Quotes about Coaching

"Whatever it is, be gentle about it."~ Dr. Jeanine Austin, Coach for Women Worldwide

You can't delegate growth or customer satisfaction. I'm spending four or five days a month with customers. Twice every month, I do town-hall meetings with several hundred customers to share ideas on GE's direction and listen to their thoughts on what we can do better. And we're doing what I call dreaming sessions with key customer groups, trying to think about where our business and their business will be in 5 or 10 years. I'm probably spending 30% of the time on people, teaching and coaching. I'm using 10% of my time on governance, working with the board, meeting with investors. The rest would be time spent on the plumbing of the company, working on operating reviews and strategy sessions.

My notion about service is actually that kind of relationship in which you have a commitment to the other person.  Now, I don't mean to the person's body or to the person's personality, or to the person's stomach, or the person's almost anything.  What I mean in fact is that for me what service is about is being committed to the other being.  To other person spiritually.  To who the other person is.  Now the problem with that is that, to the degree that you are in fact committed to the other person, you are only as valuable as the degree to which you can deal with the other person's stuff, their evidence, their manifestation, and that's what service is about.  Service is knowing who the other person is and being able to tolerate giving space to their garbage.  What most people do is to give to people's quality and deal with their garbage.  Actually, you should do it the other way around.  Deal with who they are and give space to their garbage.  Keep interacting with them as if they are God.  And every time you get garbage from them, give space to the garbage and go back and interact with them as if they were God.

Either you are creating your life or the circumstances are.

Commitment is what your boss needs you to have.  Choice is what you need to have.

There is a certain relief in change, even though it be from bad to worse; as I have often found in travelling in a stage-coach, that it is often a comfort to shift one's position and be bruised in a new place.

Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird I Among twenty snowy mountains, The only moving thing Was the eye of the blackbird. II I was of three minds, Like a tree In which there are three blackbirds. III The blackbird whirled in the autumn winds. It was a small part of the pantomime. IV A man and a woman Are one. A man and a woman and a blackbird Are one. V I do not know which to prefer, The beauty of inflections Or the beauty of innuendoes, The blackbird whistling Or just after. VI Icicles filled the long window With barbaric glass. The shadow of the blackbird Crossed it, to and fro. The mood Traced in the shadow An indecipherable cause. VII On thin men of Haddam, Why do you imagine golden birds? Do you not see how the blackbird Walks around the feet Of the women about you? VIII I know noble accents And lucid, escapable rhythms; But I know, too, That the blackbird is involved In what I know. IX When the blackbird flew out of sight, It marked the edge Of one of many circles. X At the sight of blackbirds Flying in a green light, Even the bawds of euphony Would cry out sharply. XI He rode over Connecticut In a glass coach. Once, a fear pierced him, In that he mistook The shadow of his equipage For blackbirds. XII The river is moving. The blackbird must be flying. XIII It was evening all afternoon. It was snowing And it was going to snow. The blackbird sat In the cedar-limbs.

Ask yourself: What am I willing to sacrifice for what I want to become?

Success does not come to those who wait - and it doesn't wait for anyone to come to it.

The toughest job for a coach today is handling the press after a game.

If a man coaches himself, then he has only himself to blame when he is beaten.

He saw a cottage with a double coach-house, A cottage of gentility; And the Devil did grin, for his darling sin Is pride that apes humility.

He passed a cottage with a double coach-house, A cottage of gentility! And he owned with a grin That his favourite sin Is pride that apes humility.

When players are used to winning, they put out a little more. Basketball 3rd winningest coach (regular season and playoffs) in NBA history; won 1,037 times in 20 years;

Selecting the right person for the right job is the largest part of coaching.

Call time out when you need help and ask the Coach for help. Don't wait. Do it when you need it.

The civilized man has built a coach, but has lost the use of his feet.

And I want you to know . . . that I have had the greatest support from President Bateman. I could coach as long as I want to and never felt any pressure to reach a decision.

