Top 100 Krzyzewski Quotes
#1. Phil took us to the finals three out of the five years and you want to fire him and want to bring in Mike Krzyzewski? Come on, man. That's like being married to J-Lo, then dropping J-Lo for a girl that's 5-10, 480 (pounds).
Shaquille O'Neal
#2. Hate can destroy you or it can fuel you. I knew I had to find a way for it to fuel me." Krzyzewski
John Feinstein
#3. When I was growing up, there weren't any Little Leagues in the city. Parents worked all the time. They didn't have time to take their kids out to play baseball and football.
Mike Krzyzewski
#4. You can't play any defense if the other team is on the foul line.
Mike Krzyzewski
#5. The only way you're going to grow is to be in difficult situations.
Mike Krzyzewski
#6. That's why basketball was so good, because I didn't really need you or anyone else to play it. It would be better if we played four-on-four or five-on-five, but I could go out there alone.
Mike Krzyzewski
#8. In order to be a winner, you have to look for ways of getting things done and not for reasons why things can't be done. People who live with excuses have things that can't be done hovering around them all the time.
Mike Krzyzewski
#9. It's simply doing what you're supposed to do as well as you can when you're supposed to do it.
Mike Krzyzewski
#10. In developing teams, I don't believe in rules. I believe in standards. Rules don't promote teamwork, standards do
Mike Krzyzewski
#11. Goals should be realistic, attainable, and shared among all members of the team
Mike Krzyzewski
#14. I think some parents now look at a youngster failing as the final thing. It's a process, and failure is part of the process. I would like it if the teacher and the parents would connect more. I think that used to be, but we're losing a little bit of that right now.
Mike Krzyzewski
#15. My ambition in high school was to be a high school coach and teacher, and that's still what I do: teach.
Mike Krzyzewski
#16. I have a rule on my team: when we talk to one another, we look each other right in the eye, because I think it's tough to lie to somebody. You give respect to somebody.
Mike Krzyzewski
#17. If the only reason I coached was to win basketball games, my life would be pretty shallow
Mike Krzyzewski
#18. You can see and you can listen, but you have to have moments in which you feel.
Mike Krzyzewski
#19. I don't look at myself as a basketball coach. I look at myself as a leader who happens to coach basketball.
Mike Krzyzewski
#20. If you set up an atmosphere of community and trust, it becomes a tradition. Older team members will establish your credibility with newer ones. Even if they don't like everything about you, they'll say, 'He's trustworthy, committed to us as a team.'
Mike Krzyzewski
#21. I love practice. It is when a coach exercises the most control over the improvement of his or her team.
Mike Krzyzewski
#22. In putting together your standards, remember that it is essential to involve your entire team. Standards are not rules issued by the boss; they are a collective identity. Remember, standards are the things that you do all the time and the things for which you hold one another accountable.
Mike Krzyzewski
#23. Turning down the Lakers was tough, but it is always good to renew your vows to the loves of your life.
Mike Krzyzewski
#24. When you are passionate, you always have your destination in sight and you are not distracted by obstacles. Because you love what you are pursuing, things like rejection and setbacks will not hinder you in your pursuit. You believe that nothing can stop you!
Mike Krzyzewski
#25. My hunger is not for success, it is for excellence. Because when you attain excellence, success just naturally follows.
Mike Krzyzewski
#26. Defense is one man guarding the ball and four others helping him
Mike Krzyzewski
#27. Leaders have to search for the heart on a team, because the person who has it can bring out the best in everybody else.
Mike Krzyzewski
#28. Each group and each youngster is different. As a leader or coach, you get to know what they need.
Mike Krzyzewski
#29. Why do you play a game? I play a game to see how good we can be.
Mike Krzyzewski
#30. When I went to high school, an all-boys' school, a Catholic school, I tried out for football, and I didn't make it. It was the first time, athletically, that I was knocked down.
Mike Krzyzewski
#31. Confidence shared is better than confidence only in yourself.
Mike Krzyzewski
#32. We travel in Duke stuff ... They can have a hat, but it must be a Duke hat.
