Any time you give a man something he doesn’t earn, you cheapen him. Our kids earn what they get, and that includes respect.
I don’t like nice people. I like tough, honest people.
I am not very smart, but I recognize that I am not very smart.
Picking an assistant coach, the first thing I was interested in was the man’s character.
In football we always said that the other team couldn’t beat us. We had to be sure that we didn’t beat ourselves. And that’s what people have to do, too-make sure they don’t beat themselves.
The only way we’d get beaten was if we got a little fat-headed, if we didn’t train right, if we had dissension on the squad.
The five big mistakes in football are the fumble, the interception, the penalty, the badly called play, the blocked punt – and most of these originate with the quarterback. Find a mistake-proof quarterback and you have this game won.
Without winners, there would be no civilization.
Success is the only motivational factor that a boy with character needs.
The players fire the coach, and as long as I’m on the same wavelength with them, I can coach as long as I want to.
Nobody despises to lose more than I do. That’s got me into trouble over the years, but it also made a man of mediocre ability into a pretty good coach.
No back in the history of football was ever worth two fumbles a game.
It’s never an upset if the so-called underdog has all along considered itself the better team.
Indomitable in victory, insufferable in defeat.
The only meaningful statistic is number of games won.
The bowl games are only supposed to be a fun reward.
They may outsmart me, or be luckier, but they can’t outwork me.
I may not be able to outsmart too many people, but I can outwork ’em.
A good general always makes you search for his weaknesses.
The minute I think I’m getting mellow, I’m retiring. Who ever heard of a mellow winner?
You win with people.