else. If you understand it as I do, mentoring becomes your true legacy. It is the greatest inheritance you can give to others. It is why you get up every day-to teach and be taught. — John Wooden

The coach must never forget that he is, first of all, a teacher. He must come (be present), see (diagnose), and conquer (correct). He must continuously be exploring for ways to improve himself in order that he may improve others and welcome every person and everything that maybe helpful to him. — John Wooden

A coach is someone who can give correction without causing resentment. — John Wooden

The coach is first of all a teacher. — John Wooden

We are dying birds we are sinking ships - the world rocks down against us and we throw out our arms and we throw out our legs like the death kiss of the centipede: but they kindly snap our backs and call our poison politics. — Charles Bukowski

One of the greatest motivating things that a coach has is the bench. They all love to play, all of them. You sit them on the bench, and they come around pretty good. — John Wooden

Accustom a people to believe that priests, or any other class of men can forgive sins and you will have sins in abundance. — Thomas Paine

When we are tired, everything seems so very much worse. — Jane Green

I'm beginning to think of hope as a dangerous, terrifying thing. — Tahereh Mafi

There's never been a finer man in American sports than John Wooden, or a finer coach. — Rick Reilly

Confidence comes from being prepared. — John Wooden

John Wooden made a name as a coach but also a life as a mentor. — Don Yaeger

If you wait around for everything to be perfect, you'll be waiting around forever. Nothing is ever perfect. — Ann Vaughn

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

I am happy with my family and my colleagues and want to continue making my own kind of cinema. I have never belonged to any camp and have no friends in the industry. Most of them will pay lip service, but when it comes to doing, they tend to shy away. — Sunny Deol

Selfishness is the greatest challenge for a coach. Most players are more concerned with making themselves better than the team. — John Wooden

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

When I was coaching I always considered myself a teacher. Teachers tend to follow the laws of learning better than coaches who do not have any teaching background. A coach is nothing more than a teacher. I used to encourage anyone who wanted to coach to get a degree in teaching so they could apply those principles to athletics. — John Wooden

Everyone could use instructions on every aspect of cooking: pantry, storage, refrigeration, cooking, what to buy. Everyone that I come into contact with could use help. — Geoffrey Zakarian

If you live in a small space, you should do the things that make it feel luxurious. — Emily Procter

Since the most important responsibility of a coach in regard to the actual playing of the game is to teach his players properly and effectively to execute the various fundamentals of the game, he is first of all a teacher. — John Wooden

It ended up being a great quarter across the country. The national trend was more on the IT (information technology) side of things. When you look at Southern California and San Diego specifically, it's driven largely by the life sciences and biotech side of things. — Don Williams

If I were a young coach today, I would be extremely careful in selecting assistants. — John Wooden

I believe it's impossible to claim you have taught, when there are students who have not learned. With that commitment, from my first year as an English teacher until my last as UCLA basketball teacher/coach, I was determined to make the effort to become the best teacher I could possibly be, not for my sake, but for all those who were placed under my supervision. — John Wooden

Coach John Wooden used seven players at UCLA. Coach Denny Crum used to say, 'The more moving parts you have, the greater the chance you have for a breakdown.' I think there's a lot of veracity to that. — Skip Prosser

I really believe if I'm the best person for the role, I'll be hired. That's always been my experience. — Tom Hulce

A coach's primary function should be not to make better players, but to make better people — John Wooden

John Wooden has been a vital force in the lives of many with his inspirational messages. He represents all the elements necessary to be a winner in the Game of Life, which makes him the perfect person to write this book filled with lessons. Coach Wooden has been a mentor to people in every walk of life. — Dick Vitale

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

Doomed planet.
Desperate scientists.
Last hope.
Kindly couple. — Grant Morrison

I don't think I was a fine game coach I think I was a good practice coach. — John Wooden

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

I don't think I was a fine game coach. I'm trying to be honest. I think I was a good practice coach. — John Wooden

The outstanding coach is a teacher that gets all his squad to accept the role that he considers to be the most important for the welfare of all. — John Wooden