Top 101 Quotes & Sayings by Mike Leach
Explore popular quotes and sayings by an American coach Mike Leach.
Last updated on April 14, 2025.
Somebody said that in passing, you know, 'I hate cats.' You know, somebody really hates cats, and I've never figured that one out. And credit to cats - the ability to generate that much animosity, you know.
When you have five skill positions, if all five of them are contributing to the offensive effort, then that's balanced.
I'm not a beat around the bush kind of guy.
You're gaining more than you're losing in a small town.
It's indisputable that you'll make way more money with a larger playoff.
I feel like a caffeine addict.
I know that in Ames, Iowa, they fancy themselves being experts on the wind, but in Lubbock, Texas, we'll put our wind up against your wind in Iowa.
Atlanta might have snow and Macon might have good weather, and they're not really far apart. But there's a period of time in the year where the gnats get all over your face and they bite you. And the Macon crowd, it's funny, but they can sit there like nothing's happening and there can be gnats just biting the hell out of your face.
I don't feel like it's fair to the other players and I don't think it's the right way to do business to allow influence and position to dictate when you play a young man.
Those that have a voice have to speak for those of us who are silenced.
Nothing has done more to bring people of different races and different backgrounds together than athletics, certainly more than politicians have done. It's why the Greeks invented the Olympics.
I do have a Viking axe by the bed if I need to whack someone... My wife bought me a Viking axe - the axe side curls down so you can grab the adversary around the neck and you can use it to climb walls, as a grappling hook.
You know, the loudest stadium I've ever played in was 45,000 people at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock, Arkansas. The entire thing is concrete. It's like dropping a ball bearing in your neighbor's basement.
My life's pretty simple. Look at hours and hours of film to try to find some things that will work on Saturday. Try to have a good practice every day. Use the offseason to recruit and build the culture of the locker room. That's my deal.
There's shouting, there's blood, there's boogers, there's a whole thing. I mean, there's spitting, there's fighting, there's ripped jerseys. There's someone grabbing someone's throat. I mean, it's why you have football.
I don't know how good mountain lions do in captivity. I'm curious.
Outstanding people in Iowa. Very down-to-earth people in Iowa. It was a great place to be.
I've actually seen guys who I considered relatively stupid college coaches, then go to the NFL, and sanctimoniously think they understand that something the rest of us couldn't perceive. They're an idiot before, they're an idiot now, and they'll be an idiot afterwords. It's mind-numbing.
I think that when you die, you continue to progress. You continue to grow in kind of an elevated state, but I don't think you sit there and wallow around and play the harp.
There's nothing balanced about the 50 percent run, 50 percent pass because that's 50 percent stupid.
I think they need to expand the playoff system. I think the minimum should be 16 teams, but they could easily go with more than that... in other words, I want to see more football. Everybody from rec league softball on down can figure out how to put together a tournament and yet Division I can't.
If your quarterback wants a deflated football, your soccer-style kicker is going to want it kind of full. If your quarterback wants it really full, your straight-on kicker is going to want less air in it. It's a regulation football; let them use it however they want to. You use your own ball.
I'm proud to say I had a bet with a guy from Chicago who said Chicago is windier and colder than Wyoming. Wyoming dominated them.
Tracked a raccoon one time in the snow. I was in the neighborhood and I was just curious where this raccoon lived. There's some fresh raccoon tracks. He'd been digging at somebody's garbage.
You get these Satanists types that don't believe in God. OK, so you realize you don't get Satan if you don't get God, right? Or atheists that want to believe in ghosts. Wait, wait, wait. You can't have a two-way go on that. You want to be agnostic, be an atheist, fine. But you don't bring ghosts along with you.
When the Egyptians were building the pyramids or the Romans were building roads, or you had the westward push with the railroads, I don't think that the guys on the ground were spending a lot of time thinking, 'Hey, hundreds or thousands of years from now they will look back at the brick I have just laid down here and say that I changed the world!'
The people in southern Georgia are tough.
