Quotes & Sayings About Coaches

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

There is no better coach than the bench. — Anson Dorrance

That whole thing about, 'Hey, ex-catchers are the best managers.' Listen, pitching coaches have some brains, too. Sometimes they're not all there, but sometimes they are. — Don Cooper

Many tennis coaches are enablers. They need the job more than the player needs the coach, and if the coach needs the job more than the player needs the coach, he can't effect change. — Ivan Lendl

There's an old saying amongst players in football talking about your general manger and coaches, they speak with a forked tongue. — Joe Namath

Alvin's the coach. We must be the Clippers. And I must be Olowokandi. Nooooo! — Shaquille O'Neal

The relationships that I've built and the connections and the network that I have created playing on these multiple teams, playing for these multiple coaches and assistant coaches - I wouldn't give that back for anything, because I believe that's going to prepare me for my next step, whether that's going to be on the floor coaching or in an office doing some type of management work. — Drew Gooden

I want to use my connections with coaches, players, celebrities, whomever, and if I can take that friendship and use it to help someone else, I'm going to take advantage of that. I'm not going to apologize for that. — Tim Tebow

Coaches win practices, players win games — Pete Carril

I think all of our guys work hard and want to improve. They want answers, and the film will be the answer. The coaches will collect it and get better. I do not think anybody wants a rebuilding year. That's not something that I have ever said. — Les Miles

There were high school coaches such as Charles Boston that took me under his wing and taught me the fundamentals of football. And when I went to college there was Robert Hill who took me there and he showed me what hard work and determination would do if you put forth the effort and you take a little time. — Walter Payton

I'm a little skeptical of foreign coaches in our league and in U.S. Soccer just because of how different our league is and our players are than other players around the world. — Landon Donovan

Absolutely. There are a 1000 better coaches in the cities, but I'm the best in the country. — Lou Holtz

There was no publicity. You had to like it. There was no pressure, just great competition. The attitude of the coaches and players was exceptional. — Jim Brown

We talk in coaching about "winners" - kids, and I've had a lot of them, who just will not allow themselves or their team to lose. Coaches call that a will to win. I don't. I think that puts the emphasis in the wrong place. Everybody has a will to win. What's far more important is having the will to prepare to win. — Bobby Knight

When Frank Broyles coached at Arkansas, he used to have a golf tournament each year for all the Southwest Conference coaches. — Joe Jamail

Our users are trapeze artists, high school football coaches - I got cornered by a couple of theoretical physicists who said Dropbox lets them collaborate across the world and share their experiments' results. They were raving about how it's driving their research. — Drew Houston

Over the previous few years, Vigil had become convinced that the next leap forward in human endurance would come from a dimension he dreaded getting into: character. Not the "character" other coaches were always rah-rah-rah-ing about; Vigil wasn't talking about "grit" or "hunger" or "the size of the fight in the dog." In fact, he meant the exact opposite. Vigil's notion of character wasn't toughness. It was compassion. Kindness. Love. That's right: love. — Christopher McDougall

I remember an incident overseas about five years ago where a player punched a referee and knocked him cold. I don't think anything like that will ever happen in the NBA. Emotions run rampant. The games are so intense, and the stakes are so high. (But) At the end of the day, players and coaches really respect officials and really appreciate that they try to do a good job. — Jalen Rose

Will be the 14th time I've coached in Neyland Stadium ... I've coached there more than some of their head coaches. — Steve Spurrier

There's not a day that I don't work on vocals, have vocal coaches, go to acting classes, read books. — Aaron Carter

As coaches, we learn to accept criticism for our decisions. If a writer says you shouldn't have gone for it on fourth-and-one, we understand that's part of the job. We expect it. — Marv Levy

A pleasant companion is as good as a coach. — Jonathan Swift

Coaches will do what they can but it doesn't necessarily bother me. You are an international referee for a reason. If things like that are going to ruffle your feathers, don't bother doing the job. — Alan Lewis

