Dean Smith Quotations

Basketball is a team game. But that doesn't mean all five players should have the same amount of shots.

I'd never get elected if people in North Carolina realized how liberal I am.

I think the real free person in society is one that's disciplined. It's the one that can choose; that is the free one.

I just think we shouldn't get into counting coaches' records. I've never been for that but I know that's just American society.

If you make every game a life and death proposition, you're going to have problems. For one thing, you'll be dead a lot.

There is a point in every contest when sitting on the sidelines is not an option.

Given the fact that we are in a capitalist society, we still do not want to overlook not only what a corporation produces and its profitability but also how it impacts the environment, touches human life and whether it protects or undermines the dignity of the human person.

The best way to stop the problem of agents would be for the NCAA to come down hard and suspend a school for two years if it finds players with agents on campus.

Our teachers at the public school level are the most underpaid for the importance of their job in America.

I do believe in praising that which deserves to be praised.

As soon as you try to describe a close friendship, it loses something.

I'd like to see the high schools put in a rule that limits recruitable athletes from playing on teams outside a 100-mile radius from their home or school.

I always mean what I say, but I don't always say what I'm thinking.

I enjoy basketball. I enjoy coaching basketball. It's the out-of-season stuff I didn't handle well.

I know a lawyer who'd love to retire and be an assistant coach. I mean, it's fun.

The presidents of colleges have to have some courage to step forward. You can't limit alcohol in college sports, you have to get rid of it.

What he wants to show more than anything else is the fact that they won the game. I think he's really excited about being part of a real good team like the Nets are this year.

The death penalty makes us all murderers.

The focus should be on the players. I'm here a long time. You can call me in the summer. Our seniors will be gone.

Praise behaviour that you want repeated

There is a lot of basketball beyond our control, but a player should never let anyone try harder than he does

One player's selfish attitude can poison a locker room and make it hard, if not impossible, to establish team work

I only use statistics to reinforce what I already think, or if it's something unusual.

The key statistic is still to get to the foul line.

I would never recruit a player who yells at his teammates, disrespected his high school coach, or scores 33 points a game and his team goes 10-10.

The most important thing in good leadership is truly caring.

Basketball, more than any other sport, is a team game...about the thousands of small, unselfish acts, the sacrifices on the part of the players that result in team building.

Michael, if you can't pass, you can't play.

Any old coach will say the game was meant for finesse. It's a beautiful game, especially on television.

The truly free person in society is a disciplined person.

The flash of rain, the shining rainbow riding completely around the plane, the lift over mountain ridges, the steady, pure air at dawn take-offs. ... It was so alive and rich a life that any other conceivable choice seemed dull, prosaic, and humdrum.

The most important thing is team morale.

Always have your players go and pick-up the guy who draws the charge.

You can't teach court savvy

Everyone on the bench stands for the man coming out of the game.

The best way to build team chemistry is the way Rupp used to substitute, when they fouled out.

I've always believed in quickness over strength and size.

The real issue is not if a crossing is put in, but when. It would be negligent on the part of Union Pacific and the California Public Utilities Commission to not address the problem.

Motor cut. Forced landing. Hit cow. Cow died. Scared me.

If you treat every situation as a life and death matter, you'll die a lot of times.

I wasn't as critical during games as I was at practice. Players needed confidence during games more than criticism.

Only praise behavior that you want to be repeated. Never use false praise.

A leader's job is to develop committed followers. Bad leaders destroy their followers' sense of commitment.

You should sub a player out when you see a player not going full-speed or playing selfish basketball.

The coach's job is to be part servant in helping each player reach his goals within the team concept.

Over coaching is the worst thing you can do to a player.

You should just do the right thing.

Good people are happy when something good happens to someone else.

A lion never roars after a kill.

You should never be proud of doing the right thing. You should just do it.

Basketball is a beautiful game when the five players on the court play with one heartbeat.

What do do with a mistake: recognize it, admit it, learn from it, forget it.

I think Duke should be the favorite. And Gonzaga will be a tough out.

We need to understand that children start following athletics at the age of nine or ten. These beer ads are highly appealing to them. When beer companies say their ads aren't directed at young people, I find it hard to believe. Do you think the kids don't like the lizards on the Budweiser spots?

We don't want to go on strike. Everybody's unified on it.

We were told to throw it inside to Big Clyde. He couldn't jump that well but he had great touch from 15 feet. And he had good hands. He'd catch even my bad passes.

We've got uniforms pants, boots, t-shirts, underwear and toilet supplies,

Don't worry about it. How do you feel?

If you treat every situation as a life-and-death matter, youll die a lot of times.

If you track the path of Isabel, that's exactly where these trees are dying.

If you make every game a life-and-death thing, you're going to have problems. You'll be dead a lot.

House prices swamp Fed concerns in the mortgage- and asset-backed market. We see many more opportunities in a volatile market like this than in a placid market.

This is my last year, I'm going to take that shot. All I was thinking was I needed to get the ball up. If I get it up, I'll make it.