I'd like to think I am a good coach but I've called bad plays. I've coached bad practices. I've made bad substitution choices.
If you get into a fight, don't take your helmet off. We're looking for smart football players, not dumb ones.
Whether it's a car or boat or motorcycle, it's a dangerous item, so you have to show a level of competence and get a license before you're allowed to operate something that's dangerous. Guns are dangerous but you don't have to get a license to operate guns.
I listen a lot to Howard Stern. Not the show, the interviews. He has a separate podcast of just interviews. They're fantastic.
All Scandinavians feel a tiny bit self conscious, of which I'm one.
Iowa is kind of a fascinating place.
I bordered on great in dodge ball.
My wife is a great dancer. But I don't dance.
I read the entire Old Testament and New Testament.
If you aren't focused on what's right here in front of you, if you're daydreaming about what might be, you really aren't focused at all.
No one wants police brutality. No one wants inequality. But what I worry about it is when a protest becomes so large and the noise takes over that the original motivation for the protest and the conversation that should go with that protest gets lost.
If Texas and Kansas were countries they wouldn't be admitted to the World Trade Organization. Their policies are congruent with North Korea, Somalia, Turkestan, several other countries I can't pronounce and Micronesia.
I think the most important thing is confidence. A lot of people think they're confident, but if you think about it, most people aren't.
I have a limited knowledge of the Internet, which is pretty clear, I don't even turn anything on other than my phone, when it gets stuck, my kids turn it on.
The interesting thing about football is that football is the only sport where you quit playing when you get a lead.
Growing up my favorite coach was Billy Martin.
Washington State is great. I'm completely happy at Washington State.
Well, you're going to be dead in a hundred years anyway, so live dangerously.
I don't think people should be allowed to shoot guns unless they have a license.
I'm not really good with technology.
I did go to the Alamo. Fascinating. A lot of details and nuances to the Alamo that are impressive.
I don't know everybody's view on due process, but I do have an opinion on what the Constitution says, what the Pledge of Allegiance implies, what sixth- and seventh-graders are taught in civics classes, and I think it is that you're going to have the opportunity to be heard.
Fish aren't smart. It's not like they have advanced degrees.
I feel like Texas high schools, when you consider the melting pot that exists in Texas, do a fairly impressive job. No education process is perfect, but I think that, with plenty of room to improve, they do an admirable job when you compare them to the rest of the field.
I've never had a dumb quarterback. I think if you're dumb, it's difficult to overcome.
There's some teams - the Cubs are one of them - where there's just too many fans.
I've always been insecure about dancing. I was when I was in high school.
I just go to work every day, spend hours in the film room, go to practice, go home and then do it all again the next day. I know I can be boring and I sound like a walking cliche but I really do just try to get our team ready to win a game on Saturday. That's pretty much my life.
Freedom of speech should be wide open as long as it doesn't incite violence.
I keep my guns on one part of the house totally locked up, and I keep the ammunition in another part of the house.
I guess I need to get out more.
I don't think they necessarily do nearly as much haunting as people think. If you believe in the Bible, pretty much part of the deal that goes with it is ghosts.
My favorite weather pattern happens to be when it rains mud. Dust comes through. Rain on top of it. It rains mud.
Related Authors
Alex Ferguson Quotes
Scottish
Coach
Arsene Wenger Quotes
French
Coach
Bear Bryant Quotes
American
Coach
Bobby Knight Quotes
American
Coach
Buck Brannaman Quotes
American
Coach
Harry Redknapp Quotes
English
Coach
John Calipari Quotes
American
Coach
John Wooden Quotes
American
Coach
Jose Mourinho Quotes
Portuguese
Coach
Lou Holtz Quotes
American
Coach
Mike Krzyzewski Quotes
American
Coach
Nick Saban Quotes
American
Coach
Pat Summitt Quotes
American
Coach
Pep Guardiola Quotes
Spanish
Coach
Tony Dungy Quotes
American
Coach
Vince Lombardi Quotes
American
Coach