Basketball Coaching Quotes—You don’t have to reinvent the wheel if you’re coaching a basketball team. Learn from some other great coaches—past and present—to understand key points to teach basketball.
Check out the quotes below—mostly from basketball coaches—and see if you can find a nugget or two that can apply to your program.
Best Basketball Coach Quotes
We try to stress the little things because little things lead to big things.
Steve Alford
Criticize on defense and encourage on offense.
John Brady
Always acknowledge hustle plays in practice.
Lou Campanelli
Coaching doesn’t start with Xs and Os. It starts with believing that players win games and coaches win players.
Bill Courtney
Never let fundamentals and building skills take a backseat to game planning. Game plans win games. Fundamentals win championships.
Tom Crean
See how long a basketball game is (NBA, WNBA, NCAA, High School, and more).
John Wooden Basketball Coaching Quotes
Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to become the best you are capable of becoming.
Failing to prepare is preparing to fail.
Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out.
Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.
Be quick, but don’t hurry.
It’s the little details that are vital. Little things make big things happen.
A coach is someone who can give corrections without causing resentment.
Ability may get you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there.
You can’t live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you.
If you’re not making mistakes, then you’re not doing anything.
Don’t measure yourself by what you have accomplished, but by what you should have accomplished with your ability.
Talent is God-given. Be humble. Fame is man-given. Be grateful. Conceit is self-given. Be careful.
Great coaches like John Wooden believed preparation was the key to success. If you’re looking for a structured system, see these youth basketball practice plans designed for 4th–8th grade teams.
Good Basketball Coaching Quotes
Hearing improves with praise!
Mark Gottfried
I think the most important thing about coaching is that you have to have a sense of confidence about what you’re doing. You have to be a salesman, and you have to get your players, particularly your leaders, to believe in what you’re trying to accomplish on the basketball floor.
Phil Jackson
If I was given eight hours to chop down a tree, I would spend seven hours sharpening my ax.
Abraham Lincoln
See The Best Basketball Coaches Are Great Teachers.
Your program must have an overriding purpose that is clearly visible and which teaches lessons beyond winning.
Don Meyer
You build your program from the ideas of great coaches.
Don Meyer
Praise behavior that you want to be repeated.
Dean Smith
See NBA Halftime Shows: The Best of the Best.
Basketball Coaching Sayings
The most important thing is team morale.
Dean Smith
Confidence is what happens when you’ve done the hard work that entitles you to succeed.
Pat Summit
The art of teaching is the art of assisting discovery.
Mark Van Doren
I am not a strategic coach; I am a practice coach.
John Wooden
Check out our feature on Basketball Day.
It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts.
John Wooden
Nothing will work unless you do.
John Wooden
Basketball Hoop Height from the Floor
Basketball Practice Plans Quotes
What you specifically teach is what your players will do best.
Dick Bennett
See the picture, sell the picture, paint the picture.
Dick Bennett
Coaching is preparation.
Pete Carril – You might like the Princeton Offense.
Good coaching is good teaching and nothing else.
Pat Conroy
Systems win! Believe in your system, and then sell it to your players.
Billy Donavan
Check out: Kawhi Leonard’s quotes, net worth, and more.
Inspirational Basketball Coaching Quotes
I always designed my practice plans the night before and then made tweaks a few hours before practice began.
Bob Knight
Everyone wants to win, but not everyone is willing to prepare to win.
Bob Knight
Practice structure determines success.
Bobby Knight
23 Inspirational Basketball Quotes
Perform drills that force your players to think.
Bobby Knight
You better have great practices.
Al McGuire
Make practices like games and games like practices.
Don Meyer
Know what you want to emphasize, then do it daily.
Unknown
See Caitlin Clark Wows Basketball Pros.
All really successful coaches have a system.
Jimmy Valvano
I would spend almost as much time planning practice as conducting it. Everything was planned out each day.
John Wooden
If you have any suggestions to add to our collection of quotes, please use the Contact Us form and let us know. Thanks.
You might like The Brad Stevens Interview.
Basketball Resources
Certificates – Recognize players, coaches, and team parents with these designer certificates. Personalize, print, and present.
Check out Basketball Quotes for Girls.
Youth Training Program – A six or nine-week program to get youth basketball players ready for the season ahead. Practice this summer at your home or neighborhood court.
Slogans and Sayings – From “Teamwork makes the dream work” to “One team, One heart,” check out this big collection of basketball slogans and sayings.
That’s all for our basketball coaching quotes.
By Mike O’Halloran
Founder and Editor, Sports Feel Good Stories
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