Al McGuire Basketball Quotations

Winning is overrated. The only time it is really important is in surgery and war.

When I was losing, they called me nuts. When I was winning they called me eccentric.

I think everyone should go to college and get a degree and then spend six months as a bartender and six months as a cabdriver. Then they would really be educated.

Remember, half the doctors in this country graduated in the bottom half of their class.

When a guy takes off his coat, he's not going to fight. When a guy takes off his wristwatch, watch out!

Help one kid at a time. He'll maybe go back and help a few more.

I'm not saying that they were Einsteins; they were marginal students. But every ballplayer whoever touched me has moved up his station in life. And the players moved up my station.

You can always tell the Catholic schools by the length of the cheerleaders' skirts.

Don't call me son unless you're going to include me in your will. (When Adolph Rupp called him, "Son.")

The nicest thing about coaching is that one day you feel like you can play handball against a curb, and on other days you feel like you can fly to the moon.

A team should be an extension of a coach's personality. My teams are arrogant and obnoxious.

On how to make the game more exciting - Eliminate the referees, raise the basket four feet, double the size of the basketball, limit the height of the players to 5 feet 9 inches, bring back the centre jump, allow taxi drivers in for free and allow the players to carry guns.

It's a profession in which, the longer you stay, the closer you are to being fired.

Life is what you allow yourself not to see.

My rule was I wouldn't recruit a kid if he had grass in front of his house. That's not my world. My world has a cracked sidewalk.

All love affairs end. Eventually the girl is gonna put curlers in her hair.

I don't discuss basketball. I dictate basketball. I'm not interested in philosophy classes.

Our guys took Shop and Advanced Shop. Shop is when you make a chair. Advanced Shop is when you paint it.

God didn't miss any of us.

I just can't recruit where there's grass around. You gotta have a concrete lawn before I feel comfortable enough to go in and talk to you parents.

The best thing about freshmen is that they become sophomores.

Winning is only important in war and surgery.

I'm an Einstein of the streets and an Oxford scholar of common sense.

If a player leaves Marquette and doesn't have some of my blood in him, then I don't think I've done a good job.

Live every day as if it were Saturday night.

Don't be just another guy going down the street and going nowhere.

If the waitress has dirty ankles, the chili is good.

Make your life exciting. Do what you have to do as long as you don't hurt people.

Butch, you come from DeWitt Clinton. There are five thousand brothers in that school. You're the best there. You've been all-city two years in a row. How bad can you be? You come with me and we'll make nice music.

If winning weren't important nobody would keep score.

We rush for the stars as we crawl toward our graves.

The people who know basketball, their elevators don't go to the top.

I let ballplayers yell back at me because I wasn't trying to prove I'm boss. I know I'm boss.

I don't believe in looking past anybody - I wouldn't look past the Little Sisters of the Poor after they stayed up all night.

I had my moment on the stage. The trick in life is to know when to leave.

When I'm losing, they call me nuts. When I'm winning, they call me eccentric.

I come from New York where, if you fall down, someone will pick you up by your wallet.

The next time I will cry is when I die. My life has been that beautiful.

You better have great practices.

Dean Meminger was quicker than 11:15 Mass at a seaside resort.

Can't win without talent, you know.

If you're straight with your players, they'll be straight with you.

Live in the moment that you are in.