Football Coach 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

I'm sure coach Frank Rijkaard will want the Dutch to go on and score a fourth now - although obviously they'll have to score the third one first. — Angus Loughran

Owen Owens Field embodies the name of the team that calls it home. It's Spartan to the core. — Neil Hayes

Being in politics is like being a football coach. You have to be smart enough to understand the game, and dumb enough to think it's important. — Eugene McCarthy

A piece of football history. A unique coach [Sir Alex Ferguson], among the greatest of all-time. — Roberto Mancini

If you grew up in a household with a football coach who looks like a drill sergeant, you would think you would be tough. — Brett Favre

I'm a big fan of Coach Dorrell. I watched UCLA football for many, many years. I've grown accustomed to the Pac-10 style. — Brian Bosworth

William McKinley Oswald was my high school football coach. He was a great coach and had a profound influence on my life. But I think he could have learned his method of motivating players from an army drill sergeant. — Joseph B. Wirthlin

I asked Darrell Royal, the coach of the Texas Longhorns, why he didn't recruit me and he said: 'Well, Walt, we took a look at you and you weren't any good.' — Walt Garrison

Once Joe Paterno learned that his former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky was showering with a young boy in the Penn State football locker room, he had two choices: think of the child as his own and call police. Or not. He chose the latter. — Christine Pelosi

Let's not launch into another round of how hot the not-so-new football coach is again, please." "Excuse me," a deep voice from behind Annabelle interrupted them. Cynda's jaw all but fell to the table. Anna turned but already knew who was standing in the doorway. Of course the coach himself would be right there. That's how reality worked. — Tracy Ewens

You know, a football coach is nothing more than a teacher. You teach them the same subject, and you have a group of new guys every year. — Darrell Royal

Bill Belichick is the best professional football coach I think ever lived. I'm upset that I played for a plethora of teams and never got an opportunity to play for Bill Belichick. — Deion Sanders

I'm the luckiest guy in the world. I never really had a job. I was a football player, then a football coach, then a football broadcaster. It's been my life. Pro football has been my life since 1967. I've enjoyed every part of it. Never once did it ever feel like work. — John Madden

I believe in Coach Louis Wong. He is so much more than just a football coach. — Stephen Covey

I'm no genius, but I'm a damn good football coach. — Bear Bryant

Whenever I think of baseball, the first name that comes to mind is Babe Ruth. What the Babe was to baseball, Shula is to football coaching. There are certain figures in sports who are larger than the games they play or coach, and Don Shula is one of those. — Marv Levy

Football is such a team sport, so no one individual does it. No one coach or no one assistant coach or no one player, it's a great team sport, so I don't get carried away with a bunch of accolades. — Jimmy Johnson

I'd rather be a football coach. That way you only lose eleven games a year. — Abe Lemons

For some reason the football coach of a major college program is seen as one of the leaders of the campus. And some way we have to let our young people know that that leader can look like anyone. — Tony Dungy

If you're a pro coach, NFL stands for 'Not for long. — Jerry Glanville

I love coaching football, and winning a Super Bowl was a goal I've had for a long time. But it has never been my purpose in life. My purpose in life is simply to glorify God. We have to be careful that we don't let the pursuit of our life's goals, no matter how important they seem, cause us to lose sight of our purpose. I coach football. But the good I can do to glorify God along the way is my real purpose. — Tony Dungy

This kind of directing, I think, is very similar to being a football coach. You prepare your players and place them in the right places, but once the game is on, there's nothing much you can do - you can smoke a cigarette or get nervous, but you can't do much. — Abbas Kiarostami

My first assistant-coaching job in football was at William & Mary in 1961. The pay wasn't much, so to get $300 more per year, I agreed to coach the golf team. I didn't even know how to keep score, and really, my main job was not to wreck the van on the way to tournaments. — Lou Holtz

De La Salle hung on for the 28-21 victory. Afterward, Ladouceur stood before his exhausted team. It was by far the biggest victory in school history at the time, but the coach noticed that several of his players wore masks of disappointment.

"It's OK to feel disappointed if you didn't play your absolute best," he told them. "That's what we're all about. — Neil Hayes

You all know and lived the 'secrets' to De La Salle's success-love, brotherhood, sacrifice, discipline, heart, courage, passion, honesty. These are not just 'catch words' we throw around to impress others or justify our existence. We know what these mean because we created it and lived it. Understand that with that knowledge there is no turning back for us-ignorance is not an option. It is your future duty, no matter where you end up, to create the environment you have created here by bringing your best selves to the table. — Neil Hayes

I'm the football coach around here and don't you remember it. — Bill Peterson

My dream, I remember, when I went to boarding school, was to have a study all my own, a little nook someplace where nobody could get at me - nobody, like the football coach. — Harry Mathews

