Top 151 Quotes & Sayings by Bear Bryant - Page 2

Motivating people- the ingredient that separates winners from losers.

Be aware of "yes" men. Generally, they are losers. Surround yourself with winners. Never forget - people win.

The Lord expects you to do some things for yourself.

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. A plan for being ahead, and a 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.

Recruiting is the one thing I hate. I won't do it unless my coaches tell me I've just got to. The whole process is kind of undignified for me and the young man.

I have always tried to teach my players to be fighters. When I say that, I don't mean put up your dukes and get in a fistfight over something. I'm talking about facing adversity in your life. There is not a person alive who isn't going to have some awfully bad days in their lives. I tell my players that what I mean by fighting is when your house burns down, and your wife runs off with the drummer, and you've lost your job and all the odds are against you. What are you going to do? Most people just lay down and quit. Well, I want my people to fight back.

I honestly believe that if you are willing to out-condition the opponent, have confidence in your ability, be more aggressive than your opponent and have a genuine desire for team victory, you will become the national champions. If you have all the above, you will acquire confidence and poise, and you will have those intangibles that win the close ones.

I ain't never had much fun. I ain't never been two inches away from a football. Here guys go fishing on the day of the game, hunting, golfing, and all I want to do is be alone, studying how not to lose.

In life, you'll have your back up against the wall many times. You might as well get used to it.

But there's one thing about quitters you have to guard against - they are contagious. If one boy goes, the chances are he'll take somebody with him, and you don't want that. So when they would start acting that way, I used to pack them up and get them out, or embarrass them, or do something to turn them around.

People who are in it for their own good are individualists. They don't share the same heartbeat that makes a team so great. A great unit, whether it be football or any organization, shares the same heartbeat.

At Alabama, our players don't win Heisman Trophies. Our teams win National Championships.

You win games with your strengths, not your weaknesses.

A few minutes ago, I had a hard time getting through the lobby because of all the people. After today, that won't be happening.

I'll never give up on a player regardless of his ability as long as he never gives up on himself. In time he will develop.

I know what it takes to win. If I can sell them on what it takes to win, then we are not going to lose too many football games.

I have had players who are good, and who know they are good; I have had players who are bad and know they are bad; I have had players who are good, but who don't know they are good; I have had players who are bad, but who don't know they are bad. It is this last group that has won more games for me than the first three groups combined.

Mama wanted me to be a preacher. I told her coachin' and preachin' were a lot alike.

If you want to walk the heavenly streets of gold, you gotta know the password, "Roll, Tide, Roll!"

In order to have a winner, the team must have a feeling of unity; every player must put the team first ahead of personal glory.

You're still going to win with preparation and dedication and plain old desire. If you don't have genuine desire, you won't be dedicated enough to prepare properly.

What are you doing here? Tell me why you are here. If you are not here to win a national championship, you're in the wrong place. You boys are special. I don't want my players to be like other students. I want special people. You can learn a lot on the football field that isn't taught in the home, the church, or the classroom. There are going to be days when you think you've got no more to give and then you're going to give plenty more. You are going to have pride and class. You are going to be very special. You are going to win the national championship for Alabama.

I don't hire anybody not brighter than I am. If they're not brighter than I am, I don't need them.

I always want my players to show class, knock'em down, pat on the back, and run back to the huddle.

You must learn how to hold a team together. You must lift some men up, calm others down, until finally they've got one heartbeat. Then you've got yourself a team.

If anything goes bad, I did it. If anything goes semi-good, we did it. If anything goes real good, then you did it. That's all it takes to get people to win football games for you.

Find your own picture, your own self in anything that goes bad. It's awfully easy to mouth off at your staff or chew out players, but if it's bad, and your the head coach, you're responsible. If we have an intercepted pass, I threw it. I'm the head coach. If we get a punt blocked, I caused it. A bad practice, a bad game, it's up to the head coach to assume his responsibility.

If you are going to be a successful duck hunter, you must go where the ducks are.

Most coaches study the films when they lose. I study them when we win -to see if I can figure out what I did right

Don't tolerate lazy people. They are losers.

Baton Rouge happens to be the worst place in the world for a visiting team. It's like being inside a drum.

If it is worth playing, it is worth paying the price to win.

If you don't have discipline, you can't have a successful program.

There is no substitute for guts.

Don't talk too much. Don't pop off. Don't talk after the game until you cool off.

When I was a young coach I used to say, "Treat everybody alike." That's bull. Treat everybody fairly.

Football changes and so do people.

I can reach a kid who doesn't have any ability as long as he doesn't know it.

Winning isn't imperative, but getting tougher in the fourth quarter is.

I ain't never been nothin but a winner.

I told them my system was based on the "ant plan," that I'd gotten the idea watching a colony of ants in Africa during the war. A whole bunch of ants working toward a common goal.

Football games are generally won by the boys with the greatest desire.

I'm not much of a golfer, I don't have any friends and all I like to do is go home and be alone, and not worry about ways not to lose.

They say I teach brutal football, but the only thing brutal about football is losing.

The idea of molding men means a lot to me.

When you play defense you have to storm the fort or play cover - you can't do both.

I've made so many mistakes that if I don't make the same mistakes over, we're going to come pretty close to winning.

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.

There ought to be a special place in heaven for coaches' wives.

Three rules for coaching: 1.) Surround yourself with people who can't live without football. 2.) Recognize winners. They come in all forms. 3.) Have a plan for everything.

I tell young players who want to be coaches, who think they can put up with all the headaches and heartaches, can you live without it? If you can live without it, don't get in it.

The biggest mistake coaches make is taking borderline cases and trying to save them. I'm not talking about grades now, I'm talking about character. I want to know before a boy enrolls about his home life, and what his parents want him to be.

It's kind of hard to rally around a math class.

Scout yourself. Have a buddy who coaches scout you.

I'm no genius, but I'm a damn good football coach.

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.

I'd like for people to remember me as a winner, because I ain't never been nothin but a winner.

In my lifetime, I may have put too much emphasis on winning, because here I am an old man and the only fun I've had is winning, and that's ridiculous.

I'm known as a recruiter. Well you've got to have chicken to make chicken salad.

One man doesn't make a team. It takes eleven.