Take her home."
Nick fake salutes. "Sir,yes sir."
"Sarcasm doesn't become you,Colt," Coach Walsh says,but he smiles when he says it, so obviously he is only mad at me,not superboy Nick Colt,beloved of coaches everywhere. If I were a guy he would let me run tomorrow. — Carrie Jones

I've always believed that the desire must come from within, not as a result of being driven by coaches or parents. — Dawn Fraser

Some coaches believed they could judge a player's performance simply by watching it. In this they were deeply mistaken. The naked eye was an inadequate tool for learning what you needed to know to evaluate baseball players and baseball games. Think about it. One absolutely cannot tell, by watching, the difference between a .300 hitter and a .275 hitter. The difference is one hit every two weeks. The difference between a good hitter and an average hitter is simply not visible-it is a matter of record — Michael Lewis

The [best] coaches ... know that the job is to win ... know that they must be decisive, that they must phase people through their organizations, and at the same time they are sensitive to the feelings, loyalties, and emotions that people have toward one another. If you don't have these feelings, I do not know how you can lead anyone. I have spent many sleepless nights trying to figure out how I was going to phase out certain players for whom I had strong feelings, but that was my job. I wasn't hired to do anything but win. — Bill Walsh

you are brought face to face with the great question about the soccer coach: Does he really matter? It turns out that coaches or managers (call them what you like) simply don't make that much difference. — Simon Kuper

Soft you day, be velvet soft,
My true love approaches,
Look you bright, you dusty sun,
Array your golden coaches.
Soft you wind, be soft as silk
My true love is speaking.
Hold you birds, your silver throats,
His golden voice I'm seeking.
Come you death, in haste, do come
My shroud of black be weaving,
Quiet my heart, be deathly quiet,
My true love is leaving. — Maya Angelou

I have a senior staff meeting every day, with key personnel who interface with the players - coaches, the medical staff, our analyst department. This is a useful exercise as it means we are all across what is happening and they are aware of my expectations. — Brendan Rodgers

You can live by biblical principles, and you can teach by those principles and still be a winner. So many coaches think you've got to kick your players in the rear end. You've got to cuss them out. You've got to hit them across the head. No. You don't have to do that. — Bobby Bowden

David Copperfield has no magic in him. I'm talking about Santa flying around the world in one night kind of magic. Pumpkins transformed into coaches kind of magic. — Sydney Strand

Some coaches are not educated at the elite level in health and nutrition. They're not educated in how the body works from anatomy and physiology perspectives. — Dominique Moceanu

I just think we shouldn't get into counting coaches' records. I've never been for that ... but I know that's just American society. — Dean Smith

Seal the Deal, more than a traditional book, is a series of powerful coaching sessions dealing with a big breakdown that many excellent coaches and consultants face today: they don't know how to sell their services to organizations. Suzi Pomerantz not only knows, she can also coach us so we can learn that critical ability. — Julio Olalla

Glue guys aren't superstars. They're not the No. 1 option. They just do things only coaches really appreciate. The stars get the headlines, but glue guys help you get in the winner's circle. I don't think you can win without having that kind of player. — Dick Vitale

There's very few pitching coaches that I worked with that actually came out on the mound and told me what I was doing wrong with the knuckleball. Because they just didn't know. So I had to figure it out. I was on my own. — Phil Niekro

I don't believe skill was, or ever will be, the result of coaches. It is a result of a love affair between the child and the ball. — Roy Keane

I do get away maybe a little bit more than most coaches do, but that seems to have worked for me in my coaching career. I recommended the way not to get burned out from your job is to have some hobbies and get away from it when you can. — Steve Spurrier

I think I feel fortunate to have been very well educated in terms of strength and training while I was at school at Stanford, and I think our strength coaches here on the Colts do a great job. A big part of being able to withstand hits is making sure that you've got a good base. — Andrew Luck

