"Something goes wrong, I yell at them -"Fix it"- whether it's their fault or not. You can only really yell at the players you trust"
About this Quote
The sharper subtext is in the second sentence: anger is selective, even when it looks indiscriminate. Parcells isn’t “tough on everyone”; he’s investing his most intense attention in the people he believes can metabolize it. You don’t waste a hard coaching moment on someone fragile, disengaged, or already checked out. You correct the players with the psychological stamina - and the status - to take a public jolt and turn it into sharper execution next snap.
It’s also a quiet rebuttal to the modern assumption that trust equals gentleness. In Parcells’ model, trust buys you pressure. It’s a transactional intimacy: I’ll come at you hard because I think you can handle the truth, and because I need you to carry standards when I’m not in your ear. Coaching, here, isn’t therapy; it’s accountability theater, staged to produce competence under stress.
Quote Details
| Topic | Coaching |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Parcells, Bill. (2026, January 16). Something goes wrong, I yell at them -"Fix it"- whether it's their fault or not. You can only really yell at the players you trust. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/something-goes-wrong-i-yell-at-them-fix-it--98269/
Chicago Style
Parcells, Bill. "Something goes wrong, I yell at them -"Fix it"- whether it's their fault or not. You can only really yell at the players you trust." FixQuotes. January 16, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/something-goes-wrong-i-yell-at-them-fix-it--98269/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"Something goes wrong, I yell at them -"Fix it"- whether it's their fault or not. You can only really yell at the players you trust." FixQuotes, 16 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/something-goes-wrong-i-yell-at-them-fix-it--98269/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.



