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A Few Minutes Ago, I Had A Hard Time Getting Through The Lobby Because Of All The People. After Today, That Won't Be Happening.

-Bear Bryant

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A Few Minutes Ago,

Bear Bryant

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A Few Minutes Ago, I Had A Hard Time Getting Through The Lobby Because Of All The People. After Today, That Won't Be Happening.

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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 Innovator. If Anything I'm A Stealer, Or Borrower. I've Stolen Or Borrowed From More People Than You Can Shake A Stick At.

If Anything Goes Bad, I Did It. If Anything Goes Semi-good, We Did It. If Anything Goes Real Good, Then You Did It. That's All It Takes To Get People To Win Football Games For You.

I'm No Genius, But I'm A Damn Good Football Coach.

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I Honestly Believe That If You Are Willing To Out-condition The Opponent, Have Confidence In Your Ability, Be More Aggressive Than Your Opponent And Have A Genuine Desire For Team Victory, You Will Become The National Champions. If You Have All The Above, You Will Acquire Confidence And Poise, And You Will Have Those Intangibles That Win The Close Ones.

There Is A Big Difference In Wanting To And Willing To.

Three Rules For Coaching: 1.) Surround Yourself With People Who Can't Live Without Football. 2.) Recognize Winners. They Come In All Forms. 3.) Have A Plan For Everything.

They Say I Teach Brutal Football, But The Only Thing Brutal About Football Is Losing.

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There's No Use Fussing On A Boy Who Doesn't Have Any Ability.

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The Fun Never Goes Out, But It Changes With The Years, With Winning And Losing.

Football Changes And So Do People.

If Wanting To Win Is A Fault, As Some Of My Critics Seem To Insist, Then I Plead Guilty. I Like To Win. I Know No Other Way. It's In My Blood.

I've Never Recommended Anybody Go Into Coaching, 'cause If They Have Enough On The Ball, If They Can Do Without Coaching, They Should Do Without It. If They Put As Much Work Into It And Spend As Much Time, The Rewards Are Going To Be Much Better In Something Else.

There Ought To Be A Special Place In Heaven For Coaches' Wives.

It Really Doesn't Cost Anything To Be Nice, And The Rewards Can Be Unimaginable

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.

I Ain't Won But One. My Team Won The Rest In Spite Of Me.

A Good, Quick, Small Team Can Beat A Big, Slow Team Any Time.

The Summer Day Is Closed, The Sun Is Set: Well They Have Done Their Office, Those Bright Hours, The Latest Of Whose Train Goes Softly Out In The Red West.

Lee Roy Was The Best College Linebacker - Bar None. He Would Have Made Every Tackle On Every Play If They Had Stayed In Bounds.

I Left Texas A&m Because My School Called Me. Mama Called, And When Mama Calls, Then You Just Have To Come Running.

I've Had Many A Player Tell Me All Through High School And Right Up Until Signing Day That They Were Coming To Alabama, Then They Signed With Somebody Else.

In My Lifetime, I May Have Put Too Much Emphasis On Winning, Because Here I Am An Old Man And The Only Fun I've Had Is Winning, And That's Ridiculous.

When You Win, There's Glory Enough For Everybody. When You Lose, There's Glory For None.

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Here's A Twenty, Bury Two.

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I Ain't Never Been Nothin But A Winner.

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Recruiting Is The One Thing I Hate. I Won't Do It Unless My Coaches Tell Me I've Just Got To. The Whole Process Is Kind Of Undignified For Me And The Young Man.

I Know What It Takes To Win. If I Can Sell Them On What It Takes To Win, Then We Are Not Going To Lose Too Many Football Games.

I Told Them My System Was Based On The "ant Plan," That I'd Gotten The Idea Watching A Colony Of Ants In Africa During The War. A Whole Bunch Of Ants Working Toward A Common Goal.

I Don't Have Any Ideas; My Coaches Have Them. I Just Pass The Ideas On And Referee The Arguments.

I Can Reach A Kid Who Doesn't Have Any Ability As Long As He Doesn't Know It.

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.

No Coach Has Ever Won A Game By What He Knows; It's What His Players Know That Counts.

I Hope To Get Out Before They Start Football Next Year.

Don't Overwork Your Squad. If You're Going To Make A Mistake, Under-work Them.

Little Things Make The Difference. Everyone Is Well Prepared In The Big Things, But Only The Winners Perfect The Little Things.

If It Is Worth Playing, It Is Worth Paying The Price To Win.

Football Games Are Generally Won By The Boys With The Greatest Desire.

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.

You Have To Be Willing To Out-condition Your Opponents.

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Set Goals - High Goals For You And Your Organization. When Your Organization Has A Goal To Shoot For, You Create Teamwork, People Working For A Common Good.

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Be Aware Of "yes" Men. Generally, They Are Losers. Surround Yourself With Winners. Never Forget - People Win.