The old lessons (work, self-discipline, sacrifice, teamwork, fighting to achieve) aren't being taught by many people other than football coaches these days. The football coach has a captive audience and can teach these lessons because the communication lines between himself and his players are more wide open than between kids and parents. We better teach these lessons or else the country's future population will be made up of a majority of crooks, drug addicts, or people on relief. — Bear Bryant

Best coaches never tell their athletes that they are wrong.They rather focus on creating awareness. — Abhishek Ratna

Coaches are bridge builders. It's our job to build a bridge for our athletes to cross over. — Rick Pitino

Clare offered a half-hearted suggestion. "Well, there are coaches I know who do one-on-one counseling." Bobby shook his head. "No, that doesn't usually work. It takes months and only isolates people. It seems like most of them just use it to prepare for their next job. — Patrick Lencioni

For reasons that baffle me still, my high school sports coaches put me in the first division of the rugby, cricket, and soccer teams. — Hamish Bowles

Parents needs to spend more time with who they're trusting their kids with. That's one of the nuggets going forward. Find out who these coaches are. Figure out their environment and what kind of problems they have, and see if you want your child involved with that. — Ray Lewis

Professionals have coaches. Amateurs do not — Robert T. Kiyosaki

The one thing coaches cannot tolerate ... is the individual who grows arrogant because he excelled at a lower level and believes he has nothing else to learn. — Zig Ziglar

I know that there are coaches who do end up sleeping on the sofa in their office. — Chuck Pagano

My old coach used to say two points was two points ... — Vince Carter

Like some cult religion that barely survives, there has always been at least one but rarely more than five or six devotees throwing the knuckleball in the big leagues ... Not only can't pitchers control it, hitters can't hit it, catchers can't catch it, coaches can't coach it and most pitchers can't learn it. The perfect pitch. — Ron Luciano

I learnt a lot about coaching from observing other coaches. I would recommend that they attend coaching courses and coach development opportunities wherever possible — Rebecca Bulley

When I was in the ring at the Olympics, it was my father's words that I was hearing, not the coaches'. 'I never listened to what the coaches said. I would call my father and he would give me advice from prison. — Floyd Mayweather Jr.

There's a saying in my business that there are two kinds of coaches - those who have been fired and those who haven't been fired yet. That's kind of like prostate cancer. Every man will have it if he lives long enough. — Bobby Bowden

I had a firm policy never to charge up my team on an emotional level. I believe that for every artificial peak you may create there is a valley, and i don't like valleys. Games can be lost in valleys. The ideal is an ever-mounting graph line that peaks with your final performance. There will be difficulty and adversity to overcome, but that is necessary to become stronger. Other coaches believe in charging a team up. I never did and never will. I sought a calm assurances in our dressing room, and a calm assurance warming up on the floor, and ad calm assurance in my final remarks before going out to play. — John Wooden

If I hadn't had mentors, I wouldn't be here today. I'm a product of great mentoring, great coaching ... Coaches or mentors are very important. They could be anyone-your husband, other family members, or your boss. — Indra Nooyi

Effective Peer Coaches emphasize inquiry over advocacy. Too much advocacy can produce learned helplessness. Inquiry builds capacity to improve teaching and learning by helping teachers to be more effective at designing and implementing learning activities that meet the needs of their students. — Lester Joseph Foltos

Assistant coaches become a little bit more buddies to the players than a head coach. — Adam Oates

Of all the rocks upon which we build our lives, we are reminded today that family is the most important. And we are called to recognize and honor how critical every father is to that foundation. They are teachers and coaches. They are mentors and role models. They are examples of success and the men who constantly push us toward it. — Barack Obama

I don't think you can explain why all these other sports and college basketball have a fair representation of African American coaches, but college football doesn't. You can dig and scramble and scratch, but at the end of the day I think it's just pure, old-fashioned racism. — Frank Deford

If a man coaches himself, then he has only himself to blame when he is beaten. — Roger Bannister

