Words of Wisdom

When he was informed of his coach's death on June 10 of this year, former Tampa Bay QB and current Grambling head coach Doug Williams said, "John McKay never bit his tongue. He said exactly what he thought all of the time." For all of us who ever heard or read quotes from Coach McKay, we can all say a collective "thank you." McKay was easily one of the brightest and most articulate coaches of the last 50 years. From his legendary comical musings, to his thought-provoking insights, John McKay was a coach who understood the game and his place in it. He knew what football meant to the thousands of players, coaches and fans who live and die each Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Amid the laughs and smiles associated with McKay, it might be easy to forget he was one of the best in the business. Arriving at USC in 1959 as an assistant, he was named top Trojan in 1960 and set out on a 16-year run of 127-40-8, winning nine Pac-8 titles, and four national titles (1962, 1967, 1972 and 1974), with 40 consensus All-Americans and two Heisman winners. He left for the NFL expansion Buccaneers in 1976, and after a league record 26-straight losses, he took the team to the NFL title game in only their fourth year (1979).

"Football is one of the greatest sports in the world because it's so much like a chess match. It's more a coach's game than most. There's more that can be planned and less that is improvised on the field than in other sports."

"The more I win, the more I can't stand the thought of losing."

"Coaching is very lonely, because one man alone is responsible for the team."

"Does a team have to be emotional to win? Well, I've always said nobody is more emotional than Corky and she can't play football worth a damn." - referring to his wife.

"If you can pinpoint it, you can correct it."

"It's unfortunate that our profession is not one in which you can take an examination and move up."

"We don't beat people with surprises but with execution."

"God's busy. They have to make do with me." - reply when asked if his team prayed for victory

"If you have everyone back from a team that lost 10 games, experience is not too important." - on the significance of experience.

"Underdog, overdog, hotdog. I guess you want to be an underdog - but I want to be the underdog with the best team." - on being an underdog in a playoff game.

"He is not in a union. He can carry the ball as many times as we want him to..." - after O.J. Simpson carried the ball 38 times in a game.

"When I was duck hunting with Bear Bryant, he shot at one but it kept flying 'John,' he said, 'there flies a dead duck.' That's confidence."

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