Motivation Quote by Jim Valvano

"I asked a ref if he could give me a technical foul for thinking bad things about him. He said, of course not. I said, well, I think you stink. And he gave me a technical. You can't trust em"

Jim Valvano, Coach

About this Quote

Valvano turns a tiny courtside exchange into a neat parable about authority: refs don t just police actions, they police tone, posture, even the emotional weather around them. The joke works because it s structured like a trap. He opens with an appeal to principle (you can t be punished for private thoughts), then immediately tests the boundary by making the thought public. The technical foul becomes the punchline and the proof. What looked like a question about fairness is really a setup to show how quickly power can slip from rule enforcement into ego defense.

The subtext is less anti-ref than pro-competitor. Coaches live in the narrow space between strategy and theater. Valvano is sketching the unwritten rulebook everyone in sports understands: the stated standard is conduct, but the real standard is deference. His final tag, You can t trust em, lands as locker-room folk wisdom, not a legal brief. It s a wink at how inconsistent, human, and mood-driven officiating can feel from the sideline, especially when a game tightens and everyone starts auditioning for control.

Context matters: Valvano s persona was charisma under pressure, a showman of defiance who could turn grievance into stand-up without losing the team. The line doubles as catharsis for fans and coaches who know the helplessness of arguing with the whistle and as a reminder that in competitive systems, even the neutral arbiters have skin in the moment.

Quote Details

Topic	Witty One-Liners
Source	Verified source: VALVANO'S TROUBLES NO JOKE (Jim Valvano, 1990) Text match: 95.00% Provider: Cross-Reference Evidence: "I asked a ref if he could give me a technical for thinking bad things about him and he said, `Of course not.' I said, `Well, I think you stink.' And he gave me a technical." (Page B2). Earliest primary-source-like publication I could verify in accessible archives is this Associated Press story reprinted by the Roanoke Times, dated Sunday, April 8, 1990, which attributes the line to Valvano ("he could evoke instant laughter with lines like this one..."). This version does NOT include the tag line "You can't trust 'em" that appears on later quote-collection sites, suggesting that add-on may be a later embellishment. I was not able to verify an earlier first-spoken/first-published instance (e.g., an earlier interview transcript, TV appearance, speech, or book by Valvano) from available primary materials in this search session, so the true first occurrence may predate 1990. Other candidates (1) Coach Yourself: A Motivational Guide for Coaches and Leaders (Dan Spainhour, 2007) compilation99.4% ... I asked a ref if he could give me a technical foul for thinking bad things about him . He said , of course not . ...
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