Famous College Football Coaches Quotes

Motivational, Inspirational, Memorable & Humorous

• Dana X. Bible
• Earl “Red” Blaik
• Bobby Bowden
• Paul “Bear” Bryant
• Duffy Daugherty
• Bob Devaney
• Paul Dietzel
• Bobby Dodd
• Hayden Fry
• Wayne Woodrow “Woody” Hayes
• John Heisman
• Lou Holtz
• Tad Jones
• Frank Leahy
• Johnny Majors
• John McKay
• Les Miles
• Bob Neyland
• Tom Osborne
• Ara Parasheghian
• Joe Paterno
• Tommy Prothro
• Eddie Robinson
• Knute Rockne
• Darrell Royal
• Nick Saban
• Bo Schembechler
• Steve Spurrier
• Amos Alonzo Stagg
• Jock Sutherland
• Barry Switzer
• Dick Vermeil
• Glenn "Pop" Warner
• Murray Warmath
• Charlie Weis
• Frosty Westering
• Bud Wilkinson
• Bob Zuppke

“Guts win more games than ability.”

“Coaching isn’t a great mystery.  It’s just hard work, determination and inspiration at the right moment.”

“The value of all art, whether in pigment or pigskin, lies to some degree in its resemblance of life.”

“All quitters are good losers.”

“Team guts always beat individual greatness.”

“A coach is often responsible to an irresponsible public.”

“We don’t care how big or strong our opponents are as long as they are human.”

“The hero of a thousand plays become a bum after on error.”

“If you are going to be a champion, you must be willing to pay a greater price than your opponent.”

“Football in its purest form remains a physical fight.  As in any fight, if you don’t want to fight, it’s impossible to win.”

“Morale and attitude are the fundamentals to success.”

“Play against the Game, not your opponent.”

“If a team is to reach its potential, each player must willingly subordinate his own personal goals to the good of the team.”

“We compete, not so much against an opponent, but against ourselves.  The real test is this: Did I make my best effort on every play?”

“If a team is to reach its potential, each player must be willing to subordinate his personal goals to the good of the team.”

“Your players’ attitude toward you hinges on just one thing, and that is respect.  If they do not respect you, you’ve lost them.  If you have their respect, you’ve got it made.”

“If you are going to be a champion, you must be willing to pay a greater price.”

“Every game is an opportunity to measure yourself against your own potential.”

“We compete, not so much against an opponent, but against ourselves.  The real test is this: Did I make my best effort on every play?”

“You can motivate players better with kind words than you can with a whip.”

“The will to prepare is the key ingredient to success.”

“I feel more strongly about this than anything else in coaching:  Anybody who lacks discipline, who doesn’t want to be part of the team, who doesn’t want to meet the requirements – has to go.  It’s that simple.”

“The more honor and self-respect among players, the greater the team.”

“How a man plays the game show something of his character; how he loses shows all of it.”

“Players don’t care how much I know until they know how much I care.”

“Extra Effort develops Excellence.”

“We’re more than champions today.”

“You are either green and growing, or ripe and rotting.”

“It it is to be, it is up to me.”

“Be a tough-minded optimist.”

“Just getting them to believe they had a chance to win the game is easier said than done.”

“I’m never going to be content with a comeback when you end up losing…You can’t just accept being in a game that’s close and end up losing.  It’s just not OK.”

“If lessons are learned in defeat, our team is getting a great education.”

“You play the way you practice.  Practice the right way and you will play the right way.”

“If you don’t invest very much, then defeat doesn’t hurt very much and winning is not very exciting.”

“If you don’t invest much of yourself, then defeat doesn’t hurt very much and winning isn’t very exciting.”

“My hobby is my work.  I love it so much, it is not work.”

“Everyone wants to work for you when you win.  Everyone wants to be your best friend when you win.  The real test comes when you lose.”

“Some people are born on third base and go through life thinking they hit a triple.”

“The key to his success?  He’s just faster than the guys who are chasing him.”

“The team with the best quarterback and talent wins this game….”

“It was like a heart transplant.  We tried to implant college in him but his head rejected it.”

“No coach who is sure of himself and his team constantly bawls out his players.”

“The forward pass is a cowardly, immoral act.”

“Speed is not your fastest man, but your slowest man.  No back can run faster than his interference.”