Bobby Knight Quotes

Discipline is knowing what to do. Knowing when to do it. Doing it to the best of your abilities. Doing it that way every single time.

The will to succeed is important, but what's more important is the will to prepare.

Most people have the will to win, few have the will to prepare to win.

If the NBA were on channel 5 and a bunch of frogs making love were on channel 4, I'd watch the frogs, even if they were coming in fuzzy.

In order to achieve to achieve positive results, one must work for them, not hope for them

Everybody wants to be on a championship team, but nobody wants to come to practice.

I don't believe in luck, I believe in preparation.

You play ball against yourself; your opponent is your potential.

We should not have to push you to work hard, you should work hard because you want to be a great player.

Don't fight the rabbits. If you fight the rabbits, the elephants are going to kill you.

I've never felt my job was to win basketball games - rather, that the essence of my job as a coach was to do everything I could to give my players the background necessary to succeed in life.

Do what needs to be done, when it needs to be done the best way it can be done, and do it that way every time.

A coach should never be afraid to ask questions of anyone he could learn from.

I've always had an a$$-to-the-brain theory. When a player's a$$ gets put on the bench, a message goes straight to the brain saying, Get me off of here.

BS is just what it stands for, an MS is More of the Same, and a PhD is Piled Higher and Deeper.

Mental toughness is to physical as four is to one.

To be as good as it can be, a team has to buy into what you as the coach are doing. They have to feel you're a part of them and they're a part of you.

All of us learn to write in the second grade. Most of us go on to greater things.

Your biggest opponent isn't the other guy. It's human nature.

Al McGuire talked to me I don't know how many times about dealing with the press: "You've got to be a con man." I tried that for a day or so, but it never really worked for me.

Good planning avoids the need for fixing up a project that plowed ahead without thought... about potential pitfalls.

You don't play against opponents, you play against the game of basketball.

The red I wear is Indiana's red, not Moscow's red. Indiana was here long before communism.

The biggest difficulty in getting to the top of the ladder is getting through the crowd at the bottom.

I would rather be thought of as a teacher than a coach.

Passing is your best weapon against man to man. Dribble penetration is your best weapon against zone.

To me, the most enjoyable part is the practice and preparation

For me to get an award from the press, I know there's been no favoritism.

Failure, to me, is not having the desire to try. Having the desire to try is in it own way success.

Positive wish: 'The sun will come out tomorrow.' Negative reality: 'Yeah, and it will flash brand-new daylight on the same old mess unless something is done to clean it up.

What is the best thing you can do in a close game? Drive to the basket and put pressure on the defense! Not jack up jump shots

You are never going to be driven anywhere worthwhile, but you sure as hell drive yourself to a lot of great places. It is up to you to drive yourself there.

As his team prepares, a coach's entire being must be concentrated on winning games.

Players must be able to carry out simple instructions from the bench to the court. If they can't, then they can't play

Everybody hears, but few listen.

I don't have to wait until the next morning to regret something I did that was kinda dumb.

I recognize that I have a problem with my temper. For those times it has ever caused me to do anything that gave anyone understandable and justifiable reason to be upset, I am sincerely sorry.

I've always felt that, you know, the Almighty has a lot of things to do other than help my basketball team.

I just love the game of basketball so much. The game! I don't need the 18,000 people screaming and all the peripheral things. To me, the most enjoyable part is the practice and preparation.

A quick way for any player to make himself better is to think about what he himself doesn't like to play against

Perform drills that force your players to think

Defense is all about helping. No one can guard a good dribbler, You have to walk kids through how to help and then how to help the helper

Offense is not equal opportunity

I have always maintained that in basketball the importance of the mental to the physical is about four to one.

It is better to anticipate than to react.

Victory favors the team making the fewest mistakes.

I sit and wonder why no one uses the shot fake. The shot fake, when used correctly, can eliminate a defender

Practice structure determines success.

Superiority and success doesn't favor good effort or self-esteem... The mentally precise and physically fit win, while the mediocre and obtuse take solace in hopeful cliches.

Competitive drills enhance quickness.