“If you give your players a reason as to why they did not win, or if you are quoted as to why you did not win, they are going to latch on to that.” –Bob Stoops
"I think failure is one of the great motivators. After my narrow loss in the 1948 trials, I knew how really good I could be. It was the defeat that focused all my concentration on my training and goals." -Pat McCormick
"I just hate losing.” –Derrick Rose
"While everyone loves to win, you learn more about yourself and your teammates when you lose. Life is easy when you are winning. A person’s true colors come through during times of adversity." –Jerry West
“Above anything else, I hate to lose.” -Jackie Robinson
"I think losing offers the wisdom for people to grow if they choose to use that wisdom. There's a choice, you can blame or you can accept. Almost all of my basketball wisdom came when I had my lunch handed to me as a coach." –Dick Bennett
"When you lose, everybody's willing to think, 'What did I do wrong? What do I need to do better?’ I think the worst thing you can do is play poorly and still win." –Nick Saban
"In my opinion, thinking about losing is one of the best motivators there is. I mean, don’t just toss out the idea, but really think about it. Turn it over and over in your mind. How will it feel to walk off the court having lost? What glee will the other team’s fans be showing off in the stands? What taunting will we have to swallow? What embarrassment? How will it feel going to class tomorrow, walking around campus, passing friends and strangers, all of whom saw the game and the failure? How will it feel knowing you let your family down, and your friends, and your coach and teammates? And yourself? That kind of negative thinking can be incredibly energizing." –Dick Devenzio
“Accept a loss as a learning experience and never point fingers at your teammates.” –Michael Jordan
"There's nothing that cleanses your soul like getting the hell kicked out of you." –Woody Hayes
“Defeat is a state of mind. No one is ever defeated until defeat has been accepted as reality. To me, defeat in anything is merely temporary, and its punishment is but an urge for me to give greater effort to achieve my goal. Defeat simply tells me that something is wrong in my doing; it is a path leading to success and truth.” -Bruce Lee
“There's no such thing as losing when we've made the effort to do the best we can do.” –John Wooden
"If you lose while believing in one another, you can handle the loss. But in fact you have a really good chance of winning." -Mike Krzyzewski
"When you lose, you get that sick feeling in your stomach. Then it turns to anger and the anger gets you to work harder and gets you to show some real pride. Darn it all, there’s nothing in this world as bad as losing.” -Joe Paterno
"As long as I've coached, winning never did anything for me or to me that in any way compared to what losing did. The loss was far, far worse than the win was good. The two never evened out in terms of emotions involved or emotions spent." -Bob Knight
