Mike Krzyzewski Quotes & Sayings

“A basketball team is like the five fingers on your hand. If you can get them all together, you have a fist. That's how I want you to play.”

“The thing I loved the most - and still love the most about teaching - is that you can connect with an individual or a group, and see that individual or group exceed their limits.”

“Throughout my life, my mom has been the person that I've always looked up to.”

“To me, teamwork is the beauty of our sport, where you have five acting as one. You become selfless.”

“In high school, in sport, I had a coach who told me I was much better than I thought I was, and would make me do more in a positive sense. He was the first person who taught me not to be afraid of failure.”

“That's what I do now: I lead and I teach. If we win basketball games from doing that, then that's great, but I lead and teach. Those are the two things I concentrate on.”

“Everybody wants to take responsibility when you win, but when you fail, all these fingers are pointing.”

“There are kids don't want to do something because they're afraid of looking stupid to their peers. There comes a time when they start protecting themselves, instead of extending. I want to make sure that they're always trying to extend themselves.”

“I think you're not a human being unless you have doubts and fears.”

“Each group and each youngster is different. As a leader or coach, you get to know what they need.”