If you have not seen it, FOOTBALL is a game in which men shove one another back and forth for no reason. They do not choose how, when, or whom they shove. All that has been decided for them in advance. All they need to do is follow the orders given to them before the game, showing them where to run and how to violently deploy the meat of their bodies against the meat that is running at them. They are doing this in order to please one angry old man on the sidelines. This old man is called the "coach" or "yelling surrogate dad who will never be happy. — John Hodgman

If I had to pick my greatest strength as a football coach, I say it would be innovation. — Tom Landry

In high school football, the coach kept me on the bench all year. On the last game of the season, the crowd was yelling, We want Youngman! We want Youngman! The coach says, Youngman - go see what they want! — Henny Youngman

This was tricky. They had, right now, at home, boxes of letters addressed to Michael from college football coaches and boosters and just people who wanted to get to know the future star. They had a personal letter from Congressman Harold Ford Jr., who seemed to want to become Michael's friend, and a stack of letters from a football coach at the University of Alabama, who seemed prepared to offer his hand in marriage. — Michael Lewis

As a football coach, everything in your life comes after your football schedule. I just could not make that commitment. — Joe Namath

At heart he was a secret Quaker and football was pure violence. The coach was always telling him to "hit them harder." The coach wanted him to put opposing players "out of commission." He kept it to himself but wondered what the point of the "game" was if your intention was to hurt people badly. — Jim Harrison

Having been in football all my life as a player and a coach and having been on the sideline, I think the closer we can get to bringing people what it's like standing and watching the game on the sideline, with a better view, would be the perfect situation for television football. — John Madden

He hadn't developed into the accomplished running quarterback many had predicted he would become over the course of the season.

But he had come to personify this team. He was raw and untested when the season began, but he played his two best games in the two biggest games on the schedule. He wasn't the player anybody expected him to be, but he got the job done-at times spectacularly. — Neil Hayes

A good football coach needs a patient wife, a loyal dog and a great quarterback - but not necessarily in that order. — Bud Grant

He wants to play major college football at a university far away, where nobody will know about his tragic family history. Then he wants to play in the NFL.

Every catch brings him closer to that reality. That's how he thinks of it, anyway. Every time he runs downfield, sees the ball in the air, and hears the defensive back laboring to catch up, whenever he feels that ball fall out of the sky and into his waiting hands, he inches closer to his goals. — Neil Hayes

I believe we have the best football coach in the country in Urban Meyer. I had the privilege of hiring him, as you know, and I think he is doing fabulous work. — Gordon Gee

I enjoyed coaching so much that I just have to stay with it. Don Coryell - I love him, and I think he was a great coach - but I hear he's going to build a house on some island. He's going to divorce himself from football, and that's a mystery to me. — Sid Gillman

For many years, Darrel Royal was the football coach for the University of Texas at Austin. They always had great teams and winning records. Sometimes, however, when they won a close game, a sportswriter would suggest that while the Longhorns were skilled, they had been lucky on that day. Hearing it one time too often, Coach Royal finally said, "Luck is partly the residue of design, the simple act of being prepared for luck when it arrives." And there is something else to luck, Royal said - luck follows speed. Move, and luck finds you. Move quickly, and it finds you more often. — Mac Anderson

I don't want to lose myself in football and that's what a coach has to do to be successful. — Dennis Bergkamp

I am who I am. In the end, I feel that what I'm accountable for is doing a good job as a football coach. — Bill Belichick

College football is no more of a minor league than, say, the universities' schools of journalism, engineering or music are. We can argue at another time whether football should occupy the same space on campus as those disciplines, but for now, it does. The critical point is that a coach is less concerned with preparing athletes for the next level than he is with molding them to fit a system that helps him win games, keep his job and, eventually, move on to a position with a more prestigious program. — William C. Rhoden

I'm ex-player, ex-technical director, ex-coach, ex-manager, ex-honorary president. A nice list that once again shows that everything comes to an end. — Johan Cruijff

But we had a fantastic coach, Simon Clifford, who runs a British football youth game which teaches Brazilian techniques - which is what we wanted to incorporate into the film. And some of those things we eventually got in. — Parminder Nagra

I have never asked to be the highest-paid coach in football. I have never asked to be paid like a Super Bowl-winning coach. I have never asked for more power. — Jim Harbaugh

There are two things every man in America thinks he can do: work a grill and coach football. — Greg Schiano

The third year at a school for any head coach is the most important year for the program they are attempting to develop. — George M. Gilbert

It disturbs me to see a football coach fired. — Sid Gillman

Life is full of all sorts of setbacks and twists and turns and disappointments. The character of this team will be how well you will come back from this letdown, this defeat. You could still be a great team and you can still accomplish great things as football players but it's going to take a real resolve to do it." -Coach Ladouceur — Neil Hayes

So like any football or basketball coach, you always always believe you're going to win. — Colin Powell

