Explore the most impactful and insightful quotes and sayings by Bear Bryant, and enrich your perspective with the wisdom. Share these inspiring Bear Bryant quotes pictures with your friends on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, or your personal blogs, completely free. Here are the top 117 Bear Bryant quotes for you to read and share.
Everybody's got pretty good players now, more players than there've ever been. If you play poorly, you're going to get beat. -- Bear Bryant
I've had many a player tell me all through high school and right up until signing day that they were coming to Alabama, then they signed with somebody else. -- Bear Bryant
Recognize winners. They come in all forms. -- Bear Bryant
Every time a player goes out there, at least 20 people have some amount of influence on him. His mother has more influence than anyone. I know because I played, and I loved my mama. -- Bear Bryant
I left Texas A&M because my school called me. Mama called, and when Mama calls, then you just have to come running. -- Bear Bryant
Mama wanted me to be a preacher. I told her coachin' and preachin' were a lot alike. -- Bear Bryant
When you make a mistake, there are only three things you should ever do about it: 1. Admit it. 2. Learn from it, and 3. Don't repeat it. -- Bear Bryant
I didn't care if we ever quit practicing. I loved it. The only other guy I ever knew who loved it as much was Jerry Duncan. He would beg to practice even when he was hurt. I've actually seen him cry because the trainer told him he couldn't scrimmage. -- Bear Bryant
When I was a young coach I used to say, "Treat everybody alike." That's bull. Treat everybody fairly. -- Bear Bryant
I ain't won but one. My team won the rest in spite of me. -- Bear Bryant
Don't worry about making friends; don't worry about making enemies. Worry about winning, because if you win, your enemies can't hurt you, and if you lose, your friends can't stand you. -- Bear Bryant
It's awfully important to win with humility. It's also important to lose. I hate to lose worse than anyone, but if you never lose you won't know how to act. If you lose with humility, then you can come back. -- Bear Bryant
But it's still a coach's game. Make no mistake. You start at the top. If you don't have a good one at the top, you don't have a cut dog's chance. If you do, the rest falls into place. You have to have good assistants, and a lot of things, but first you have to have the chairman of the board. -- Bear Bryant
Set goals - high goals for you and your organization. When your organization has a goal to shoot for, you create teamwork, people working for a common good. -- Bear Bryant
Back 12 years ago, when Dr. Mathews was president here, we had a plan that when I got ready to quit, we'd bring a certain guy in and he'd take over that day and I'd leave. But as time wore on, I realized that wouldn't have been good at all. -- Bear Bryant
My approach to the game has been the same at all the places I've been. Vanilla. The sure way. That means, first of all, to win physically. If you got eleven on a field, and they beat the other eleven physically, they'll win. They will start forcing mistakes. They'll win in the fourth quarter. -- Bear Bryant
I always want my players to show class, knock'em down, pat on the back, and run back to the huddle. -- Bear Bryant
The idea of molding men means a lot to me. -- Bear Bryant
Nearly every coach I've talked with tells me that the attention you get from media and other people is the thing you miss most. I don't know if that's right. -- Bear Bryant
I think the most important thing of all for any team is a winning attitude. The coaches must have it. The players must have it. The student body must have it. If you have dedicated players who believe in themselves, you don't need a lot of talent. -- Bear Bryant
First there are those who are winners, and know they are winners. Then there are the losers who know they are losers. Then there are those who are not winners, but don't know it. They're the ones for me. They never quit trying. They're the soul of our game. -- Bear Bryant
In life, you'll have your back up against the wall many times. You might as well get used to it. -- Bear Bryant
Motivating people- the ingredient that separates winners from losers. -- Bear Bryant
I'm known as a recruiter. Well you've got to have chicken to make chicken salad. -- Bear Bryant
Don't give up. Reach down inside of you and you'll find something left. -- Bear Bryant
I don't have any ideas; my coaches have them. I just pass the ideas on and referee the arguments. -- Bear Bryant
Most coaches study the films when they lose. I study them when we win -to see if I can figure out what I did right -- Bear Bryant
All I know is, I don't want to stop coaching, and I don't want to stop winning, so we're gonna break the record unless I die. -- Bear Bryant
I know what it takes to win. If I can sell them on what it takes to win, then we are not going to lose too many football games. -- Bear Bryant
A few minutes ago, I had a hard time getting through the lobby because of all the people. After today, that won't be happening. -- Bear Bryant
They say I teach brutal football, but the only thing brutal about football is losing. -- Bear Bryant
Don't talk too much or too soon. -- Bear Bryant
Don't ever give up on ability. Don't give up on a player who has it. -- Bear Bryant
