TEAM

“The best teams are team in any sport that lose themselves in the team. The individuals lose their identity. And their identities come about as a result of being in the team first.” -Mike Krzyzewski

“The way a team plays as a whole determines its success. You may have the greatest bunch of individual stairs in the world, but if they don’t play together, the club won’t be worth a dime.” -Babe Ruth

"Building the team is as important as producing the product." -Bob Taylor

“There can be no separation in your organization. You win as a team, you lose as a team.” –Mike Shanahan

“The number one thing that I like about football. You need to have the whole team buying into that team concept. The part I like the most about it is when the whole team kind of loses itself for one common goal to win a championship. There is not a better feeling for me, especially after a Super Bowl, that you are the best in the world at least for that year and how collectively the team was able to accomplish that.” –Jack Ham

“It’s the easiest thing in the world to understand, but the hardest thing to achieve.  So in order to make it happen, the team has to learn how to think as one.” –Mike Krzyzewski

“There’s a lot of reasons to love football. The ones that come to mind right off bat are the unbelievable sense of camaraderie. Bill Walsh used to tell us, “What greater thing in the world than people from all different backgrounds, all different races, all different religions coming together. And you go out there on Sunday, and everyone’s on the same team.’ I think it’s the purest game in the world. Every game is a challenge physically and mentally. It calls on you coming together as a unit and trusting your teammates.” - John Lynch

“The main ingredient of stardom is the rest of the team." –John Wooden

“Team sports are really difficult things.  Sometimes your team wins because of you, sometimes in spite of you and sometimes it's like you're not even there.  That's the reality of the team game.  Than at one point in my career...something wonderful happened.  I don't know why or how...but I came to understand what "team" meant.  It meant that although I didn't get a hit or make a great defensive play.  I could impact my team by caring first and foremost about the team's success and not my own.” –Don Mattingly

"X & O's aren't worth a damn without a team. If your team isn't with you it doesn't matter what you draw up. The team must respect what the coach is asking them to do." -Hubie Brown

"I am a member of a team, and I rely on the team, I defer to it and sacrifice for it, because the team, not the individual, is the ultimate champion." -Mia Hamm

"People who are in it for their own good are individualists. They don't share the same heartbeat that makes a team so great. A great unit, whether it be football or any organization, shares the same heartbeat." –Bear Bryant

“Tough minded enough to do the necessary things--this is the epitome of what a team is.” –Don Meyer

TEACHING

“A primary goal of teaching anything is the advantage that learning gives to people over their competitors who haven’t been as well taught.” -Bob Knight

"Learning is a process that occurs over time and always integrates thinking and doing." -Peter Senge

“The greater part of instruction is being reminded of things you already know.” -Plato

 “What motivates me? Being around coaches who care and love to teach." -Don Meyer

“The undisciplined student has two problems: he knows what he is against, but sometimes he is uncertain what he favors.” –George Allen

"The mediocre teacher tells.

The good teacher explains.

The superior teacher demonstrates.

The great teacher inspires."

       -William Arthur Ward

"A good teacher creates an environment which allows the student to succeed." –Bill Parcells

“In any classroom, if the students can predict what the teacher is going to do all the time, they start memorizing and stop thinking.” –Mike Krzyzewski

“A very important part of my life is teaching. At some big-time basketball universities, the emphasis is on recruiting: ‘Let’s get a coach who can bring in talent.’ For me, the basic things has to be teaching.” –Pete Carril

“As a coach, your athletes will rise and fall to your level of tolerance.” –Bruce Brown

"All of us know a lot about it, but sometimes we forget that our players don't know about it." -Lou Carnesecca

"After awhile, your coaching development ceases to be about finding newer ways to organize practice. In other words, you soon stop collecting drills. Your development as a coach shifts to observing how great coaches teach, motivate, lead, and drive players to performances at higher and higher levels.” –Anson Dorrance

