"A player who makes a team great is much more valuable than a great player." –John Wooden
"Too often we think of basketball in terms of points. That's why our players always point to the man who set up their basket. The fellow who rebounds and sets screens may go unnoticed, but he's just as important as the scorer. If I have a great one-on-one player who wants to do it all, I tell him, 'Fine, but I don't think I can come up with four players to put on the court with you.' He gets the idea." –Dean Smith
“The players who can consistently help their teams win games are the ones who stick around, so every player has to figure out what it is he does well enough to help a team win.” –Nick Collison
"It's just trying to keep everybody prepared to contribute. Sometimes you can only play a guy a couple of minutes. They just have to understand that whatever they have to do, to go in there and play is an important part of it. A coach can always read disappointment on a player's body language. But this is a team that wants to win and they know to do so they have to be willing to put 'me' second to team. That's an important aspect of it." -Phil Jackson
“Sometimes a player’s greatest challenge is coming to grips with his role on the team.” -Scottie Pippen
"For me, more important than winning the quarterback job was earning some playing time, being part of the team, building the trust of the coaches and my teammates, and being able to contribute. That's what I took so much pride in and what I wanted to accomplish. I hoped to carve out a role for myself that contributed to the good of the team in every game." –Tim Tebow
“I’ve always thought you can get more out of every player, even the stars, if you coached them as a team. If you try to win championships, instead of individual awards, everyone will get better. This means everyone on your team must have a clear, specific role to play, and they have to see those roles as being vital to the success of the entire organization.” –Bo Schembechler
“To achieve greatness as an organization, every person must do his part. So often the head coach or quarterback gets too much credit when the trainers, the equipment people, and the secretaries deserve plenty, too. There's no such thing as an unimportant job.” –Mike Shanahan
“Each player is an extension of his teammates. When Jerry Rice catches a ball, he is an extension of several players — those who are blocking the pass rushers, the receivers who are precisely coordinating their routes with his and the quarterback who is taking a hit after throwing the ball. When Roger Craig broke through with a big run, it embodied the fierce execution of the offensive line, the timing of their blocks and the execution of the down-field blocks by the receiver.” -Bill Walsh
"Our job as a coaching staff is to show you what to do and how to do it. Your job as players is to do it consistently." -Chuck Noll
“The sixth man has to be so stable a player that he can instantly pick up the tempo or reverse it. He has to be able to go in and have an immediate impact. The sixth man has to have the unique ability to be in a ball game while he is sitting on the bench.” -Tom Heinson
“Every single soldier must know, before he goes into battle, how the little battle he is to fight fits into the larger picture, and how the success of his fighting will influence the battle as a whole.” -Bernard Montgomery
“Unselfishness is a trait I always insisted upon. I believed that every basketball team is a unit, and I didn’t separate my players as to starters and subs. I tried to make it clear that every man plays a role, including the coach, the assistants, the trainer and the managers.” -John Wooden
“The formula for success is every guy can make a difference for the entire team in whatever his role is. And to do it right, to get it right, is a critical factor in being successful.” –Nick Saban
"What I do you cannot do; but what you do, I cannot do. The needs are great, and none of us, including me, ever do great things. But we can all do small things, with great love, and together we can do something wonderful." -Mother Teresa
“Team work is a funny thing. You can have a 427 Corvettes with oversized cams that will run 160 miles an hour, but if you don’t have the lug nuts for one tire, you are not going anywhere.” –Nick Saban
“When we started winning championships, there was an understanding among all twelve players about what our roles were. We knew our responsibilities and we knew our capabilities. And that’s why we were able to beat more talented teams. There are plenty of teams in every sport that have great players and never win titles. Most of the time, those players aren’t willing to sacrifice for the greater good of the team. The funny thing is, in the end, their unwillingness to sacrifice only makes individual goals more difficult to achieve. Remember, talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence always wins the championship!” -Michael Jordan