Losing Doesn't Make Me Want To Quit. It Makes Me Want To Fight That Much Harder.

Being Inside Tiger Stadium Is Like Being On The Inside Of A Drum.

If A Man Is A Quitter, I'd Rather Find Out In Practice Than In A Game. I Ask For All A Player Has So I'll Know Later What I Can Expect.

If I Miss Coaching That Much, I Could Go To Some Little School Where They Didn't Recruit, Where All The Kids Wanted To Go. I Believe I Could Find Somewhere To Coach.

Expect The Unexpected.

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.

But There's One Thing About Quitters You Have To Guard Against - They Are Contagious. If One Boy Goes, The Chances Are He'll Take Somebody With Him, And You Don't Want That. So When They Would Start Acting That Way, I Used To Pack Them Up And Get Them Out, Or Embarrass Them, Or Do Something To Turn Them Around.

The Lord Expects You To Do Some Things For Yourself.

I Plan On Staying At Alabama For The Rest Of My Career. I Guarantee That I'll Be Here For You Through It All, Regardless Of What Happens.

Guarantees That

It's Kind Of Hard To Rally Around A Math Class.

When You Play Defense You Have To Storm The Fort Or Play Cover - You Can't Do Both.

Never Quit. It Is The Easiest Cop-out In The World. Set A Goal And Don't Quit Until You Attain It. When You Do Attain It, Set Another Goal, And Don't Quit Until You Reach It. Never Quit.

Baton Rouge Happens To Be The Worst Place In The World For A Visiting Team. It's Like Being Inside A Drum.

If You Whoop And Holler All The Time, The Players Just Get Used To It.

You Have To Learn What Makes This Or That Sammy Run. For One It's A Pat On The Back, For Another It's Eating Him Out, For Still Another It's A Fatherly Talk, Or Something Else. You're A Fool If You Think As I Did As A Young Coach, That You Can Treat Them All Alike.

Don't Worry About Making Friends; Don't Worry About Making Enemies. Worry About Winning, Because If You Win, Your Enemies Can't Hurt You, And If You Lose, Your Friends Can't Stand You.

I Want To Make Sure I Don't Interfere With The Success Of That Team Next Year. I Don't See Any Way I Could Go To Practice Like Most Of 'em Do, And Not Hurt The Team. I'd Go Nuts If I Tried Doing That.

In Life, You'll Have Your Back Up Against The Wall Many Times. You Might As Well Get Used To It.

If You Don't Learn Anything But Self Discipline, Then Athletics Is Worthwhile.

If We'd Beaten 'em, I Wouldn't Be Going Out.

Find Your Own Picture, Your Own Self In Anything That Goes Bad. It's Awfully Easy To Mouth Off At Your Staff Or Chew Out Players, But If It's Bad, And Your The Head Coach, You're Responsible. If We Have An Intercepted Pass, I Threw It. I'm The Head Coach. If We Get A Punt Blocked, I Caused It. A Bad Practice, A Bad Game, It's Up To The Head Coach To Assume His Responsibility.

The Idea Of Molding Men Means A Lot To Me.

When You Make A Mistake, There Are Only Three Things You Should Ever Do About It: 1. Admit It. 2. Learn From It, And 3. Don't Repeat It.

Never Be Too Proud To Get Down On Your Knees And Pray.

The Price Of Victory Is High, But So Are The Rewards.

If You Are Going To Be A Successful Duck Hunter, You Must Go Where The Ducks Are.

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.

Back 12 Years Ago, When Dr. Mathews Was President Here, We Had A Plan That When I Got Ready To Quit, We'd Bring A Certain Guy In And He'd Take Over That Day And I'd Leave. But As Time Wore On, I Realized That Wouldn't Have Been Good At All.

Georgia Tech Beat Us And Mississippi Southern Tied Us Last Year, And Texas Beat Us After We Had The Game Won. We Only Played About Five Games The Way We Were Capable Of Playing And Lost One Of Those.

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.

People Who Are In It For Their Own Good Are Individualists. They Don't Share The Same Heartbeat That Makes A Team So Great. A Great Unit, Whether It Be Football Or Any Organization, Shares The Same Heartbeat.

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.

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.

There Is No Sin In Not Liking To Play; It's A Mistake For A Boy To Be There If He Doesn't Want To.

You Try To Make Your Team Do Something They're Not Capable Of And You Get Murdered.

It's Awfully Important To Win With Humility. It's Also Important To Lose. I Hate To Lose Worse Than Anyone, But If You Never Lose You Won't Know How To Act. If You Lose With Humility, Then You Can Come Back.

Have A Plan. Follow The Plan, And You'll Be Surprised How Successful You Can Be. Most People Don't Have A Plan. That's Why It's Easy To Beat Most Folks.

Get The Winners Into The Game.