“I asked everyone I met from all walks of life to describe the best teacher they ever had. The descriptions were similar—a teacher who cared, knew the subject matter, expanded on it, kept a disciplined classroom, and taught self-motivation." -Grant Teaff

"Can you accept the premise that if players are not learning, then coaches must not be coaching effectively? Your staff must be students of learning and measure their ability as teachers by the performance of the players. If the progress of players is too slow, look for different teaching strategies. A tremendous sense of accomplishment results from working hard to find a teaching strategy that proves effective in a problematic situation." -Larry Kehres

“Since the most important responsibility of a coach in regard to the actual playing of the game is to teach his players properly and effectively to execute the various fundamentals of the game, he is first of all a teacher.” –John Wooden

 “What I think every teacher and coach needs to do when counseling an individual of this type, one who is so clearly withdrawn, is to establish what he wants, what he rejects, and then, most importantly, what you expect from him. My rule was not to criticize. I learned the hard way that this was a waste of time. Talk to this individual in private.” –George Allen

"Teaching is the most wonderful profession. The most important profession in the world are parenting - that's the most important - and teaching." –John Wooden

“In teaching, you must remember that no group of individual is the same as who you taught the day before, the year before, or the decade before. Your plan has to suit who you and your team are right now. And you must always be willing to adapt." -Mike Krzyzewski

“Pete Newell told me ‘get as much information and learn as much about the game as you can, but use your own personality to teach it.’” -Mike Krzyzewski

"Teach with dignity. Soft rain is absorbed more than hard rain. Hard rain tends to run off." –Don Meyer

"A teacher affect eternity; no one can tell where his influence stops." -Henry Adams

"Teaching is not a lost art, but regard for it is a lost tradition." -Jacques Barzun

"A master can tell you what he expects of you. A teacher, though, awakens your own expectations." -Patrica Neal

"Teaching is the greatest act of optimism." -Colleen Wilcox

"Lombardi didn’t believe in complimenting people for doing what they were supposed to do.  If you did well, he’d say so.  But to get praise, you had to do something really extraordinary.  It was a matter of understanding your men and getting maximum performance, not just maximum effort, out of them." -Bill Curry

"You have to prepare your team for whatever the situation calls for.  That's the fundamental goal of your teaching." -Pete Carril

“The key to handling this student is to let him know that you want him to be recognized for what he believes and not for what he is against.” –George Allen

“The great teacher makes a few simple points.  The powerful teacher leaves one or two fundamental truths.  And the memorable teacher makes the point not by telling, but by helping the students discover on their own.  Learning takes place through discovery, not when you're told something, but when you figure it out for yourself.  All a really fine teacher does is make suggestions, point out the problems, above all, ask questions and more questions, and more questions…" -William Safire

"Be more interested in finding the best way, not just in having it your way." –John Wooden

“When you teach basketball, it has its technical parts and its life parts. It has to be that way because it’s played by humans.” –Pete Carril

"We're the teacher and the kids are the students. And if we haven't taught them exactly what to do then we can't expect them to do those things that they haven't been taught. That's what the practice floor is all about." –Bob Knight

"A coach who is not teaching leads to the worst thing in a program -- players not learning." –Don Meyer

"I'd rather be thought of as a teacher than a coach." –Bob Knight

“I felt my team could always interpret what I was teaching; we didn’t need all these damn meetings.  I didn’t want my players depending on me.  I figured I’d teach ‘em during the week, and when the game comes along, it’s up to them.  That’s one reason I didn’t like to call timeouts.  I didn’t want the players thinking that every time they got in a little jam, I’d bail them out.  I wanted to make them figure it out.” –Pete Newell

"A coach must remember that he is a teacher and therefore must prepare his team for every possible situation that may develop." –Bob Knight

"Teaching is the most wonderful profession. The most important professions in the world are parenting - that's the most important - and teaching." –John Wooden

“Your players will do what you emphasize, not what you teach them.” –Dick Bennett

