Looking for bits of inspiration for your new basketball season? Often times, the greats of the profession share their nuggets of wisdom gained throughout the years in interviews, biographies, and more. Having some compelling coaching quotes could be the very thing to reenergize you for a new season. Sometimes, the right quote might just do the trick.

Here’s a look at great coaching quotes to help inspire and motivate you and your basketball team this season!

Coaching Quotes from Coaches

• Winning is the science of being totally prepared. – George Allen
• It’s not what you tell your players that counts. It’s what they hear. – Red Auerbach
• You have the greatest chance of winning when your first commitment is to a total and enthusiastic involvement in the game itself. Enthusiasm is what matters most. – John Brodie
• The most important statistic for a wrestling coach isn’t how many dual meets the team won nor the number of state champs they produced. It’s the number of wrestlers they had in the room on the last day of practice. – Greg DeMarco
• Some coaches are so busy learning the tricks of the trade that they never learn the trade. – Pete Emelianchik
• I would rather be known for coaching great men then coaching great wrestlers – Howard Ferguson
• Always have a plan and believe in it. I tell my coaches not to compromise. Nothing good happens by accident. There must be a plan for everything and the plan will prevent you from overlooking little things. By having that plan, you’ll be secure and self-doubts will never become a factor. – Chuck Knox
• As teachers and coaches, we must remember that when mere winning is our only goal, we are doomed to disappointment and failure. But when our goal is to try to win, when our focus is on preparation and sacrifice and effort instead of on numbers on a scoreboard then we will never lose. – Mike Krzyzewski
• Yelling doesn’t win ball games. It doesn’t put any points on the scoreboard. And I don’t think words win ball games all the time. Players do. Preparation does. – Jerry Tarkanian

Coaching Quotes from ‘Bear’ Bryant

• Mama wanted me to be a preacher. I told her coachin’ and preachin’ were a lot alike.
• Little things make the difference. Everyone is well prepared in the big things, but only the winners perfect the little things.
• If you want to coach you have three rules to follow to win. One, surround yourself with people who can’t live without football. I’ve had a lot of them. Two, be able to recognize winners. They come in all forms. And, three, have a plan for everything. A plan for practice, a plan for the game. Plan for being ahead, and plan for being behind 20-0 at half, with your quarterback hurt and the phones dead, with it raining cats and dogs and no rain gear because the equipment man left it at home.
• If there is one thing that has helped me as a coach, it’s my ability to recognize winners, or good people who can become winners by paying the price.
• If anything goes bad, I did it; if anything goes semi-good, we did it; if anything goes really good, then you did it. That’s all it takes to get people to win football games for you.
• You have to learn what makes this or that Sammy run. For one it’s a pat on the back, for another it’s eating him out, for still another it’s a fatherly talk, or something else. You’re a fool if you think as I did as a young coach, that you can treat them all alike.
• I’m no innovator. If anything I’m a stealer, or borrower. I’ve stolen or borrowed from more people than you can shake a stick at.
• If you whoop and holler all the time, the players just get used to it.

Great Quotes from Outside the World of Sports

• There are no little things. – Bruce Barton
• The fullness or emptiness of life will be measured by the extent to which a man feels that he has an impact on the lives of others. – Kingman Brewster
• We make a living by what we get. But we make a life by what we give. – Winston Churchill
• Children have more need of models than critics. – Carolyn Coates
• Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs. – Henry Ford
• It is a fine thing to have ability, but the ability to discover ability in others is the true test. – Elbert Hubbard
• Since the time of the ancient Greeks, we have felt that there was a close relationship between a strong vital mind and physical fitness. – John F. Kennedy
• The happiest people are those who have harvested their time in others. The unhappiest people are those who wonder how the world is going to make them happy. – John C. Maxwell
• The greatest gift you can give another is the purity of your attention. – Richard Moss
• Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment. – Will Rogers
• Success … has nothing to do with what you gain or accomplish for yourself. It’s what you do for others. – Danny Thomas
• You can accomplish anything in life provided you do not mind who gets the credit. – Harry S. Truman
• What you tolerate, you encourage. – Unknown

Related: Great Quotes for Basketball Coaches – Attitude

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