Mike Krzyzewski
#33. Sometimes it's not bad to hurt. Sometimes you don't want things until you get hurt. We got hurt today, let's see what we do.
Mike Krzyzewski
#34. Great rivalries don't have to be built on hatred. They're built on respect, on a respect for excellence.
Mike Krzyzewski
#35. A common mistake among those who work in sport is spending a disproportional amount of time on "x's and o's" as compared to time spent learning about people.
Mike Krzyzewski
#36. There are kids don't want to do something because they're afraid of looking stupid to their peers. There comes a time when they start protecting themselves, instead of extending. I want to make sure that they're always trying to extend themselves.
Mike Krzyzewski
#37. A leader may be the most knowledgeable person in the world, but if the players on his team cannot translate that knowledge into action, it means nothing.
Mike Krzyzewski
#38. When you cleanse yourself of a big victory, you may open yourself up to the opportunity for an even bigger victory
Mike Krzyzewski
#39. You should do things because of what your expectations are of yourself.
Mike Krzyzewski
#40. Fun is to experience things you would not have been able to experience in any other setting.
Mike Krzyzewski
#42. I never want to lead a team that is not allowed the freedom to pursue what's in their hearts. If you want your team to be fully committed, then you'd better be fully committed
Mike Krzyzewski
#43. In leadership, there are no words more important than trust. In any organization, trust must be developed among every member of the team if success is going to be achieved
Mike Krzyzewski
#44. A leader's responsibility to his team is paramount. It overshadows even his own personal feelings at any given time.
Mike Krzyzewski
#45. You cannot merely expect culture to be a natural occurrence; it has to be taught and made a part of your everyday routine.
Mike Krzyzewski
#46. It takes courage not only to make decisions, but to live with those decisions afterward
Mike Krzyzewski
#47. There are always those times when you're going to be down. It's how you step through it that makes you the person you are.
Mike Krzyzewski
#48. There are five fundamental qualities that make every team great: communication, trust, collective responsibility, caring and pride. I like to think of each as a separate finger on the fist. Any one individually is important. But all of them together are unbeatable
Mike Krzyzewski
#49. One of the worst things anybody can do is assume. I think fools assume. If people have really got it together, they never assume anything. They believe, they work hard, and they prepare- but they don't assume.
Mike Krzyzewski
#50. In all forms of leadership, whether you are a coach, a CEO, or a parent, there are four words that, when said, can bring out the best in your team, your employees, and your family. I BELIEVE IN YOU. Those four words can mean the difference between a fear of failure and the courage to try.
Mike Krzyzewski
#51. A basketball team is like the five fingers on your hand. If you can get them all together, you have a fist. That's how I want you to play.
Mike Krzyzewski
#52. First of all, what happens is, when you're good at something, you spend a lot of time with it. People identify you with that sport, so it becomes part of your identity.
Mike Krzyzewski
#53. Pete Newell told me 'get as much information and learn as much about the game as you can, but use your own personality to teach it.'
Mike Krzyzewski
#54. Believe that the loose ball that you are chasing has your name wirtten on it.
Mike Krzyzewski
#55. Our goal is not to win. It's to play together and play hard. Then, winning takes care of itself.
Mike Krzyzewski
#56. Basketball was not my main sport in grade school, or even the first year of high school.
Mike Krzyzewski
#57. I believe a big part of leadership is about winning the moment.
Mike Krzyzewski
#58. I think leadership is never singular. In a good organization, it's plural.
Mike Krzyzewski
#59. The truth is that many people set rules to keep from making decisions.
Mike Krzyzewski
#60. I think coaching is confused at times as being an arrow that only goes to a player. Those players send arrows back to you, and that's where a relationship is developed. I don't make a player, and a player doesn't make me a coach. We make each other.
Mike Krzyzewski
#61. A leader is someone who puts their people in position to be successful all the time
Mike Krzyzewski
#63. That's what I do now: I lead and I teach. If we win basketball games from doing that, then that's great, but I lead and teach. Those are the two things I concentrate on.
