You have to learn what makes this or that Sammy run. For one it's a pat on the back, for another it's eating him out, for still another it's a fatherly talk, or something else. You're a fool if you think as I did as a young coach, that you can treat them all alike.

Everybody's got pretty good players now, more players than there've ever been. If you play poorly, you're going to get beat.

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.

If I miss coaching that much, I could go to some little school where they didn't recruit, where all the kids wanted to go. I believe I could find somewhere to coach.

Scout yourself. Have a buddy who coaches scout you.

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

I've had many a player tell me all through high school and right up until signing day that they were coming to Alabama, then they signed with somebody else.