I think my history as a coach shows I like players who are gifted technically and have courage when it comes to being in possession of a football. That is a key quality for me. — Brendan Rodgers

I learned a great many things in the Marines that helped me as a football coach. The Marines train men hard and to do things the right way, just as a football team must train. — Hayden Fry

The president is just the coach of a football team. You need the right support, the right stadium, the right players, the right staff. An excellent coach is not going to win games. — Questlove

Why can't a seven-foot guy play a doctor? Why can't I be a teacher? Why can't I be a football coach? Why can't I be a cab driver? Anything. Anything else than that. I can cry. I can do those things that they think the big guys can't do. So just give us a chance. — Grizz Chapman

Seldom do we experience the charisma and character of a dynamic personality such as Lou Holtz, the very successful former football coach of Notre Dame. Lou has left his distinctive mark of success everywhere he has coached. Winning Every Day is not just a catchy phrase, but with Coach Holtz, a way of life. — Carl Pohlad

I'm the seventh chancellor at Vanderbilt; Bobby Johnson is the 25th head football coach. That shows a lack of commitment to attract and retain. — Gordon Gee

You think it's...like a prank. Like the time you and the guys soaped all the windows at the high school or rolled the football coach's car to the park and left it on top of the teeter-totter. What did you do, stay up late with a six-pack of beer, jerking off to porn, and then think I should put Caroline up here? — Robin York

When I was really little, I was on a Pop Warner squad. I did it for a year. My dad was a Pop Warner football coach. I did it because my best friend was also on this cheer squad, and of course I looked up to my sister who was a cheerleader, so I wanted to cheer. — Ashley Tisdale

At the end of the week, when we sat down to dinner, all eyes went to the trays on the table, where browned-to-perfection mini corn dogs cuddled up against a variety of dipping sauces.
"This is the best thing that's ever happened to me." A lineman wiped a tear from his eye.
"It's like Christmas," I said, all choked up.
"I love you, Coach." The quarterback's bottom lip quivered.
We dove into the pile of savory sausages, watched NFL football, and forgot our aches, pains, and camp struggles. — Jake Byrne

Understatement has become part of the tradition. A proposal to build a history room to house the football team's memorabilia was immediately shelved when many former players complained. What makes this program so special is what you carry in your heart, they argued, not what you hang on the wall. — Neil Hayes

Congratulations to Ohio State, your new college football champions. Coach Urban Meyer may be the greatest football coach of all time. Don't confuse him with New York Mayor Bill de Blasio. That's urban quagmire. — David Letterman

If we had played Poly a hundred more times that year we wouldn't have beaten them again. On that night we found a way. It was an unbelievable thing. It was a marvelous, miraculous win." -Coach Frank Allocco — Neil Hayes

There are two things you can be certain of: dying and getting the arse as a football coach. — Royce Hart

Victories are a byproduct of a larger vision. It begins with a question:

How much do we owe one another?

Each coach's and player's individual answer is one of the building blocks of The Streak. De La Salle separates itself from the competition because everyone from the head coach to the least accomplished player on the roster is willing to make the sacrifices necessary to be their absolute best. — Neil Hayes

No, but you can see it from here. — Lou Holtz

Probably no one here knows I coached a football team - a service team - playing against Georgetown. I think it was in the fall of 1924 Lou Little was your coach, and he beat us. But it was a very happy circumstance, because it brought me the friendship of another man, Lou Little, who to this day remains my very warm associate and friend. — Dwight D. Eisenhower

18th September, 1970; Jimi Hendrix dies. I'm still on the football team when I get the news. So I take my helmet off and confront the coach to tell him I'm quitting the team. In a moment of brilliance he gives me one look and says "OK". — Joe Satriani

I've cut my teeth as a coach with some great head coaches and some great co-workers and I have been very lucky to have learned a lot of football from all of the above. — Mike Tice

Nobody, not even the head coach, would do anything to a football unilaterally, such as adjust the amount of pressure in a ball, without the quarterback not knowing. It would have to be the quarterback's idea. — John Madden

I would like to clarify one thing about the 1970 USC game. Talk about urban legend. There have been numerous stories and documentaries about Coach going to the USC dressing room after that game and bringing Sam Cunningham back into our locker room and saying, "This is what a real football player looks like." I was there and it didn't happen. It wasn't unusual for Coach Bryant to go to a visiting locker area after a game and congratulate the other team if they beat us and he did do that after the game. But he never brought anyone back to our dressing room. — Mal Moore With Steve Townsend

football today," the coach said, turning the insect eyes back at Ty so that he could see two dark-haired — Tim Green

It's tougher to be a football coach than the President of the United States. You've got four years as a president, and they guard you. A football coach doesn't have anyone to protect him when things go wrong. — Harry S. Truman