Scout yourself. Have a buddy who coaches scout you. -- Bear Bryant
You try to make your team do something they're not capable of and you get murdered. -- Bear Bryant
I told them my system was based on the "ant plan," that I'd gotten the idea watching a colony of ants in Africa during the war. A whole bunch of ants working toward a common goal. -- Bear Bryant
I tell young players who want to be coaches, who think they can put up with all the headaches and heartaches, can you live without it? If you can live without it, don't get in it. -- Bear Bryant
Georgia Tech beat us and Mississippi Southern tied us last year, and Texas beat us after we had the game won. We only played about five games the way we were capable of playing and lost one of those. -- Bear Bryant
Recruiting is the one thing I hate. I won't do it unless my coaches tell me I've just got to. The whole process is kind of undignified for me and the young man. -- Bear Bryant
Losing doesn't make me want to quit. It makes me want to fight that much harder. -- Bear Bryant
I've made so many mistakes that if I don't make the same mistakes over, we're going to come pretty close to winning. -- Bear Bryant
People who are in it for their own good are individualists. They don't share the same heartbeat that makes a team so great. A great unit, whether it be football or any organization, shares the same heartbeat. -- Bear Bryant
If I miss coaching that much, I could go to some little school where they didn't recruit, where all the kids wanted to go. I believe I could find somewhere to coach. -- Bear Bryant
At Alabama, our players don't win Heisman Trophies. Our teams win National Championships. -- Bear Bryant
If you don't have discipline, you can't have a successful program. -- Bear Bryant
I ain't never had much fun. I ain't never been two inches away from a football. Here guys go fishing on the day of the game, hunting, golfing, and all I want to do is be alone, studying how not to lose. -- Bear Bryant
Have a plan. Follow the plan, and you'll be surprised how successful you can be. Most people don't have a plan. That's why it's easy to beat most folks. -- Bear Bryant
If you want to walk the heavenly streets of gold, you gotta know the password, "Roll, Tide, Roll!" -- Bear Bryant
Sure, I'd love to beat Notre Dame, don't get me wrong. But nothing matters more than beating that cow college on the other side of the state! -- Bear Bryant
I make my practices real hard because if a player is a quitter, I want him to quit in practice, not in a game. -- Bear Bryant
In my lifetime, I may have put too much emphasis on winning, because here I am an old man and the only fun I've had is winning, and that's ridiculous. -- Bear Bryant
One man doesn't make a team. It takes eleven. -- Bear Bryant
Little things make the difference. Everyone is well prepared in the big things, but only the winners perfect the little things. -- Bear Bryant
If they don't have a winning attitude, I don't want them. -- Bear Bryant
If there is one thing that has helped me as a coach, it's my ability to recognize winners, or good people who can become winners by paying the price. -- Bear Bryant
There ought to be a special place in heaven for coaches' wives. -- Bear Bryant
I can remember loving to recruit. I knew I was going to do my best. But traveling and recruiting doesn't appeal to me any more. It's not as much fun as it used to be. -- Bear Bryant
If you don't learn anything but self discipline, then athletics is worthwhile. -- Bear Bryant
I'm no genius, but I'm a damn good football coach. -- Bear Bryant
You must learn how to hold a team together. You must lift some men up, calm others down, until finally they've got one heartbeat. Then you've got yourself a team. -- Bear Bryant
I'm no innovator. If anything I'm a stealer, or borrower. I've stolen or borrowed from more people than you can shake a stick at. -- Bear Bryant
You're still going to win with preparation and dedication and plain old desire. If you don't have genuine desire, you won't be dedicated enough to prepare properly. -- Bear Bryant
The biggest mistake coaches make is taking borderline cases and trying to save them. I'm not talking about grades now, I'm talking about character. I want to know before a boy enrolls about his home life, and what his parents want him to be. -- Bear Bryant
Football games are generally won by the boys with the greatest desire. -- Bear Bryant
I'm not much of a golfer, I don't have any friends and all I like to do is go home and be alone, and not worry about ways not to lose. -- Bear Bryant
When you play defense you have to storm the fort or play cover - you can't do both. -- Bear Bryant
Get the winners into the game. -- Bear Bryant
In order to have a winner, the team must have a feeling of unity; every player must put the team first ahead of personal glory. -- Bear Bryant
You have to learn what makes this or that Sammy run. For one it's a pat on the back, for another it's eating him out, for still another it's a fatherly talk, or something else. You're a fool if you think as I did as a young coach, that you can treat them all alike. -- Bear Bryant
Winning isn't imperative, but getting tougher in the fourth quarter is. -- Bear Bryant
When you win, there's glory enough for everybody. When you lose, there's glory for none. -- Bear Bryant
Baton Rouge happens to be the worst place in the world for a visiting team. It's like being inside a drum. -- Bear Bryant