“Most teachers, supervisors, and students regard him as a troublemaker, but he doesn’t usually see himself that way. This is important for the teacher or coach to remember in trying to help. A disobedient student rarely sees himself as others do. As a result, this behavior can go on for years and the student gets progressively worse because no one knows how to deal with him.” –George Allen

"The mediocre teacher tells.The good teacher explains.The superior teacher demonstrates.The great teacher inspires." -William Arthur Ward

"Be and look prepared. Be a man on integrity. Never break your word. Don't have two sets of standards. Stand up for your players. Show them you care on and off the court." -Red Auerbach

"Big things are accomplished only through the perfection of minor details.” –John Wooden

“The worst thing you can do for those you love is to do the things they could and should do for themselves.” –Abraham Lincoln

“Two words to avoid in teaching are “always” and “never.” There is nothing that happens a certain way 100 percent of the time.” –Pete Carril

"Coaching and teaching are two different things. The coaching never turned me on that much, but I always enjoyed the teaching, the practice sessions." –Pete Newell

"Correction does much, but encouragement does more." -Goethe

"If you would plant for days, plant flowers.

If you would plant for years, plant trees.

If you would plant for eternity, plant ideas."

-Proverbs

"Never underestimate the power of individual attention." -Stephen R. Covey

“Whatever you emphasize and to the degree that you do, you get better at it.” –Pete Carril

“It’s results that count, and they should determine your principles.” –Pete Carril

“It is a mistake we all make as coaches to think that there is only one way of doing something. There is not. Whatever works works.” –Pete Carril

"Coaches spend too much time on how to do things and not enough time on why they do things. Players must know the purpose of what they are doing." -George Raveling

“The most important things we gave every player, though, were time and attention.” –Bo Schembechler

"You can't sell something if you don't own it. A player can't be tough if the coach is soft." –Don Meyer

"If you are successful, it is because somewhere, sometimes, someone gave you a life or an idea that started you off in the right direction." -Melinda Gates

"People have a way of becoming what you encourage them to be -- not what you nag them to be." –Scudder N. Parker

“It is our responsibility as coaches to get them to do the right thing, not enable them to do the wrong thing.” –Nick Saban

“It’s not what you teach, it’s what you emphasize.” –Don Meyer

“I constantly remind myself of the most basic formula of teaching: you hear, you forget; you see, you remember; you do, you understand. And when you truly understand, that is when the basics become habitual." -Mike Krzyzewski

“Good players can take criticism and construction…great players can take criticism and construction and learn!” –John Wooden

“Knowledge along is not enough to get desired results. You must have the more elusive ability to teach and to motivate. This defines a leader; if you can’t teach and you can’t motivate, you can’t lead.” -John Wooden

“As teachers and coaches, we have to get guys to understand the reasons behind doing things a particular way. That is the best way to coach. Everybody has to have a vision of what they think they can accomplish. You don’t have to be able to see it to do it.” –Nick Saban

“The deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated." –William James

TALENT

“Talent is never enough to enable us to reach our potential. To be a successful leader -- to be a successful person -- you need more than just talent.” –John Maxwell

“Everyone thinks talent is fixed—that this guy’s got it and that guy doesn’t—but it’s just not true. Talent is elastic, and particularly so in team sports. A team of athletes that are well coached well-disciplined and play hard together can beat a team with more talent, if that team lacks character, or proper attitudes or cohesiveness.” –Bo Schembechler

"Talent alone is not enough. I had some of the most talented players, but they didn't work hard. I like people who are enthusiastic if it rains; they can find something positive in a storm." –George Allen

"Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separated the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work." -Stephen King

"Talent alone is not enough. They used to tell me you have use your five best players, but I've found that you win with the five who fit together best." -Red Auerbach

"The luck of having talent is not enough; one must also have a talent for luck." -Hector Berlioz

"Genius does what it must, talent does what it can." -Edward Bulwer-Lytton

"Conciseness is the sister of talent." -Anton Checkhov

“Go to a race and stand at the finish line. Then… see who crosses the line first. There is the most talented athlete.” –Glenn Gaesser

