Coach 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

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

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

It's been an unbelievable thing for me to walk Bruin Walk and walk past Coach Wooden's statue, a guy that when I was in elementary school, it's Coach Wooden winning his final championship, his 10th in 12 years. — Steve Alford

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

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

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

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

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

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

I grew up in Indiana. My first four years of elementary were in the gym where Coach Wooden went to high school. — Steve Alford

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

I never in my wildest dreams thought I would get even one play at Indiana, let alone 25 years later, walk Bruin Walk, walk UCLA where Coach Wooden built his legacy. — Steve Alford

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

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

I was talking to Coach Wooden after I had signed at UCLA and over the summer, and we used to talk all the time. The thing is, talking to Bill Walton, once you throw in your two cents, he throws in the other 98 cents. He will not stop talking, I'll tell you what. — Kevin Love

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

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 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 think I was a good practice coach. — John Wooden

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

The wheels where enormous wooden affairs, the back ones rounding up over the windows of the coach. — Bess Streeter Aldrich

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

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

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 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

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

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

I just go back to my roots. I was literally born 26 miles from Martinsville High School where Coach Wooden grew up, and then my dad coached there for four years. — Steve Alford

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