Woody Hayes Quotations

Without winners, there wouldn't even be any civilization.

Nothing that comes easy is worth a dime.

Success - it's what you do with what you've got.

Nobody despises to lose more than I do. That's got me into trouble over the years, but it also made a man of mediocre ability into a pretty good coach.

There's nothing that cleanses your soul like getting the hell kicked out of you.

Success is the only motivational factor that a boy with character needs.

Football is, after all, a wonderful way to get rid of your aggressions without going to jail for it.

I don't like nice people. I like tough, honest people.

I may not be able to outsmart too many people, but I can outwork 'em.

The five big mistakes in football are the fumble, the interception, the penalty, the badly called play, the blocked punt—and most of these originate with the quarterback. Find a mistake-proof quarterback and you have this game won.

I don't apologize for anything. When I make a mistake, I take the blame and go on from there. I just despise to lose, and that has taken a man of mediocre ability and made a pretty good coach out of him.

The bowl games are only supposed to be a fun reward.

I'm not trying to win a popularity poll. I'm trying to win football games.

The game of football is one of strategy and tactics.

The most deceptive course in football is straight at the goalposts.

A man is always better than he thinks.

I am not very smart, but I recognize that I am not very smart.

A good general always makes you search for his weaknesses.

The players fire the coach, and as long as I'm on the same wavelength with them, I can coach as long as I want to.

No back in the history of football was ever worth two fumbles a game.

Success - it 's what you do with what you've got.

That was about as bad an opener as we have ever played. When you get into the passing game, you can expect that sort of thing to happen.

I just felt that we had to do it this year. All those national championships and all the kids he touched, I just felt it was kind of the right thing to do.

I never saw a football player make a tackle with a smile on his face.

The only meaningful statistic is number of games won.

It's never an upset if the so-called underdog has all along considered itself the better team.

Indomitable in victory, insufferable in defeat.

They may outsmart me, or be luckier, but they can't outwork me.

The minute I think I'm getting mellow, I'm retiring. Who ever heard of a mellow winner?

Without winners, there would be no civilization.

The only way we'd get beaten was if we got a little fat-headed, if we didn't train right, if we had dissension on the squad.

Nothing that comes easy in this world is worth a damn.

In football we always said that the other team couldn't beat us. We had to be sure that we didn't beat ourselves. And that's what people have to do, too-make sure they don't beat themselves.

You can never pay back, so you should always try to pay forward.

We control by attitudes-positive mental attitudes-not by rules.

You don't get many chances to pay back what's been done for you. Take them.

You'll find out that nothing that comes easy is worth a dime. As a matter of fact, I never saw a football player make a tackle with a smile on his face. Never.

You can outwork anybody. Try it, you will find out that you can do it.

Picking an assistant coach, the first thing I was interested in was the man's character.

Statistics always remind me of fellow who drowned in a river where the average depth was only three feet.

Winners are men who have dedicated their whole lives to winning.

When I look in the mirror in the morning, I want to take a swing at me.

Any time you give a man something he doesn't earn, you cheapen him. Our kids earn what they get, and that includes respect.

Paralyze resistance with persistence.

To hell with exciting. I'd rather be drab as hell and win.

Anything easy ain't worth a damn!

The height of human desire is what wins, whether it’s on Normandy Beach or in Ohio Stadium.

You can never really pay back. You can only pay forward.

You don't get hurt running straight ahead...three-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust offense. I will pound you and pound you until you quit.

Jack Tatum could hit a man so hard that it would lift both his feet off the ground.

Even the best team, without a sound plan, can't score.

I recruited a Czech kicker, and during the eye exam, when asked to read the bottom line, the kicker replied, Read it? I know him.

When you're winning - you don't need any friends. When you're losing - you don't have any friends anyway.

I love football. I think it is most wonderful game in world and I despise to lose.

Football represents and embodies everything that's great about this country, because the United States of America is built on winners, not losers or people who didn't bother to play.

Perfect preparation prevents piss-poor performance.

It does not matter the size of the man, rather the amount of effort the man is willing to put forth

Because I couldn't go for three.

There's nothing in this world that comes easy. There are a lot of people who aren't going to bother to win. We learn in football to get up and go once more.

I've had smarter people around me all my life, but I haven't run into one yet that can outwork me. And if they can't outwork you, then smarts aren't going to do them much good.

We do not pull in and fill up. And I'll tell you why we don't. It's because I don't buy one goddamn drop of gas in the state of Michigan. We'll coast and push this goddamn car to the Ohio line before I give this state a nickel of my money.

The only thing even in this world is the number of hours in a day. The difference in winning or losing is what you do with those hours.