The world would be a much better place if people treated one another with decency and respect. There is no reason to be cruel to someone who is down or has any sort of problem, physical or otherwise. Trust me, man. I know. And today, if you're being bullied, you do not have to just suck it up. If you have or your child has a problem, tell someone in authority and talk about the pain. There are a lot of people out there who provide helpful guidance and support, like counselors, spiritual leaders, teachers, coaches, etc., all you need to do is reach out. Bullying is a problem that has really left its mark on our society, and I know there is more we can all do to stop it. — Dick Vitale

You know over 20 years I played for a number of managers and dozens of coaches. I don't know any of them that I didn't learn something from to help make me a better player. — Robin Yount

Most coaches study the films when they lose. I study them when we win -to see if I can figure out what I did right — Bear Bryant

I want to thank all my fans, teammates, coaches and supporters for the strength they've given me to overcome so much. — Ricky Williams

I think it's very hard for coaches to work with me. They'll no doubt have a good CV afterwards, but at the same time they're under a lot of pressure. — Roger Federer

Let them police themselves, and then it goes another step past them to my coaches and there a coach that is responsible for a different area and different category on the field. — Dusty Baker

Helping professionals, therapists, life coaches, healers can greatly assist you in changing your life for the better, but they pale in comparison to the power thats gained from developing a relationship with yourself. It's you that holds the power for change — Renae A. Sauter

Every age and every nation has certain characteristic vices, which prevail almost universally, which scarcely any person scruples to avow, and which even rigid moralists but faintly censure. Succeeding generations change the fashion of their morals with the fashion of their hats and their coaches; take some other kind of wickedness under their patronage, and wonder at the depravity of their ancestors. — Thomas B. Macaulay

Coaches must be flexible, for then they won't get bent out of shape. — John Kessel

To not look at the data is foolish, but to look at the data as having all the answers is even more foolish. It is a collision of new-school statistics and statisticians against old-school managers, coaches, and instructors. Neither side is right, neither is wrong; there is so much to be gained from listening to both sides. — Tim Kurkjian

Coaches who have been players in the league, they get so attuned to playing how they were successful, and who their coaches were. — Jerry West

Coaches who scrimmage all the time don't know what to practice. — Paul Brown

Some parents were nervous about how they would portray everything, ... At a picnic the moms put on for the team and coaches, I said that all the reality shows are turning around and showing good things, not bad things. — Dick Butkus

Very often we see coaches who have not been successful being recycled, instead of looking to a new face or a new name who has demonstrated the ability to handle the job. — Lynn Swann

It was a great thing for the Blues boys to do in terms of shaving their hair off for me. The whole squad did it. At first I thought it was only going to be a handful of boys, but fair play, they all did it, and a few of the coaches as well. — Matthew Rees

I have bought pole vault equipment, the landing areas, posts, which costs a lot of money. We pay for coaches. — Sergei Bubka

I hate to say anything that may hurt UCLA, but I can't be quiet when I see what the NCAA is doing to Jerry Tarkanian only because he has a reputation for giving a second chance to many black athletes other coaches have branded as troublemakers. The NCAA is working night and day trying to get Jerry, but no one from the NCAA ever questioned me during my four years at UCLA! — Bill Walton

I already have two movies in the can, low-key, which are 'Vincent-N-Roxxy' and 'Keanu' with Key and Peele, which is my first comedy, and it's going to be super dope, definitely funny. They're so great, and they've been such life coaches to me. — Jason Mitchell

I happened to be in a position in Superior where I could play three sports, and when I came to Minnesota, I had the understanding they would allow me to play three sports. Kids now don't have the same amount of time. You have coaches that think baseball is 10 months a year. Hockey is 11 or 12 months a year. — Bud Grant

I try to be passionate about every aspect of my life, how I love my wife, how I serve my wife, how I serve God. In the same way, I try to be passionate about football. I try to serve my coaches with passion. I try to serve my teammates with passion. I try to serve God, through football, with passion. — Troy Polamalu

If you put good people around you, I guess you're smart. You learn from them and that makes you a better coach. — Tony DiCicco

