Quotable Quotes

[BuckeyeGuy]

I just had to start of topic on quotes from 3A Coaches. I know there must be tons of good ones around. I'll get this started with a couple from the ONLY coach to ever take Gilmer to the State Championship. His name is Tommy Waggonner, and he never coached another game after we lost the 1981 State Championship to Cameron Yoe, 26-3, which was his third year in Gilmer.

He took over a downtrodden team that didn't have a lot of talent. He predicted a four win season, with a little luck. We ended up 3-6-1 that year. Before the beginning of the 1980 season, he predicted a six win season with a little luck. He motivated his team with a "Quotable Quote" on the field house door that read:

"Gilmer Buckeyes:
We Ain't what we outta' be,
We Ain't what we wanna' be,
We Ain't what we gonna' be,
But THANK GOD,
We Ain't what we was."

The team responded with a 7-2-2 record and fell by virture of first downs to Van in Bi-District that season.

Just before the 1981 season began I was talking about how much improvement his team had made in just two short years and about the expectations everyone had for the upcoming season. I mentioned that we might not have enough room to seat everybody at the stadium. Coach Waggonner's response was, "We'll take care of that. We'll just add on another section close to the Field House. Since the other sections identify who sits there, i.e., Reserve Seats, Students, Band, etc., we'll label the new section ""Hypocrites"". If you didn't attend all the games in 1979 and 1980, you'll have to sit in that section."

The net result was an 11-2-2 season, ending up as the State Class AAA Runner-Up to Cameron Yoe.

Coach Waggonner is now a successful State Farm Insurance agent in Marshall. He truly is a super guy, and was a lot of fun to be around.

I'd love to hear other good quotes some of you may have from former coaches near and dear to you.

[3afan2K3]

not from former coaches that I've had but still good quotes

"Winning isn't everything--but wanting to is."

"A fan roots for his team when they win.
A true fan roots for his team when they lose."

<small>[ July 26, 2003, 04:16 PM: Message edited by: 3afan2K3 ]</small>

[Gilmer Buckeye]

I remember a couple of quotes from my somewhat-less-than-illustrious career with the Buckeyes.

"Fellows, they (opposing teams) put their pants on one leg at a time, just like you guys do."

This led to a running joke among some of us who were plagued with what could perhaps be called a defeatist attitude: "Yeah, most of them do, coach, but Daingerfield and Mount Pleasant may well jump into both legs at once."

Another cliche was as follows: "The bigger they are, the harder they fall!"

Well, I must think too much to be a good football player. In my logical analysis of that remark, I concluded that that must mean as opposing players get bigger, it is more and more difficult to make them fall, so why even bother trying with the more gargantuan specimens.

"It's not the size of the dog in the fight. It's the size of the fight in the dog."

Right. But if you were one of the players with an "attitude problem" (a syndrome which afflicted probably up to half the team at any given point in time), you'd take offense at being called a "dog" to begin with. And don't ever call any of us "boy" either. "'Boy' play on Tarzan" was the comeback for that one.

Now you can see why, along with an almost total lack of athletic ability, I had a "less-than-illustrious" career.

Coach Fred Akers of the Longhorns used to plagiarize Rev. Robert Schuller shamelessly: "Tough times don't last; tough people do."

I think he was saying that right up until the day he was fired.

[Chief Woodman]

How about this from an old TCU coach....

"Hard work and hustle will beat talent when talent will not work hard and hustle"

"Results count, excuses do not"

[BuckeyeGuy]

Everything that's come across so far is very interesting. I was reminded tonight while covering Houston Texans Training Camp of a comment Jimmy Johnson made after his first regular season game as Cowboys Coach in 1989.

As you may remember, he went all out to win in that first preseason, and in fact, went 4-0. There was noise all around the Nation that he might actually bring the team back to greatness in one season. The team went out and got blown away in the season opener.

I mentioned to Johnson in his post-game interview that in the preseason it had appeared that the team was much improved, which obviously wasn't the case, and asked him to explain what happened.
His short, terse, and frustrated answer was "What appears is not always what is."

Keep the quotes coming folks. I'd love to hear more.

[espn1]

AUTHOR: Vince Lombardi, professional football coach
QUOTATION: Some people try to find things in this game that don’t exist but football is only two things—blocking and tackling.

[District303aPastPlayer]

"Gentlemen, there will be 22 men on the field. They will each play their own game, but if our 11 come together as one, they will not play as 11, but rather as 12, 15 or even 20. When you come together as one team, the synergy you play with will be greater than theirs"

We then lost that Saturday to Bandera in the Regional Finals.

[BoneyFinger]

In the 60’s while playing for Bridge City, I remember a sign in our locker room which read “A VICIOUS BLOCK ON THE WRONG MAN IS BETTER THAN A TIMID BLOCK ON THE RIGHT MAN”. I always like that sign and I tried to live by it.

[BH_146]

How about one for life?

"The choices we make dictate the life we live. To thine own self be true." Bill Rago - Renaissance Man

Eh, Kobe?

[29x281]

"Just be thankful to the Good Lord that you've got four arms and four legs," -- Brooks Boynton, JV basketball coach, Coleman TX, following a particularly dismal performance.

"Stop whistling at the girls -- they think it's me," Boynton, as the team bus pulled up to the gym in Brady.

"Go shoot, I can't help ya," -- Jack Baucom, Head Basketball Coach, Coleman TX, his concluding remarks from a halftime speech in which the varsity was trailing Baird's JV in a pre-District tournament.

Those were the days.

[BrahmaMom]

Coach Barney Farrar, Rice University, told my son when he was so upset about tearing his ACL in the first game of his senior year: "God only gives big problems to the tough SOB's that can handle 'em". May not be original, but it got one 17 year old boy through surgery, difficult rehab, and not playing his senior year. Not to mention preparing himself to play at the next level. You gotta love these coaches and the lessons in life they impart on the football field.

[Jimbotex40]

Coach Gambill, now at Allen, said something pretty hilarious during my freshman year in basketball. the game started out out of control from the tip off. he was yelling at the refs to start calling something. one of the refs happily did blow his whistle, giving Coach Gambill a technical foul. coach then yelled, "thats the first good call youve made all game"

ill never forget that.

[Jimbotex40]

lol, i forgot to mention that 29x281's quoted quotes are hilarious.

that baskketball team must have been doin pretty hideous for that coach to say "go shoot, i cant help ya"

[JasperDog94]

Coach Royal (TEXAS):

"If worms had pistols, birds wouldn't eat 'em."

and my favorite:

"I'm on the right side of dirt."