Quotes on Basketball Coaching

Excellence is the gradual result of always striving to do better.

I'm looking for players who make their teammates better. You do that with enthusiasm and passion.

If a Coach is determined to stay in the coaching profession, he will develop from year to year. This much is true, no coach has a monopoly on the knowledge of basketball. There are no secrets in the game. The only secrets, if there are any, are good teaching of sound fundamentals, intelligent handling of men, a sound system of play, and the ability to instill in the boys a desire to win.

People want to be on a team. They want to be part of something bigger than themselves. They want to be in a situation where they feel that they are doing something for the greater good.

Praise your kids. Inspire and motivate your players with praise. Ten years from now it won't matter what your record was. Will your kids love you or hate you?

Sometimes you learn more from losing than winning. Losing forces you to reexamine.

Talent is God given. Be humble. Fame is man-given. Be grateful. Conceit is self-given. Be careful.

If you want to be in the game you better shoot 75% from the line.

Failure is not fatal, but failure to change might be.

Remember this, the choices you make in life, make you.

Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.

Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out.

No one is bigger than the team. You're going to be on time, you're going play hard, you're going to know your job and you're going to know when to pass and shoot. If you can't do those four things you're not getting time here and we don't care who you are.

Deep down, your players must know you care about them. This is the most important thing. I could never get away with what I do if the players feel I didn't care for them. They know, in the long run, I'm in their corner.

Once practice starts, we work hard, and that's the best conditioning there is. Everything counts. Every little thing counts. Run hard, play hard, go after the ball hard, guard hard. If you play soft (what I call signing a 'non-aggression pact' with your teammates), you won't ever get into shape.

The greatest ally you have to get things working well and the players performing as a team is the bench. Don't be afraid to use it, either for the star player or anyone else.

How do you go from where you are to where you wanna be? And I think you have to have an enthusiasm for life. You have to have a dream, a goal. And you have to be willing to work for it.

Courage gives a leader the ability to stand straight and not sway, no matter which way the wind blows.

Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.

When we're playing a good scoring center, we tell our team that it is not our defensive man's job to stop the center. It's the responsibility of our perimeter people to stop the ball from going inside.

What you do every day matters more than what you do once in a while.