Commitment - 365 Days A Year

“Eli’s just so, so, reliable.  Totally reliable.  Trustworthy.  Smart.  Tremendously hard working.  Consistent as the day is long.  What I love about him is, I know what he’s doing 365 days a year.  He’s doing something that will help us win football games.”  Tom Coughlin on Eli Manning

W.I.N. Today - Don't Worry About The Scoreboard

“What I’m going to talk to the guys about is the product is the Super Bowl, the product is winning the Lombardi.  But you have to go through the process, and the process is day-to-day.  The process on game day is 60 minutes, one play at a time, all you got.  Never too high, never too low.  There’s going to be ebbs and flows.  There’s 55-60 plays a game where you’re just swinging back and forth.  Then there’s going to be five or six critical plays that are going to determine the outcome of that game.  So you can’t pick and choose, ‘I might relax or take a play off here or there.’  No.  The process, work the process.  Don’t worry about the scoreboard.  Let’s play hard for 60 minutes.  Let’s play with passion.  Let’s play with energy.  Let’s run, let’s hit, let’s block, and let’s tackle, let’s get off blocks, fundamental football, situational football.”  Chuck Pagano, Indianapolis Colts

Excellence - Saban's Definition of Success

“Having success in a football program can have two effects. You can demand more success or you can get a little complacent and be relaxed about what you have accomplished, really think more about what you did rather than what you’re going to do. It’s human nature to relax…  I think success should be defined: consistency in performance.”  Nick Saban

Commitment - What This Means To Us

"Some of these young quarterbacks have asked me, they've said, 'You and Marvin (Harrison) are lucky to have that timing,' ... It ain't lucky. I was teasing someone from the Colts, 'If you want to sell some season tickets, put a hidden camera out here showing me, Marvin and the ball boy out here throwing. Just to let people know what this means to us.' It was April. It wasn't mandatory. There weren't any coaches around. We were going full speed. That's what it takes."
Peyton Manning

Pay The Price - Kevin Durrant's Mindset

"He works like he has no talent.  He works hard every day like he wants to make the team.  That’s his mindset.”  Scott Brooks on Kevin Durrant

W.I.N. Today - Continuous Improvement

“Everyday we are on a relentless pursuit of continuous improvement.”  Derek Dooley - University of Tennessee Football

Excellence - Different Results

"We are going to require you to do things that other teams may not be required to do, because we expect our results to be different from theirs.”  Mike Leach

 

Commitment - No Compromise

It's hard to imagine any high school sports team going 12 seasons without a defeat, let alone doing it in football.

That was the record-breaking accomplishment of Concord De La Salle and Coach Bob Ladouceur from 1992 through 2003, resulting in a 151-game winning streak.


"I've talked to many kids who played there," Loyola Coach Jeff Kearin said. "I've asked them, 'What's the mystique?' They just say it's all about no compromise in anything they do from December to December in terms of how they train and their expectations."

Competitive Fight - Lasting Impression

“You can’t just beat a team. You have to leave a lasting impression in their minds so they never want to see you again.”
Mia Hamm

Teamwork - It's Not About You

"Football is a team game. Its not about you. Its not about me. Its about us." 

John Gruden

“Every player must first place the team ahead of personal glory.  The man who plays must make personal sacrifices – victory means team glory for everyone – personal glory means little if a team loses.” 

Vince Lombardi

“Remember always, it’s not about you.”  

Geno Auriemma

“You gotta discipline your ego.  It’s about the team.”

Mike McCarthy

"A lot of times in our world it’s all about me, me, me. In a team mentality, it’s never about you. It’s about what you can do for the whole.” 

Kevin Mawae

“The difference between champions and near champions is the ability to play for something outside of self.”  Bob Zuppke

Excellence - The Standard

“It’s about doing it in a way that it can’t be done any better.  That is the goal every day.”  Geno Auriemma

W.I.N. Today - The Most Important Day Of Your LIfe

“I always say to my guys, ‘The most important day of your life is today.' This very moment is the most important minute of your life. You must win this minute. You must win this day. And tomorrow will take care of itself.”  John Chaney

Toughness - What Can You Do After Your Exhausted?

Taken this morning from Coach Starkey's blog (www.hoopthoughts.blogspot.com)...

"I’m going to share a little secret with you. Running has always been a source of my stamina. Early in my career I learned to run until I was tired, then run even more after that. But all the running I did before the fatigue and pain was just the introduction to my workout. The real conditioning began when the pain set in. That was when if was time to start pushing. That was when I would count every mile as extra strength and stamina.

What counts in the ring is what you can do after you’re exhausted. The same is true of life.

Outrun the people who quit when they feel discomfort, outrun the people who stop because of despair, outrun the people who are delayed because of prejudice, outrun the people who surrender to failure, and outrun the opponent who loses sight of the goal. Because if you want to win, the will can never retire, the race can never stop, and faith can never weaken.

My heart told me one thing and my mind told me another. And when I had to decide between them, I chose to follow my heart."

From "The Soul of a Butterfly"
by Muhammad Ali with Hana Yasmeen Ali

Discipline - Steve Young's Definition

"I define discipline as doing something when there's zero motivation."  Steve Young

Attitude - Bart Starr

"If there was just one word I could use to describe a successful person, that one word would be attitude."  Bart Starr

Persistence - 4th String Freshmen Quarterback

From Coming Back Stronger by Drew Brees

When I was a freshman in high school, I changed school districts.  I remember the first set of two-a-days as a freshman.  This was Texas 5A football.  It was Friday Night Lights.  There was a sea of guys, probably 150 to 200 kids, all ready to play.  The coach said, “Okay, who thinks they can be quarterback?”

