Quotes on Basketball Coaching

Other people go to the office. I get to coach. I know I've been blessed.

As coaches we talk about two things: offense and defense. There is a third phase we neglect, which is more important. It's conversion from offense to defense and defense to offense.

Setting a goal is not the main thing. It is deciding how you will go about achieving it and staying with that plan.

Coaching is making men do what they don't want, so they can become what they want to be

I have a plan of action, but the game is a game of adjustments.

Effort is only effort when it begins to hurt.

I never let our players get satisfied, I never let our Coaches get satisfied, I was never satisfied. We can always do it better.

We may not be the best conditioned team in the country, but our players think they are.

Losing is only temporary and not encompassing. You must simply study it, learn from it, and try hard not to lose the same way again. Then you must have the self-control to forget about it.

I am not a strategic coach; I am a practice coach.

The better conditioned team will probably win in the long run.

Conditioning is essential to success in basketball.

I continually stress to my players that all I expect from them at practice and in the games is their maximum effort.

Hold it more important to have the players' confidence than their affection.

Regardless of what you do put in, every game boils down to doing the things you do best and doing them over and over again.

To me, the big thing in being a successful team is repetition of what you're doing, either by word of mouth, blackboard, or specifically by work on the field. You repeat, repeat, repeat as a unit.

Offensively, you do what you do best and you do it again and again. Defensively, you attack your opponent's strength.

Play and practice like you are trying to make the team.

I think leadership is never singular. In a good organization, it's plural.

When you are speaking to your team after a game, never talk about the kid who was the star of the game. Talk about what your other players did to help the team win. Be sure to spread the wealth... Then have individual meetings with one to three players to praise and reinforce. Make sure you touch them.

Everyone wants to win, but not everyone is willing to prepare to win.