Mike Krzyzewski quotes

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. (Mike Krzyzewski)
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. View quote
Mike Krzyzewski
To me, teamwork is the beauty of our sport, where you have five acting as one. You become selfless. View quote
Mike Krzyzewski
The truth is that many people set rules to keep from making decisions. View quote
Mike Krzyzewski
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. View quote
Mike Krzyzewski
The leader has to show the face his team needs to see. View quote
Mike Krzyzewski
In leadership, no word is more important than trust. View quote
Mike Krzyzewski
Everybody wants to take responsibility when you win, but when you fail, all these fingers are pointing. View quote
Mike Krzyzewski
Throughout my life, my mom has been the person that I've always looked up to. View quote
Mike Krzyzewski
Actually, the Kentucky moment was better than winning the two National Championships, because it was the epitome of what I try to get from a team in a crisis situation. View quote
Mike Krzyzewski
My parents didn't really understand too much about sport. At that time, we were in a Polish community in the inner city of Chicago, and I was the youngest of a bunch of cousins. Polish families are real big, with cousins and aunts and uncles. (Mike Krzyzewski)
I have a rule on my team: when we talk to one another, we look each other right in the eye, because I think it's tough to lie to somebody. You give respect to somebody. View quote
Mike Krzyzewski
I always won in my imagination. I always hit the game-winning shot, or I hit the free throw. Or if I missed, there was a lane violation, and I was given another one. View quote
Mike Krzyzewski
Even though we want huge individual egos, our collective ego is unbelievable. View quote
Mike Krzyzewski
If you win a National Championship, or you win two, people think you have not only seen the Holy Grail, but you've embraced it. Basically, I do what a lot of people do, but I've been able to win. View quote
Mike Krzyzewski
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. View quote
Mike Krzyzewski
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. View quote
Mike Krzyzewski
My ambition in high school was to be a high school coach and teacher, and that's still what I do: teach. View quote
Mike Krzyzewski
Parents can really help, but they can also really hinder the development of their youngsters. View quote
Mike Krzyzewski
When I went to high school, an all-boys' school, a Catholic school, I tried out for football, and I didn't make it. It was the first time, athletically, that I was knocked down. View quote
Mike Krzyzewski
That's another thing, we made up games. We didn't have equipment. When it snowed, we would play slow motion tackle football. We would play hockey, but we wouldn't skate. We just made things up. I loved doing that. (Mike Krzyzewski)
Each group and each youngster is different. As a leader or coach, you get to know what they need. View quote
Mike Krzyzewski
I'm still not a great reader, but my wife is and my daughters are, and I envy them. I think I got into a bad habit of trying to do something all the time, instead of trying to sit down and take my time a little bit. View quote
Mike Krzyzewski
I always wanted to teach. View quote
Mike Krzyzewski
Basketball was not my main sport in grade school, or even the first year of high school. View quote
Mike Krzyzewski