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!

Live in the moment that you are in.

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

Can't win without talent, you know.

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

You better have great practices.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

If winning weren't important nobody would keep score.

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.

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

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

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

Live every day as if it were Saturday night.

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.

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

Winning is only important in war and surgery.

The best thing about freshmen is that they become sophomores.

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.

God didn't miss any of us.

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

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

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

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.

Life is what you allow yourself not to see.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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