"There is no substitute for talent. Industry and all its virtues are of no avail." -Aldous Huxley

"Everyone has a talent. What is rare is the courage to follow the talent to the dark places where it leads." -Erica Jong

“I don’t think talent is as important as the work habits and dedication necessary to be competent. Certainly talent needs to be above average but I don’t think it needs to be the top thing on the list.” –Jack Nicklaus

"Great talents are the most lovely and often the most dangerous fruits on the tree of humanity. They hang upon the most slender twigs that are easily snapped off." -Carl Jung

"The crowning blessing of life -- to be born with a bias to some pursuit." -S.C. Tallentyre

“It’s not about talent, it’s about how the team plays. That’s the litmus. Let’s see how we play. Let’s see how we coach. What the team looks like on paper doesn’t mean a thing.”  -Bill Belichick

SYSTEM

"Systems have a greater impact on behavior than mission statements." -Andy Stanley

"A good system shortens the road to the goal." -Orison Swett Marden

“There are no short cuts to success. Some coaches in their eagerness to win quickly do not have the patience to work toward the refinement of their inherited theories and will switch to a system of play which has brought success to others. The change in system may bring initial success through the element of surprise, but it will not be a guarantee for lasting success.” -Pete Newell

“It is my philosophy, opinion, and method of coaching to try to develop a style of play and an approach that will keep our team in games, but I believe the kids win the games.” –Dick Bennett

"Management works in the system; Leadership works on the system." -Stephen Covey

“I must create a system, or be enslaved by another man's; I will not reason and compare, my business is to create.” -William Blake

SUCCESS

"Whatever you are, be a good one. Success is always built on doing well the job that's in front of you today. I've found that people who are always worried about the next move in the chess game of their life never quite get at that move. Don't think that way because, if you're always worrying about the next step, it will compromise your ability to do your current job well." –Dr. Ed Penhoet

“The most overrated attribute for success in life is ability by itself. Character and intelligence have a way to defeat ability by itself. And if you combine the three, you have something special.” -Jimmy Tillette

"Success begins once we learn that the hard way is often the best way and the long way is often the right way." –Barclay

"Morale and attitude are the fundamentals to success." - Bud Wilkinson

"When a man feels throbbing within him the power to do what he undertakes as well as it can possibly be done, this is happiness, this is success." –Orison Swett Marden

“If you’re always striving to achieve a success that is defined by someone else, I think you’ll always be frustrated.” –Mike Krzyzewski

“Where success is concerned, people are not measured in inches, or pounds, or college degrees, or family background; they are measured by the size of their thinking.” -David Schwartz

"Here's my definition of success: choosing to enter into the arena of action, determined to give yourself to that cause which will better mankind and last for eternity. Success is more than just power or not violating the rights of others; it is the privilege of contributing to the betterment of others." -John C. Maxwell

"The greatest detriment to tomorrow's success is today's success." -Rick Warren

“Failure can be bought on easy terms; success must be paid for in advance.” -Cullen Hightower

"Success -- it's what you do with what you've got." –Woody Hayes

“Success is focusing the full power of all you are on what you have a burning desire to achieve.” -Wilferd A. Peterson

“What is success? Success comes from consistency in performance. People who have consistent performance do it a certain way.” –Nick Saban

“Average people look for ways of getting away with it; successful people look for ways of getting on with it.”  -Jim Rohn

“Success is not a pie with a limited number of pieces. The success of others has very little bearing on your success. You and everyone you know can become successful without anyone suffering setbacks, harm, or downturns.” -Denis Waitley

“You don’t become enormously successful without encountering and overcoming a number of extremely challenging problems.” -Mark Victor Hansen

“Always demanding the best of oneself, living with honor, devoting one’s talents and gifts to the benefits of others—these are the measures of success that endure when material things have passed away.” -Gerald Ford

“When you identify something that you do well, that you enjoy doing, and that supports the values that are important to you, you have defined success in your terms.” -Nido Qubein