Don't talk too much. Don't pop off. Don't talk after the game until you cool off. -- Bear Bryant
There is no sin in not liking to play; it's a mistake for a boy to be there if he doesn't want to. -- Bear Bryant
Three rules for coaching: 1.) Surround yourself with people who can't live without football. 2.) Recognize winners. They come in all forms. 3.) Have a plan for everything. -- Bear Bryant
If you are going to be a successful duck hunter, you must go where the ducks are. -- Bear Bryant
It's been years since I've had a real input in the game anyway. For this game, I've just tried to keep all the other stuff away from the players and coaches. -- Bear Bryant
I ain't never been nothin but a winner. -- Bear Bryant
I don't hire anybody not brighter than I am. If they're not brighter than I am, I don't need them. -- Bear Bryant
The summer day is closed, the sun is set: Well they have done their office, those bright hours, The latest of whose train goes softly out In the red west. -- Bear Bryant
The first time you quit, it's hard. The second time, it gets easier. The third time, you don't even have to think about it. -- Bear Bryant
Being inside Tiger Stadium is like being on the inside of a drum. -- Bear Bryant
The Lord expects you to do some things for yourself. -- Bear Bryant
The faint old man shall lean his silver head To feel thee; thou shalt kiss the child asleep, And dry the moistened curls that overspread His temples, while his breathing grows more deep. -- Bear Bryant
Lee Roy was the best college linebacker - bar none. He would have made every tackle on every play if they had stayed in bounds. -- Bear Bryant
The fun never goes out, but it changes with the years, with winning and losing. -- Bear Bryant
I hope to get out before they start football next year. -- Bear Bryant
I want to make sure I don't interfere with the success of that team next year. I don't see any way I could go to practice like most of 'em do, and not hurt the team. I'd go nuts if I tried doing that. -- Bear Bryant
If a man is a quitter, I'd rather find out in practice than in a game. I ask for all a player has so I'll know later what I can expect. -- Bear Bryant
Hell, no! A tie is like kissing your sister! -- Bear Bryant
Be aware of "yes" men. Generally, they are losers. Surround yourself with winners. Never forget - people win. -- Bear Bryant
Football changes and so do people. -- Bear Bryant
I think I'm telling the truth. I sat by Ray Perkins at the Hall of Fame dinner in New York, and at that time he didn't know he was our coach and I didn't either. -- Bear Bryant
If wanting to win is a fault, as some of my critics seem to insist, then I plead guilty. I like to win. I know no other way. It's in my blood. -- Bear Bryant
I plan on staying at Alabama for the rest of my career. I guarantee that I'll be here for you through it all, regardless of what happens. -- Bear Bryant
You take those little rascals, talk to them good, pat them on the back, let them think they are good, and they will go out and beat the biguns. -- Bear Bryant
I'm no miracle man. I guarantee nothing but hard work. -- Bear Bryant
I'll never give up on a player regardless of his ability as long as he never gives up on himself. In time he will develop. -- Bear Bryant
If we'd beaten 'em, I wouldn't be going out. -- Bear Bryant
I'm happy with the coach we have. I think any one of the ones I asked them to consider would've been good. -- Bear Bryant
Never quit. It is the easiest cop-out in the world. Set a goal and don't quit until you attain it. When you do attain it, set another goal, and don't quit until you reach it. Never quit. -- Bear Bryant
It's kind of hard to rally around a math class. -- Bear Bryant
I don't care how much talent a team has - if the boys don't think tough, practice tough, and live tough, how they play tough on Saturday. -- Bear Bryant
I'll put you through hell, but at the end of it all we'll be champions. -- Bear Bryant
Don't overwork your squad. If you're going to make a mistake, under-work them. -- Bear Bryant
A champion pays an extra price to be better than anyone else. -- Bear Bryant
You have to be willing to out-condition your opponents. -- Bear Bryant
Offense sells tickets, but defense wins championships. -- Bear Bryant
I didn't have a thing to do with picking a coach, and didn't want to. But I didn't think they'd pick one I didn't like. -- Bear Bryant
Don't tolerate lazy people. They are losers. -- Bear Bryant
I can reach a kid who doesn't have any ability as long as he doesn't know it. -- Bear Bryant
It really doesn't cost anything to be nice, and the rewards can be
unimaginable -- Bear Bryant
There is a big difference in wanting to and willing to. -- Bear Bryant
I've never recommended anybody go into coaching, 'cause if they have enough on the ball, if they can do without coaching, they should do without it. If they put as much work into it and
spend as much time, the rewards are going to be much better in something else. -- Bear Bryant
We can't have two standards, one set for the dedicated young men who want to do something ambitious and one set for those who don't. -- Bear Bryant
Sacrifice. Work. Self-discipline. I teach these things, and my boys don't forget them when they leave. -- Bear Bryant
If it is worth playing, it is worth paying the price to win. -- Bear Bryant