A former American basketball coach Robert Knight is more famously known as 'Bobby Knight' and 'the general'. Coach Knight led to many NCAA victories and coached for the army, Indiana Hoosiers, Texas tech. But that is not the only thing he is famous for, as his controversial statements, remarks, fanatic reaction at games is what people will never forget! And none the less his famous chair-throwing scene has millions of views on the internet! Knight also got in a lot of scandals when he was known to grab a player's neck. But even if his behaviour was quite fickle, no one can deny that the world of basketball has truly changed because of Knight.
Bobby popularized motion defence and spent years developing this defence. Bobby was well known to put hard work into players training. He always had the will to prepare. He would study his team, set up a defence and prepare the players by predicting the opponents' possible steps. Bobby was honoured with several awards even after his retirement. He was titled the national coach of the year four times. Moreover, Knight also appeared in numerous movies and television series; an autobiography has also been published whose fame skyrocketed and earned the bestseller title at the time. Below are some of the famous Bobby Knight Quotes.
The will to succeed is important, but what's more important is the will to prepare.
Everyone wants to be successful and live as a successful person, but most don't want to do hard work. It takes resilience, courage and conscientiousness to work hard. It's useless to want to win but not want to prepare for it. Those who are ready to work for it are the only ones who will win.
The red I wear is Indiana's red, not Moscow's red. Indiana was here long before communism.
Bobby had always been a very controversial person because of his outspoken nature. He would naturally attract haters due to this attitude. Many people went on to criticize everything he does. And even called his red flag communist! Thus, this quote!
Most people have the will to win, few have the will to prepare to win.
Bobby was very known for his hardworking attitude. He would often quote this sentence, which means that most people want to win, but few are willing to work for it. Simple. On point.
When my time on earth is gone, and my activities here are passed, I want they bury me upside down, and my critics can kiss my ass!
Being equally loved and hated, Bobby would receive a lot of hate all over the internet, in tweets and even in real life. However, Bobby wouldn't pay much heed. He would give out some sarcasm to the haters!
We should not have to push you to work hard, you should work hard because you want to be a great player."
Working hard takes a lot. An athlete needs years of training and a strong mindset to actually become a great player. And though everyone wants to become great, not everyone shares the mindset to do what it takes. A person, who really with every fibre wants something needs only a little push to gain momentum. However, a person who wouldn't do something even after many pushes put us in a doubtful position as it is questionable if he even wants what he's working for.
Some more Bobby Knight Motivational Quotes...
Victory favors the team making the fewest mistakes.
Victory is plain and simple. But not at all easy. Each mistake on both sides manipulates the results. And late victory comes to those in the end who have made little to no mistakes.
I've never predicted anything. All I have ever said is, that we will do the very best we can.
Bobby Knight here says that prediction is not what he would do. The results aren't in his control, but he would work for the thing that is in his control. All a man can really do is give his best. Results are always unpredictable.
It has always been my thought that the most important single ingredient to success in athletics or life is discipline. I have many times felt that this word is the most ill-defined in all of our language. My definition is as follows: 1. Do what has to be done; 2. When it has to be done; 3. As well as it can be done; and 4. Do it it that way all the time.
This is a very badass quote by Bobby! It exposes his mindset to us. He says that the word discipline is very wrongly defined in all languages possible. In his world, what discipline means is to do what has to be done as well as what you can, and that should never stop.
I don't believe in luck, I believe in preparation.
Serendipity and luck are things very unpredictable which underprepared and weak people pray for. Preparation takes real courage, strength and resilience. And preparation is what increases our chances of success.
Everybody hears, but few listen.
To actually implement something in our life is a very challenging thing. While we may hear many good things for us, we hardly ever apply it in our lives. Many advice we give to others goes to waste. People who always care for what we say are very rare.
Few more Bobby Knight Quotes...
Mental toughness is to physical as four is to one.
Being mentally tough is a value that takes successful people to success. It is a proven fact. A person with a lot of talent and a fickle mind cannot achieve much, whereas a person with a strong mind can do anything even if physically weak!
Your biggest opponent isn't the other guy. It's human nature.
Everything is a state of mind. We cannot win anything if we don't believe that we can Do it. Our minds play a very important role in our winning or our losing. The opponent isn't as strong as our mindset shows them to be. All we have to really win is our mind.
A coach should never be afraid to ask questions of anyone he could learn from.
A teacher should always be a humble person. To have confidence in what he knows; to have no arrogance in knowing what he does not know. If the teacher( or coach) is an egoistic man who wouldn't accept his shortcomings, his entire team is doomed!
Players must be able to carry out simple instructions from the bench to the court. If they can't, then they can't play.
Bobby was very known for his extremely controlling nature. He believed that his team should very keenly listen to what he had to say, and a person who would rather do anything otherwise should not be allowed to play.
You don't play against opponents, you play against the game of basketball.
While it may be opponents who are tough, what is really tougher is the game. And one must have the mindset to win the game and not win the opponents. Making others losing should never be the main goal of the player, but winning the game must be.
Continue reading some more Quotes by Bobby Knight...
You are never going to be driven anywhere worthwhile, but you sure as hell drive yourself to a lot of great places. It is up to you to drive yourself there.
Being independent is the key to live a good life. A person who cannot do what he pleases or wants is never happy. To be the decision-maker of your life makes our lives happy, to be controlled even in heaven would be of no pleasure to anyone.
A primary goal of teaching anything is the advantage that learning gives to people over their competitors who haven't been as well taught.
There are various perks of being a teacher, but one of the very sweetest ones for Bobby is that he can compare with other players his own to see how well he taught them and what the opponent team's coach lacked. Also, watching your own players win with the knowledge you taught is a priceless feeling.
As the team prepares, a coach's entire being must be concentrated on winning games.
Coach Knight always thought about winning. His focus was always upon emerging victorious at the end of the game. There was no other goal in his mind. And that's what he intends to tell all the other coaches out there that the goal is winning.
The structure of your practice is the main reason for your success or lack of success as a coach.
How well we do or do not prepare for something manifests in our results. As it is famously said that the more sweat we shed before the war, the lesser blood we shed in the war". It is simple if we practice well are likely to win, and vice versa is also true.
My practices were not set up to be easy or enjoyed.
In this very quote, we catch yet again the personality of coach Knight. He believed in very hard work, and in fact, he was well known for it. His practices, as noted by the players of his team, were never a piece of cake but were tough. And they were not meant to be handled by people with poor and fragile mindsets.
