Lou Holtz Quotes

To my wife 'I told you I was sick'.

The man who complains about the way the ball bounces is likely the one who dropped it.

If he's got golf clubs in his truck or a camper in his driveway, I don't hire him.

At age nine, I got a paper route. Sixty-six papers had to be delivered to sixty-six families every day. I also had to collect thirty cents a week from each customer. I owed the paper twenty cents per customer per week, and got to keep the rest. When I didn't collect, the balance came out of my profit. My average income was six dollars a week.

God answers prayers, but he doesn't always answer it your way.

I'm so old, I don't buy green bananas any more.

Had I been a great athlete, I'm not sure I would have even gone into coaching. I may have turned out feeling that my life ended when my athletic career ended, as happens so many times with various athletes.

I bet you went on one date and wanted to get married.

Everyone wants to win on Saturday afternoon when the game is played. It's what you do the other six days that decides the outcome

Remember this. Bear Bryant retired at age 69, and he died 28 days after he stopped coaching. If you don't have something, and a purpose in your life, you're gonna die.

The answers to these questions will determine your success or failure. 1) Can people trust me to do what's right? 2) Am I committed to doing my best? 3) Do I care about other people and show it? If the answers to these questions are yes, there is no way you can fail.

To win a national championship, you've got to be a little lucky.

You always have to prepare for the obstacles that are going to come. Consequently, when they do come, it doesn't affect you mentally near as much as when you're unprepared for them.

I won't accept anything less than the best a player's capable of doing ... and he has the right to expect the best that I can do for him and the team!

You will never be indecisive if you know your purpose.

No one has ever drowned in sweat.

Do right. Do your best.

ESPN is a great organization to work for.

The Sisters of Notre Dame at St. Aloysius Grade School influenced my life tremendously. This was due to the fact that they encouraged you always to make sure that God is the focus of your life, and they didn't allow you to do anything except to the very best of your ability.

No matter what happens on the field, getting an education makes you a winner.

The key to winning is choosing to do God's will and loving others with all you've got.

Virtually nothing is impossible in this world if you just put your mind to it and maintain a positive attitude.

Teamwork is the foundation of success. The three universal questions that an individual asks of his coach, player, employee, employer are: Can I trust you? Are you committed to excellence? And, do you care about me?

Show me someone who has done something worthwhile, and I'll show you someone who has overcome adversity.

So what if someone wrote your obituary ... that doesn't mean you are obligated to die.

Broadcasting is easy; you just talk until you think of something to say.

You don't go to Notre Dame to learn something; you go to Notre Dame to be somebody.

I just have an enthusiasm for life.

I don't think we can win every game. Just the next one.

I used to pray that God would make me a great athlete, and He never did.

It was a great game if you don't care who won. I cared.

Don't run if you can walk. Don't walk if you can stand. Don't stand if you can sit. Don't sit if you can lie down.

I have to admit, I sometimes wonder how much more successful I would have been as a coach had it not been for my spending summers on the golf course. I could have watched more film, that's for sure. One advantage Joe Paterno had over me was that he didn't play golf.

One reason I won't compromise is because I believe honesty helps you win over the long haul. You can win a game tomorrow and lose a team. You can lose a game tomorrow and win a football team.

Everybody needs four things in life: Something to do, someone to love, someone to believe in and something to hope for.

No matter how bad someone has it, there are others who have it worse. Remembering that makes life a lot easier and allows you to take pleasure in the blessings you have been given.

Successful people will always tell you you can do something. It's the people who have never accomplished anything who will always discourage you from trying to achieve excellent things.

If you continually ask yourself, "What's important now?", you won't waste time on the trivial.

Nothing is as good as it seems, and nothing is as bad as it seems. Somewhere in between lies realty.

I believe in the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

Coaching is about helping young people have a chance
to succeed. There is no more awesome responsibility
than that. One of the greatest honors a person can have
is being called 'Coach.'

Sacrifice, discipline and prayer are essential. We gain strength through God's word. We receive grace from the sacrament. And when we fumble due to sin - and it's gonna happen - confession puts us back on the field.

As a coach, one thing that used to frustrate me was one player would make a bad decision, and that's all you would read about in the papers all over the country. We have so many athletes do so many wonderful things for other people, and you never read about it.

Don't ever ask a player to do something he doesn't have the ability to do. He'll just question your ability as a coach, not his as an athlete.

I believe - we all pay taxes. I'm happy to pay it, but I hate to have it abused, money wasted, no accountability. That's going to bother you.

When all is said and done, there is usually more said than done.
[as quoted by Alfred E Neuman]

Winners embrace hard work. They love the discipline of it, the trade-off they're making to win. Losers, on the other hand, see it as punishment. And that's the difference.