Steve Young is one of the most gifted young men that I have ever known. He is fast, strong, big, handsome, ... and rich. It is easy for us to look at Steve and say, "With all those attributes, you ought to be great." However, it is more than his physical attributes that have made him great; it is the way he thinks! When Steve was a junior and was starting his first season as our quarterback, we had one of the greatest opportunities presented to us in our football program at BYU. We were scheduled to play Herschel Walker and the University of Georgia, the defending national champions. We worked very hard and felt we had a chance to beat them if we played our very best and did not make mistakes. Before 82,000 fans, and on a "rainy day in Georgia," Steve threw five interceptions in the first half of the game-more than he would normally throw in five games! In spite of the interceptions and two missed field goal attempts, we were still tied 7-7 at halftime. Going into the dressing room, I thought to myself that I must talk to Steve and assure him that everything would be fine. The rain, the crowd, the tipped balls, etc.-I had all the excuses ready for throwing five interceptions in one half. I started explaining this to Steve and before I could finish, Steve stopped me, looked at me as if I was crazy, and said, "Hey coach, there's no problem. I can hardly wait to get back out there. We're going to win." I found myself thinking, "What do you mean there's no problem, you dummy. You have just thrown five interceptions!" It's the way he thinks. That's what has made him what he is and enabled him to accomplish what he has done. As you know, this was just the start of a career that would see him become one of the finest quarterbacks to play the game of college football.

I feel that the progress I have made as a coach, as well as a person, is a direct result of the growth that I have made through my Church callings. I had the opportunity to serve as a bishop in a campus ward while I was still an assistant coach. When I was appointed head football coach in 1972, I decided to approach my role as a coach much the same as I did as a bishop, delegating responsibility to my assistants, putting responsibility on the players for self-improvement in all aspects of their lives, and using personal interviews with players to try to give positive reinforcement and encouragement so that they might do their very best and reach their full potential, both on and off the field.

What keeps you motivated? The challenge of putting all the elements of a team together and seeing how you do and what you become is the thing that I still enjoy. I also enjoy the associations and relationships with the players and other coaches - to be in the arena, so to speak. I still enjoy that. I'm also at the point, though, that if we're not doing well - it's tough enough as it is - that I'm not going to be hanging on just to be hanging on. Because it's not anything I need from an ego standpoint or anything else. I just thoroughly enjoy what I'm doing.

Edwards commented as he signed an extension to his contract. They had changed coaches every three or four years before my getting the head job. It was just going to be a matter of when I got fired. There were a lot of people that felt that.

Edwards recalled that he once planned to coach until he was 60 as he signed an extension to his contract. I was about 62 before I ever remembered that's what I had set up. . . . Now I'm already making plans for next year and recruiting. That's the reason for this. I just feel good right now.

When we have adversity we oftentimes tend to look around and think that we're the Lone Ranger. We tend to believe that we're the only one who has problems. And we always look around and see others who are more talented, taller, smarter, handsomer, or faster. I can assure you, everyone has problems-even football coaches. The ability we have to handle this adversity will determine the degree of success that we will have in life.

Late in the third quarter the Cougars were behind 12-0. Duva had completed 5 out of 20 passes. Edwards looked at Gifford Nielsen. Giff had never done a thing, in practice or anywhere else, to give us confidence in him. . . . . . . the coach said later. He sent him into the game anyway. First play was a 19-yard completion. Second was a 6-yard run. He threw again on the third play to running back Dave Lowry who ran 37 yards for a touchdown.

After announcing that the 2000 season would be his last before retirement: Last winter I made the decision to coach for only one more season. I have been wrestling with the timing of announcing that decision. After seeing the outstanding attitude and work ethic of this team, I came to the conclusion that it's best to get the announcement out of the way now so we can focus on the season and avoid the repeated distractions that come from questions about my retirement.

A coach can't be concerned with the poor ballplayer. If the player can't make it, he's got to be out right away. It's a very tough aspect of coaching, and in this aspect I was weak. Also, some guys get fat on coaching, they get healthy and strong, but other guys get ulcers.

I throw myself down in my chamber, and I call in, and invite God, and his Angels thither, and when they are there, I neglect God and his Angels, for the noise of a fly, for the rattling of a coach, for the whining of a door.

But America is a great, unwieldy Body. Its Progress must be slow. It is like a large Fleet sailing under Convoy. The fleetest Sailors must wait for the dullest and slowest. Like a Coach and six-the swiftest Horses must be slackened and the slowest quickened, that all may keep an even Pace.

The boss drives his men; the leader coaches them. The boss depends upon authority; the leader on good will. The boss inspires fear; the leader inspires enthusiasm. The boss says "I"; the leader "we." The boss fixes the blame for the breakdown; the leader fixes the breakdown. The boss says "go"; the leader says "let's go!"