I raised my hand and looked around to see forty other hands in the air.  I thought, I am never going to see the field.  I was the new guy.  All these guys had been part of the same program at the two middle schools in the district.  They’d had real game preparation and full-contact experience.  I’d been playing flag football the past three years because our small Christian school didn’t have enough players to field a tackle football team.  The season hadn’t even started yet, and I was already at a disadvantage.

I ended up as the fourth quarterback of six my freshmen year.  The first three went to the freshmen A team, and the next three went to the freshmen B team.  In effect, I was the starter on the freshmen B team.  I felt lost in a swarm of players.

During my sophomore year, when I was in the middle of two-a-days, my mom picked me up from practice.  She could tell something was up because I was unusually quiet.  After she pulled into the garage, she turned off the car and we sat there for a minute.

I looked at her and used a word that normally didn’t come out of my mouth.  “Mom, I think I might want to quit football.”

She didn’t freak out.  She just squinted her eyes with concern and said, “Why?”


“Because I don’t feel like I’m ever going to get an opportunity to play”

Jay Rodgers was the quarterback for the varsity team, and his younger brother Johnny was the quarterback on junior varsity.  This was a football family.  Their middle brother was the starting center on varsity, and their dad, Randy Rodgers, was the recruiting coordinator at the University of Texas.  Johnny Rodgers was destined to be the next starting quarterback for Westlake High School, and I was sure I’d get lost in the shuffle.

“You know, my real sport is baseball,” I told my mom.  “I want to get a baseball scholarship.  I play football because I like it, but I don’t want to sit on the bench.  I don’t feel like I’m going to get an opportunity, and maybe I’d be better off playing fall baseball and trying to get a baseball scholarship.”

My mom took a deep breath.  “That’s a valid point.  I wouldn’t want to sit the bench any more than you do.  So if you don’t want to play, you don’t have to play.  But remember this: when you least expect it, that opportunity will present itself.  You never know when it’s going to come, but all it takes is one play.”

Commitment - C = I + S

Commitment:  The level of devotion to a goal or set of goals; commitment expressed as a formula might look like this:

Commitment = Investment (what you put in) + Sacrifice (what you are willing to give up)





Competitive Fight - Dominate

“When we step onto the field, we want to so greatly dominate our opponents in every phase of the game that they walk off the field at the end saying to themselves, ‘I never want to play those guys again.’”  Nick Saban

Preparation - Knowledge is Speed

"Knowledge is speed.  If you can outhink your opponent, you know what your opponent is going to do before he does it.  That makes you faster than the guys who have the athleticism."  Doc Rivers

Persistence - Cut From The Team

“I was a freshmen, in the fall of 1985, and my coach cut me from the team, apparently thinking of me as a lost cause.  He told me that wanting to play basketball and being able to play were two different things.  He suggested I tryout out for another sport – possibly be a goalie in soccer – because I surely wasn’t going to make it in basketball.  I was too clumsy, too slow, my feet were too big.”  Shaquille O’Neal

Excellence - Two Words That Determine Success

George Raveling

"There are two words that determine success:

voices

choices

If you listen to the right voices, you will make the right choices."

Toughness - Effort Is What's Inside

“There’s not a person on my team in 16 years that has consistently beat me to the ball every play.  That ain’t got nothing to do with talent.  That’s just got everything to do with EFFORT.  Nothing else.  For 15 straight years, 12 Pro Bowls later if you want numbers.  The only thing that’s kept me around is my EFFORT.  All I ever know is EFFORT.  I wasn’t a #1 recruit, I wasn’t the #1 linebacker, I wasn’t even in the media guide.  All I ever knew was EFFORT would get me seen on tape.  EFFORT would get me noticed, to get to the league.  EFFORT would one day take care of my mom and my kids.  EFFORT!  Which is between you and you.  Nobody else can give you EFFORT.  EFFORT is what’s inside.” 

Ray Lewis speaking to a group of Miami Hurricanes

W.I.N. Today - Just Get Better

“Everything in life, whether it’s in sports or business, is always about working to get better.  If you continue to get better, then everything takes care of itself.  That’s always been my theme in life.  Get better as a person, get better as a coach, get better as a player, get better as a team – JUST GET BETTER.”  Tom Moore, Indianapolis Colts

Teamwork - One Common Goal

“The best group of individuals doesn’t always win it.  Our most talented teams actually didn’t win it, but rather it was the team that came together, that persevered, that fought through adversity and stayed together.  That’s how you win championships, when you get a group of individuals who can put everything else aside and come together as a team, all focused on accomplishing one common goal.  It’s true in football, it’s true in business, and it’s true in life.”  Tony Dungy

Excellence - Winning Standard of Performance

"The culture precedes positive results.  It doesn't get tacked on as an afterthought on your way to the victory stand.  Champions behave like champions before they're champions; they have a winning standard of performance before they are winners."
Bill Walsh

Teamwork - Tiger vs. Lion

“One on one, the tiger will win every time.  The tiger family is very selfish.  But if there are ten lions and ten tigers, the lions will win every time because the lions care about each other.” 
Tom Mullins – The Leadership Game

Spend or Invest?

"You can do one of two things with your time.  You can either spend your time, or you can invest your time.  When you invest your time, you are working towards a goal.  When you spend your time, you play X-Box or Nintendo-this accomplishes nothing.  Some of you might say, 'Well I need my relaxation time Coach' - excuse me in front of all the momma's that are here but that's _ _!"

Nick Saban - speaking to group of young people prior to football camp

Mental Toughness Defined

SUPER BOWL 46 COACHES DEFINE MENTAL TOUGHNESS...




Tom Coughlin - "A perfectly disciplined will that refuses to give in."
Bill Belichick - "Doing your best for the team even when everything's not going right for you personally."