For victory in life, we've got to keep focused on the goal, and the goal is Heaven.

He called on me to save him as I had promised. And I did the same thing that you might have done if you were in my situation. I tried to pretend that I couldn't hear him calling to me.

I don't drink water, haven't drank water in 40 years.

I never learn anything talking. I only learn things when I ask questions.

Remember. Every day, some ordinary person does something extraordinary. Today, it's your turn.

You can't motivate a group of people or a Team. You have to motivate people individually, and that motivation has to be in an environment in which that person has a goal - something they want to accomplish in their lives.

If you've been there, no explanation is necessary. If you haven't, none is adequate.

If you're bored with life, if you don't get up every morning with a burning desire to do things, you don't have enough goals.

One thing about me is I try to be honest.

In the successful organization, no detail is too small to escape close attention.

Do right. Do your best. Treat others as you want to be treated.

You can pay people to perform, but you can't pay people to excel.

All winning teams are goal-oriented. Teams like these win consistently because everyone connected with them concentrates on specific objectives. They go about their business with blinders on; nothing will distract them from achieving their aims.

All you need is something to say, and a burning desire to say it ... it doesn't matter where your hands are.

The way you motivate a football team is to eliminate the unmotivated ones.

Everybody wants to talk about their rights and privileges. Twenty-five years ago, people talked about their obligations and responsibilities. - as spoken by Lou Holtz, former Notre Dame Coach

I'm not a disciplinarian. I simply enforce other people's decisions.

The problem with having a sense of humor is often that people you use it on aren't in a very good mood.

In life, be a participant, not a spectator.

I've never seen the yellow light, umm the yellow line be wrong.

Don't tell me how rocky the sea is, just bring the darn ship in. - Lou Holtz

The freedom to do your own thing ends when you have obligations and responsibilities. If you want to fail yourself - you can - but you cannot do your own thing if you have responsibilities to team members.

Only the unprepared are overcome by pressure

Our cellar home had a kitchen and a combination bedroom and half bath, which meant we had a sink next to the bed. We had no refrigerator, no shower or tub, and no privacy. My parents shared the bedroom with my sister and me.

My wife doesn't even want to spend 2 hours with me.

All my life, I've been trying to make a hole-in-one. The closest I've come is a bogey.

In this world you're either growing or you're dying so get in motion and grow.

Adversity is another way to measure
the greatness of individuals. I never had
a crisis that didn't make me stronger.

Everything ends badly, otherwise it would not end.

When people need love and understanding and support the most is when they deserve it the least.

We can all be successful and make money, but when we die, that ends. But when you are significant is when you help other people be successful. That lasts many a lifetime.

My first assistant-coaching job in football was at William & Mary in 1961. The pay wasn't much, so to get $300 more per year, I agreed to coach the golf team. I didn't even know how to keep score, and really, my main job was not to wreck the van on the way to tournaments.

I believe that having a spiritual life is so important in everybody's life.

Do what's right. Be on time, be polite, and be honest; remain free from drugs; and if you have any questions, get out your Bible. 2. Do your best. Mediocrity is unacceptable when you are capable of doing better. 3. Treat others as you want to be treated. Practice love and understanding.

Never tell your problems to anyone ... 20% don't care and the other 80% are glad you have them.

If what you did yesterday seems big, you haven't done anything today.

Give your players something they can physically do - don't ask them to do something they can't do.

I do think coaches need to get away from the game more, though. It's good for them.

If you burn your neighbors house down, it doesn't make your house look any better.

I think everyone should experience defeat at least once during their career. You learn a lot from it.

Remember that adversity presents us with numerous possibilities for success, if we are just willing to see them.

Everybody is looking for instant success, but it doesn't work that way. You build a successful life one day at a time.

Give me a blackboard. I can stop anything on a blackboard.

How you respond to the challenge in the second half will determine what you become after the game, whether you are a winner or a loser.

The price of LEADERSHIP is RESPONSIBILITY ... and part of that responsibility is to STAY POSITIVE whether you feel like it or not.

When I work a game as an analyst, all I do is look at the game like a coach.

Ya know, Hitler was a great leader, too.

I've followed Notre Dame football since 1946, when I listened on the radio and Johnny Lujack tackled Doc Blanchard in the open field to preserve a 0-0 tie.

If you don't demand that your people maintain. High performances to remain on your team, Why should they be proud of the association?

Nothing on this earth is standing still. It's either growing or it's dying. No matter if it's a tree or a human being.

You build a successful life a day at a time.

First and foremost I am a teacher, I care. Caring is helping the players to develop

If Tiger Woods had played football, he would have been a quarterback.