John Wooden
John Wooden
John Robert Woodenwas an American basketball player and coach. Nicknamed the "Wizard of Westwood," as head coach at UCLA he won ten NCAA national championships in a 12-year period, including a record seven in a row. No other team has won more than two in a row. Within this period, his teams won a men's basketball-record 88 consecutive games. Wooden was named national coach of the year six times...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionCoach
Date of Birth14 October 1910
CountryUnited States of America
Winning takes talent, to repeat takes character.
Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.
Doing the best you are capable of doing is victory in itself, and less than that is defeat.
You can respect a person without necessarily liking that individual.
Having the courage to make decisions and take action. Never be afraid to fail. You have nothing to fear if you have prepared to the best of your ability.
I never wanted a championship as much as I did that first one, ... After the first one in 1964, the titles seemed to come in droves. I also think I became a better coach after winning that first championship. I still continued to emphasize winning the conference, but I became a better tournament coach, putting less pressure on the players.
I liked quickness very much and Pete had it. And I really liked his acceptance of the role he had. He didn't get to play nearly as much as he expected to when he came, but he accepted it.
I had three rules for my players: No profanity. Don't criticize a teammate. Never be late.
In the end, it's about the teaching, and what I always loved about coaching was the practices. Not the games, not the tournaments, not the alumni stuff. But teaching the players during practice was what coaching was all about to me.
Success is peace of mind, which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to become the best of which you are capable.
Teaching players during practices was what coaching was all about to me.
Success is never final, failure is never fatal. It's courage that counts.
If you don't have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?
I would not tolerate profanity from anyone, anytime. I'd blow the whistle, pull you from the court and put you on the bench and talk to you before I would put you back in.