Words of Wisdom

Charles "Bud" Wilkinson is known as one of the best coaches in the history of the game and his 154-49-4 record speaks for itself. But the man who is one of the winningest coaches in the all of college football is also immortalized for the words he uttered when his team lost. Those who were on the field in 1957 when the University of Oklahoma's 47-game winning streak came to an end with a 7-0 loss to Notre Dame remember the mood in the stadium: stunned silence. But the players also remember exactly what Wilkinson said when he gathered them together after the loss. "I want to congratulate you," he said. "This is a record that will never be broken by another major college team. The only ones who never lose are the ones who never play." And he was right. Forty-three years later, the record still stands. The man who won six national championships in his life (three as a player and three as a coach) knew how to motivate players, he knew how to comfort them, and the Hall of Famer knew as much, if not more, about the game than anyone who has ever played or coached it.

"Play like a champion today."

"You can motivate players better with kind words than you can with a whip."

"The foundation of a football team is leadership from within the squad itself. Coaches, to a degree, help individuals and the team develop physical skills and coordination, but the basic elements of character have usually been established in the hearts and minds of college men."

"In college football you play under whatever circumstances exist at the time. If you win, you do so with humility. If you lose, you try to lose the same way."

"Remember that it's been medically proven that when your body is telling you to quit, you have gone only half as far as you can go."

"Drinking a beer won't hurt a player physically. But it is a chink in the moral armor."

"I have never subscribed to the view that the owners of professional athletics are in business philanthropically, only to provide good times for the American citizen. My experience is they are quite businesslike, almost ruthless."

"No matter how successful he may be, every coach eventually reaches a point where a lot of people want somebody else."

"There's nothing that gives a football team a greater feeling of unity than to rally strongly together and win after starting the game two touchdowns behind. A football team doesn't learn to know itself until it gets in trouble."

Quotations from Football Coach Quotes:
The Wit, Wisdom and Winning Words of Leaders on the Gridiron, by Larry Adler