Sports & Teamwork: Coaching Quotes

"The essence of football was blocking, tackling, and execution based on timing, rhythm and deception"

Knute Rockne, Coach

"A coach's greatest asset is his sense of responsibility - the reliance placed on him by his players"

Knute Rockne, Coach

"These guys who keep on playing but aren't winning, you've got to sit them down and let them figure it out and perform a little gut-check on themselves"

Payne Stewart, Athlete

"For example, I wouldn't hesitate to sit somebody down if he wasn't performing, even if he was the No. 1 player in the world. I've been sat down before!"

Payne Stewart, Athlete

"I think what coaching is all about, is taking players and analyzing there ability, put them in a position where they can excel within the framework of the team winning. And I hope that I've done that in my 33 years as a head coach"

Don Shula, Coach

"And I coached against Mike when he was an assistant with the Bears and they won that football game"

Don Shula, Coach

"And then to end up with a total of 347 wins, averaging 10 regular season wins for 33 years and the best winning percentage, and I'm very proud of this, of any professional team from 1970 to 1996"

Don Shula, Coach

"There has always been a saying in baseball that you can't make a hitter, but I think you can improve a hitter. More than you can improve a fielder. More mistakes are made hitting than in any other part of the game"

Ted Williams, Athlete

"Our coach was absolutely out of his head. He must have read Bear Bryant's book. We had 78 players out. The first day 35 quit. Twenty quit the second day. We ended with 17 players. It was depressing"

Merlin Olsen, Athlete

"Players lose you games, not tactics. There's so much crap talked about tactics by people who barely know how to win at dominoes"

Brian Clough, Athlete

"The biggest thing we get out of it is seeing the kids smile. And hopefully we will also see that the lessons we're teaching - not only the fundamentals of hockey, but also the life values - are sinking in"

Bobby Orr, Athlete

"I've also been working with the Challengers Club in the inner city of Los Angeles for 15 years now, I guess, and it's essentially an inner-city recreation club for boys and girls"

Richard Dean Anderson, Actor

"Revie said there was nothing between me and Ray yet he never gave me a chance to show what I could do"

Peter Shilton, Athlete

"It's a five-star matchup because we're in it"

Mike Tomlin, Coach

"We're going to unleash hell here in December"

Mike Tomlin, Coach

"Baseball is a simple game. If you have good players and if you keep them in the right frame of mind, then the manager is a success"

Sparky Anderson, Coach

"A baseball manager is a necessary evil"

Sparky Anderson, Coach

"To have the kind of year you want to have, something has to happen that you can't explain why it happened. Something has to happen that you can't coach"

Bobby Bowden, Coach

"Well, I knew JD could go out there and knock the guy out because in training I told JD all the time that he has height, reach and size and he has the power. JD has such a right hand, his right hand is like, wow, oh man it is bad"

Michael Moorer, Athlete

"Coaching in the NBA is not easy. It's like a nervous breakdown with a paycheck"

Pat Williams, Athlete

"The only thing I believe is this: A player does not have to like a manager and he does not have to respect a manager. All he has to do is obey the rules"

Sparky Anderson, Coach

"Players have two things to do. Play and keep their mouths shut"

Sparky Anderson, Coach

"Well, I am grooming him, he has a boxing trainer that knows what he is talking about, and once he has that he is able to put everything together and he listens, and when somebody listens they are able to accomplish anything"

Michael Moorer, Athlete

"My mental approach is totally different. My coach predicated everything on defense. He always talked about defense, defense, defense. I took it to heart that if you play defense, you can take the heart from an offensive player"

Eric Williams, Historian

"Some players you pat their butts, some players you kick their butts, some players you leave alone"

Pete Rose, Athlete

"I feel like there should be more black head coaches"

Lynn Swann, Athlete

"Good seasons start with good beginnings"

Sparky Anderson, Coach

"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, Athlete

"We must not let ourselves get driven off course, no matter what happens, we must stick to our natural game"

Zinedine Zidane, Athlete

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

Sergei Bubka, Athlete

"We draft mostly high school kids and we have one of the finest, if not the finest, player development programs and coaching staffs and we teach our players the right way to play. We also have a game plan in scouting, and there are certain types of players that we look for"

Roy Clark, Entertainer

"It will be a physical encounter, but we must not respond in kind"

Zinedine Zidane, Athlete

"And, of course, method is very important, as is a high-quality specialist (trainer) working with you to keep you going in the right direction for your improvement and to help create results"

Sergei Bubka, Athlete

"As a scouting department, with the confidence we have in our player development, if a guy has the potential that we think they have and the makeup and they stay healthy, we think they will be a productive Major Leaguer. We take a lot of pride in that"

Roy Clark, Entertainer

"Snoop Dog is the Phil Jackson of youth football coaches. He ain't going to accept nothing but a winner"

Ice Cube, Musician

"We started with that, basically to help kids, and then we created a pole vault school, which is part of the club and exists to this day. The club and school exist"

Sergei Bubka, Athlete

"I never really had a chance to know the players individually... I thought when they were on the floor, they worked hard. But I never really got to know them"

Lenny Wilkens

"The strategy of my coach and me was that we looked at pictures of all the best pole vaulters from around the world, and we took the best parts from them, and we created a person that had never existed. We then started to work toward being such a person"

Sergei Bubka, Athlete

"Aside from a handful of guys, boxing is missing the good trainers, that's why our sport is so in the air now because we don't have people who have the capability to not only train fighters but also train and create decent respectable citizens of the world"

Alexis Arguello, Athlete

"When you want to win a game, you have to teach. When you lose a game, you have to learn"

Tom Landry, Coach

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