I Tell Young Players Who Want To Be Coaches, Who Think They Can Put Up With All The Headaches And Heartaches, Can You Live Without It? If You Can Live Without It, Don't Get In It.

The Biggest Mistake Coaches Make Is Taking Borderline Cases And Trying To Save Them. I'm Not Talking About Grades Now, I'm Talking About Character. I Want To Know Before A Boy Enrolls About His Home Life, And What His Parents Want Him To Be.

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.

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.

I Don't Hire Anybody Not Brighter Than I Am. If They're Not Brighter Than I Am, I Don't Need Them.

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.

Don't Tolerate Lazy People. They Are Losers.

If They Don't Have A Winning Attitude, I Don't Want Them.

You Never Know How A Horse Will Pull Until You Hook Him To A Heavy Load.

The Faint Old Man Shall Lean His Silver Head To Feel Thee; Thou Shalt Kiss The Child Asleep, And Dry The Moistened Curls That Overspread His Temples, While His Breathing Grows More Deep.

There's No Substitute For Guts.

The First Time You Quit, It's Hard. The Second Time, It Gets Easier. The Third Time, You Don't Even Have To Think About It.

I Always Want My Players To Show Class, Knock'em Down, Pat On The Back, And Run Back To The Huddle.

Nearly Every Coach I've Talked With Tells Me That The Attention You Get From Media And Other People Is The Thing You Miss Most. I Don't Know If That's Right.

Show Class, Have Pride, And Display Character. If You Do, Winning Takes Care Of Itself.

It's Not The Will To Win That Matters-everyone Has That. It's The Will To Prepare To Win That Matters.

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!

Scout Yourself. Have A Buddy Who Coaches Scout You.

You Must Learn How To Hold A Team Together. You Must Lift Some Men Up, Calm Others Down, Until Finally They've Got One Heartbeat. Then You've Got Yourself A Team.

I'm Known As A Recruiter. Well You've Got To Have Chicken To Make Chicken Salad.

Alabama Football

A Few Minutes Ago, I Had A Hard Time Getting Through The Lobby Because Of All The People. After Today, That Won't Be Happening.

I Ain't Never Had Much Fun. I Ain't Never Been Two Inches Away From A Football. Here Guys Go Fishing On The Day Of The Game, Hunting, Golfing, And All I Want To Do Is Be Alone, Studying How Not To Lose.

I'll Put You Through Hell, But At The End Of It All We'll Be Champions.

Alabama Football

I Didn't Care If We Ever Quit Practicing. I Loved It. The Only Other Guy I Ever Knew Who Loved It As Much Was Jerry Duncan. He Would Beg To Practice Even When He Was Hurt. I've Actually Seen Him Cry Because The Trainer Told Him He Couldn't Scrimmage.

I Don't Care How Much Talent A Team Has - If The Boys Don't Think Tough, Practice Tough, And Live Tough, How They Play Tough On Saturday.

If There Is One Thing That Has Helped Me As A Coach, It's My Ability To Recognize Winners, Or Good People Who Can Become Winners By Paying The Price.

Don't Talk Too Much. Don't Pop Off. Don't Talk After The Game Until You Cool Off.

It's Nice To Have The Opportunity To Play For So Much Money, But It's Nicer To Win It.

If You Want To Walk The Heavenly Streets Of Gold, You Gotta Know The Password, "roll, Tide, Roll!"

I Have Had Players Who Are Good, And Who Know They Are Good; I Have Had Players Who Are Bad And Know They Are Bad; I Have Had Players Who Are Good, But Who Don't Know They Are Good; I Have Had Players Who Are Bad, But Who Don't Know They Are Bad. It Is This Last Group That Has Won More Games For Me Than The First Three Groups Combined.

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.

Everybody's Got Pretty Good Players Now, More Players Than There've Ever Been. If You Play Poorly, You're Going To Get Beat.

At Alabama, Our Players Don't Win Heisman Trophies. Our Teams Win National Championships.

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.

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

Hell, No! A Tie Is Like Kissing Your Sister!

I Didn't Have A Thing To Do With Picking A Coach, And Didn't Want To. But I Didn't Think They'd Pick One I Didn't Like.

Mama Wanted Me To Be A Preacher. I Told Her Coachin' And Preachin' Were A Lot Alike.

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.

When I Was A Young Coach I Used To Say, "treat Everybody Alike." That's Bull. Treat Everybody Fairly.

I Think The Most Important Thing Of All For Any Team Is A Winning Attitude. The Coaches Must Have It. The Players Must Have It. The Student Body Must Have It. If You Have Dedicated Players Who Believe In Themselves, You Don't Need A Lot Of Talent.

Recognize Winners. They Come In All Forms.

I'm Happy With The Coach We Have. I Think Any One Of The Ones I Asked Them To Consider Would've Been Good.

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