Mike Krzyzewski
#64. Don't do anything as an individual that will make you stand out from your teammates.
Mike Krzyzewski
#65. My mom gave me unconditional support and unfailing love. You can't get any better than that. That's why I've never been afraid to lose.
Mike Krzyzewski
#66. I always won in my imagination. I always hit the game-winning shot, or I hit the free throw. Or if I missed, there was a lane violation, and I was given another one.
Mike Krzyzewski
#68. Communication does not always occur naturally, even among a tight-knit group of individuals. Communication must be taught and practiced in order to bring everyone together as one
Mike Krzyzewski
#69. Throughout my life, my mom has been the person that I've always looked up to.
Mike Krzyzewski
#70. Actually, the Kentucky moment was better than winning the two National Championships, because it was the epitome of what I try to get from a team in a crisis situation.
Mike Krzyzewski
#71. Even though we want huge individual egos, our collective ego is unbelievable.
Mike Krzyzewski
#72. Sometimes in a defeat, you can set the stage for future victory. I wanted them to feel good about what they had accomplished. Not to like losing, but to like the success that they had.
Mike Krzyzewski
#73. You can't defer if you're the person who's in the leadership position.
Mike Krzyzewski
#74. If you win a National Championship, or you win two, people think you have not only seen the Holy Grail, but you've embraced it. Basically, I do what a lot of people do, but I've been able to win.
Mike Krzyzewski
#75. For a college basketball player or coach, to reach the Final Four is la-la land. You've achieved, you've got your stamp of approval. My first team to do that was in 1986. Then we did it in '88, '89 and '90.
Mike Krzyzewski
#77. Footwork is one of the primary prerequisites to becoming a great player
Mike Krzyzewski
#78. I don't think we surprise people. We try to out-execute them.
Mike Krzyzewski
#79. I believe work is good. There is dignity in work. I also believe that a hard-work ethic forges strong leaders.
Mike Krzyzewski
#80. I'm still not a great reader, but my wife is and my daughters are, and I envy them. I think I got into a bad habit of trying to do something all the time, instead of trying to sit down and take my time a little bit.
Mike Krzyzewski
#81. If a team cannot perform with excellence at a moment's notice, they probably will fail in the long run.
Mike Krzyzewski
#83. Leaders should be reliable without being predictable. They should be consistent without being anticipated
Mike Krzyzewski
#84. A leader has to be positive about all things that happen to his team. Look at nothing in the past as failure.
Mike Krzyzewski
#86. Every season is a journey. Every journey is a lifetime.
Mike Krzyzewski
#87. You develop a team to achieve what one person cannot accomplish alone. All of us alone are weaker, by far, than if all of us are together.
Mike Krzyzewski
#88. I'm looking for players who make their teammates better. You do that with enthusiasm and passion.
Mike Krzyzewski
#89. Whatever a leader does now sets up what he does later. And there's always a later.
Mike Krzyzewski
#90. Are you going to show integrity only when someone is watching you - or are you going to show it all the time?
Mike Krzyzewski
#91. Courage and confidence are what decision making is all about.
Mike Krzyzewski
#92. With accomplishments comes confidence and with confidence comes belief. It has to be in that order.
Mike Krzyzewski
#94. Leaders have to give time for relationships. But more demands will be placed on their time as they become more successful. So if a person's success is based on developing relationships, then they have to continually find new ways of getting it done
Mike Krzyzewski
#95. The other thing I knew I had was a high level of competitiveness.
Mike Krzyzewski
#96. Making shots counts, but not as much as the people who make them.
Mike Krzyzewski
#97. Champions play as they practice. Create a consistency of excellence in all your habits.
Mike Krzyzewski
#98. I have a plan of action, but the game is a game of adjustments.
Mike Krzyzewski
#99. People want to be on a team. They want to be part of something bigger than themselves. They want to be in a situation where they feel that they are doing something for the greater good.
Mike Krzyzewski
#100. To me, teamwork is the beauty of our sport, where you have five acting as one. You become selfless.
Mike Krzyzewski
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