I remember thinking with a queer detached portion of my mind that here was someone wringing her hands. One reads about it and one never sees it, and now here it was. — Mary Stewart

I tell young players who want to be coaches, who think they can put up with all the headaches and heartaches, can you live without it? If you can live without it, don't get in it. — Bear Bryant

He would now have comprehended that work consists of whatever a body is obliged to do, and that play consists of whaterver a body is not obliged to do. And this would help him to understand why construcing artificial flowers or performing on a tread-mill, is work, whilst rolling nine-pins or climbing Mont Blanc is only amusement. There are wealthy gentlemen in England who drive four-horse passenger-coaches twenty or thirty miles on a daily line, in the summer, because the privilege costs them considerable money; but if they were offered wages for the service that would turn it into work, then they would resign. — Mark Twain

I am thankful that in my current role I can mentor other coaches. I interact directly with seventeen coaches on my staff but I'm also trying to be an example to others outside the organization. I want to prove that it's possible to win or lose while maintaining a calm dignity and respect toward your players, officials, and the opposition. My hope is that my profession can have an impact on countless youth who are looking to their coaches for guidance on sportsmanship, how effort pays off, and the other life lessons that come from competing. — Tony Dungy

I've heard all the coaches complaining about the new CBA rules limiting padded practice. I don't like the reduction to just 15 padded practices during the season. When I coached, we always practiced in pads; and three days a week. — Jimmy Johnson

I think sometimes when it comes to sports, and especially relationships between players and coaches, that people lose track, lose a sense of reality. — Ricky Williams

I never thought that shoes would be the reason that you recruit players, but it's a factor. I think we need to get the shoe companies out of the lives of the athletes. I think we need to get it back to where parents and coaches have more of a say than peripheral people, but that's easier said than done. — Rick Pitino

Lou Holtz is a brilliant strategist, a first-class motivator, and an inspiring role model. Winning Every Day coaches you through the hard-won lessons of life that Coach Holtz has gleaned from a lifetime of learning. Using personal behind-the-scenes experiences he shows you how to break through obstacles, capitalize on fleeting opportunities, and achieve success. There is no better mentor than Lou Holtz. — Peter Lowe

Enemies and friends act like spiritual coaches. They round out the rough spots on Soul's unfoldment. The Mahanta (inner spiritual guide) teaches through others. So pay careful attention when sparks fly, because some important things in you - perhaps courage or forgiveness - needs some polish. — Harold Klemp

I think I have some ideas on coaching, but listen, coaches work harder than players. The hours they put in, the headaches that they have. That's the one thing I've never liked about coaching. They have all the emotion, passion and preparation without actually getting to be able to dictate what happens. — Tim Howard

I hadn't played that much before, and it was all about practicing with the University of Texas coaches. It's takes some expert to look at me pitching a ball and saying, 'we have to find the mother f**ker in you, boy!' — Blake Jenner

I always do the contrary of what my coaches tell me. — Bode Miller

We have new roles as coaches and mentors, now that the job of learning is in the hands and minds of the learners. — Matt Renwick

The one thing that has gotten worse for sports media is access. We hardly get to see, talk to and most of all get to know the players and coaches anymore. — J. A. Adande

Ryan was not only gregarious but also a happily married inamorato! (Around the facility, when the other coaches teased him about this episode, Ryan would retort affably, "I'm the only guy in history who gets in a sex scandal with his wife!") — Nicholas Dawidoff

Sportsmanship is that quality of honor that desires always to be courteous, fair, and respectful, and it is interpreted in the conduct of players, spectators, coaches, and school authorities. — Fielding H. Yost

To improve our schools, we have to humanize them and make education personal to every student and teacher in the system. Education is always about relationships. Great teachers are not just instructors and test administrators. They are mentors, coaches, motivators, and lifelong sources of inspiration to their students. Teaching is an art form. Great teachers know they have to cultivate curiosity, passion and creativity in their students. — Ken Robinson