Bear Bryant Quotes

I can remember loving to recruit. I knew I was going to do my best. But traveling and recruiting doesn't appeal to me any more. It's not as much fun as it used to be.

We can't have two standards, one set for the dedicated young men who want to do something ambitious and one set for those who don't.

If you are going to be a successful duck hunter, you must go where the ducks are.

Expect the unexpected.

But it's still a coach's game. Make no mistake. You start at the top. If you don't have a good one at the top, you don't have a cut dog's chance.

I don't have any ideas; my coaches have them. I just pass the ideas on and referee the arguments.

You take those little rascals, talk to them good, pat them on the back, let them think they are good, and they will go out and beat the biguns.

Being inside Tiger Stadium is like being on the inside of a drum.

There is a big difference in wanting to and willing to.

Hell, no! A tie is like kissing your sister!

I'll never give up on a player regardless of his ability as long as he never gives up on himself. In time he will develop.

You're still going to win with preparation and dedication and plain old desire. If you don't have genuine desire, you won't be dedicated enough to prepare properly.

Don't give up at half time. Concentrate on winning the second half.

In a crisis, don't hide behind anything or anybody. They're going to find you anyway.

Most coaches study the films when they lose. I study them when we win -to see if I can figure out what I did right

The old lessons (work, self-discipline, sacrifice, teamwork, fighting to achieve) aren't being taught by many people other than football coaches these days. The football coach has a captive audience and can teach these lessons because the communication lines between himself and his players are more wide open than between kids and parents. We better teach these lessons or else the country's future population will be made up of a majority of crooks, drug addicts, or people on relief.

All I know is, I don't want to stop coaching, and I don't want to stop winning, so we're gonna break the record unless I die.

Motivating people- the ingredient that separates winners from losers.

Don't tolerate lazy people. They are losers.

I left Texas A&M because my school called me. Mama called, and when Mama calls, then you just have to come running.

If you don't learn anything but self discipline, then athletics is worthwhile.

It's been years since I've had a real input in the game anyway. For this game, I've just tried to keep all the other stuff away from the players and coaches.

If you want to coach you have three rules to follow to win. One, surround yourself with people who can't live without football. I've had a lot of them. Two, be able to recognize winners. They come in all forms. And, three, have a plan for everything. A plan for practice, a plan for the game. A plan for being ahead, and a plan for being behind 20-0 at half, with your quarterback hurt and the phones dead, with it raining cats and dogs and no rain gear because the equipment man left it at home.

I think I'm telling the truth. I sat by Ray Perkins at the Hall of Fame dinner in New York, and at that time he didn't know he was our coach and I didn't either.

I'm no miracle man. I guarantee nothing but hard work.

A good, quick, small team can beat a big, slow team any time.

When you play defense you have to storm the fort or play cover - you can't do both.

When you win, there's glory enough for everybody. When you lose, there's glory for none.

Every time a player goes out there, at least 20 people have some amount of influence on him. His mother has more influence than anyone. I know because I played, and I loved my mama.

A champion pays an extra price to be better than anyone else.

It's not the will to win that matters-everyone has that. It's the will to prepare to win that matters.

I've made so many mistakes that if I don't make the same mistakes over, we're going to come pretty close to winning.

The Lord expects you to do some things for yourself.

There's no use fussing on a boy who doesn't have any ability.

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.

My approach to the game has been the same at all the places I've been. Vanilla. The sure way. That means, first of all, to win physically. If you got eleven on a field, and they beat the other eleven physically, they'll win. They will start forcing mistakes. They'll win in the fourth quarter.

Sure, I'd love to beat Notre Dame, don't get me wrong. But nothing matters more than beating that cow college on the other side of the state!

If you want to walk the heavenly streets of gold, you gotta know the password, "Roll, Tide, Roll!"

I have always tried to teach my players to be fighters. When I say that, I don't mean put up your dukes and get in a fistfight over something. I'm talking about facing adversity in your life. There is not a person alive who isn't going to have some awfully bad days in their lives. I tell my players that what I mean by fighting is when your house burns down, and your wife runs off with the drummer, and you've lost your job and all the odds are against you. What are you going to do? Most people just lay down and quit. Well, I want my people to fight back.

Here's a twenty, bury two.

In order to have a winner, the team must have a feeling of unity; every player must put the team first ahead of personal glory.

Be aware of "yes" men. Generally, they are losers. Surround yourself with winners. Never forget - people win.

The idea of molding men means a lot to me.

I make my practices real hard because if a player is a quitter, I want him to quit in practice, not in a game.

Don't give up. Reach down inside of you and you'll find something left.

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

Mama wanted me to be a preacher. I told her coachin' and preachin' were a lot alike.

I'm not much of a golfer, I don't have any friends and all I like to do is go home and be alone, and not worry about ways not to lose.