“Successful people are always looking for opportunities to help others. Unsuccessful people are always asking, ‘What’s in it for me?’ ” -Brian Tracy

“Success is the maximum utilization of the ability that you have.” -Zig Ziglar

"There are two kinds of success. There’s success in your own eyes and there’s success in the eyes of other people. If you want to feel successful in your own eyes, you gotta feel satisfies with your life, satisfied with your accomplishments. That’s success.” –Red Auerbach

 “Success to me is the satisfaction of knowing that I’ve been prepared, I’ve done absolutely everything I could do that’s in my control to be prepared. And I guess part of success is being committed to enjoying the process.” –Anne Donovan

“Success is progress. It’s becoming better at what you do. That’s what I always emphasize with the players, that if you can improve your skills and take advantage of it, that’s success. I don’t necessarily measure it in winning and losing, although that’s always a factor. But if you’ve improved, that’s success.” –Bill Walsh

“I would define success as doing the absolute best that you are capable of doing. That’s not the same as winning every game—it’s being as good as you could possibly be.” –Tony Dungy

“Success comes from knowing that you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming.” –John Wooden

“I would say that success is never final. No matter what you achieve, you’ve gotta move forward. It’s gotta be onward and upward because it’s not final. You can go from being pretty successful to pretty downtrodden and you can do it very quickly, particularly in this business.” –Bill Parcells

“Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best you are capable of becoming.” –John Wooden

"The price of success is continued work." –Bob Pruett

“Success is nothing more than a few simple disciplines, practiced every day; while failure is simply a few errors in judgment, repeated every day. It is the accumulative weight of our disciplines and our judgments that leads us to either fortune or failure.” –Jim Rohn

"Success is the ongoing process of striving to become more. It is the opportunity to continually grow emotionally, socially, spiritually, physiologically, intellectually, and financially whole contributing in some positive way to others. The road to success is always under construction. It is a progressive course, not an end to be reached." -Tony Robbins

"Success is peace of mind that is the direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming." –John Wooden

"Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go." -William Feather

"I learned that winning is not simply scoring the most points. In fact, true success has little to do with the final score.” –Jim Tressel

“Success for me has clearly been about being able to live in the present—live fully and in this moment.” –Tyler Perry

"The ladder of success doesn’t care who climbs it.” -Frank Tyger

"I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and misses. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that’s why I succeed!” –Michael Jordan

“God’s definition of success is really one of significance—the significant difference our lives can make in the lives of others. This significance doesn’t show up in win-loss records, long resumes, or the trophies gathering dust on our mantels. It’s found in the hearts and lives of those we’ve come across who are in some way better because of the way we lived.” –Tony Dungy

"Success all begins with attention to, and perfection of, details. They usually accompany success." –John Wooden

“The most important single ingredient in the formula of success is knowing how to get along with people.” -Theodore Roosevelt

“The difference between champions and near champions is the ability to play for something outside of self.” That’s motivation! No one can achieve lasting success without it." –Bob Zuppke

"The greatest thing a man can do in this world is to make the most possible out of the stuff that has been given him. This is success, and there is no other." –Orison Swett Marden

"Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out, without ceasing." -Robert Collier

“What success does to you.  It is like a habit-forming drug that, in victory, saps your elation and, in defeat, deepens your despair.  Once you have sampled it you are hooked, and now I lie in bed, not sleeping the sleep of the victor but wide awake, seeing the other people who are coming in next Sunday.” –Vince Lombardi

STRENGTH TRAINING

“Hard to have a great basketball program without a great strength program.” –Rick Majerus

“If you are not committed to having the best strength program you can have, then you aren't committed to having the best program you can have.” –Rick Majerus

STATISTICS

"Statistics always remind me of fellow who drowned in a river where the average depth was only three feet." –Woody Hayes

“What gets measured gets done.” –Anonymous  

“If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.” -Anonymous

"I only use statistics to reinforce what I already think, or it it's something unusual." –Dean Smith

"People tend to look too much at numbers and not enough at where those numbers come from." –Dean Smith