I sent my Christmas wishes to him, but he didn't answer. He's the world's best coach, but as a man he still has to learn manners and respect. — Mario Balotelli

I always thought I could coach. I just thought people were poor judges of good coaches. — Bum Phillips

It never changes. Football is a game of repetition, mental and physical. You may try to articulate it a little different, but it's the same thing: Get better players, make fewer mistakes, and drill the fundamentals into your players' heads. The rest of it is a joke. Teams aren't winning because of what they had for breakfast of what some coach said in the locker room. — Barry Switzer

The coaching profession has lost one of its true legends. Though he was best known for winning more football games than any other coach when he retired, Eddie Robinson's impact on coaching and the game of football went far beyond wins and losses. He brought a small school in northern Louisiana from obscurity to nationwide, if not worldwide, acclaim and touched the lives of hundreds and hundreds of young men in his 57 years at Grambling. That will be his greatest legacy. — Grant Teaff

When I watch professional football, I love listening to John Madden because I know he knows what he's talking about. He's been both down in the trenches and in front of the bench as a coach. He knows the game. — Robert Kiyosaki

Making the effort to improve as a human being is what Coach Lombardi was all about. He was able to see the gap between where we were and what we could become-both as football players and as people. And he felt it was his God-given responsibility to close that gap. — Jerry Kramer

I must have been a failed football coach in a previous incarnation. — David Blunkett

This must be the weirdest thing a football coach has ever seen: two quarterbacks making out. — Miranda Kenneally

Though the legs of a football coach are never so active on the field of play during playing time, his mind is the best or worse player on the pitch! — Ernest Agyemang Yeboah

The recruiter didn't bother to introduce himself when Alumbaugh extended his hand. Instead, he turned to Aliotti and said: "He's not six-foot-one."

Nice to meet you, too, Alumbaugh thought. — Neil Hayes

A lot of things look good on an academic's blackboard in terms of the actions that need to be taken. It's almost like a football coach, when you draw the X's and O's: Every play that is chalked on that board goes for a touchdown. Well, there are a lot of yards to be made between the line of scrimmage and the touchdown. — John O. Brennan

It's cool. You can laugh about it, but at the same time you can't really get caught up in it because you're here for a job and it's to win football games. Being on this team, being with the head coach here and the quarterback we have keeps you humble. It keeps you hard working. You can laugh and giggle about stuff, but then at the same time you've got to make sure you're prepared and practicing hard still. — Rob Gronkowski

For a football coach, there's nothing that matches the pain of a team not playing up to its capabilities. — Joe Greene

I've often told people that the greatness of this football program will emerge when The Streak ends. I hope you will all live up to that. It's all numbers. It's nothing. It's not what we're about. It's not what this school represents." -Coach Frank Allocco — Neil Hayes

We had a very exhaustive, extensive search for the guy that is going lead our football team over the next few years. We spent about two months in an in-depth interview process, and Bret came out with flying colors. We are absolutely thrilled that he is our head coach. — Ron Jaworski

Being a coach means giving your job 200% all the time and you're family is left on the side so I don't want to risk my family anymore just because I love football. I don't feel this ambition, I'm involved in many businesses and I want to live my own life, to see my daughters grow and want to see my family happy. — Emmanuel Petit

Look, I'm a coach, I'm not Harry Potter. He is magical, but in reality there is no magic. Magic is fiction and football is real. — Jose Mourinho

We didn't win a Super Bowl together, and that's something I'll always regret - not knowing what that feels like. But you and I have won more games together than any quarterback and coach combination in the history of the NFL. — Dan Marino

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

Rosenfeld runs the metropolitan staff, the Post's largest, like a football coach. He prods his players, letting them know that he has promised the front office results, pleading, yelling, cajoling, pacing, working his facial expressions for instant effects - anger, satisfaction, concern.
Carl Bernstein, Bob Woodward — Carl Bernstein

I'm really happy for Coach Cooper and the guys who've been around here for six or seven years, especially our seniors. — Bobby Hoying

I'm not sure (whether Demetriou did anything wrong). I wouldn't have thought so ... but I'm not the ACC (Australian Crime Commission), I'm not ASADA. I'm a football coach trying to coach a game. — James Hird

Once an athlete feels his coach does not believe in him resentment develops and everyone loses at that point. — George M. Gilbert

I started out wanting to coach football. — Lee Majors

My dad was a college football coach, so we're a big athletic family. I was either going to be an athlete or an actor. As an actor, I hoped I would be able to bond the two. — Matt Barr

I must have just dreamed that about Liverpool playing 3-4-3. What do people think that was, a bit of luck? A British coach playing 3-4-3? A foreign coach doing that would be a tactical genius. I imagine people think I fell into that system through a stroke of luck or something ... it took some thought. I didn't just throw them out there. — Brendan Rodgers