1. “Courage and confidence are what decision making is all about.” – Mike Krzyzewski
2. “A leader may be the most knowledgeable person in the world, but if the players on his team cannot translate that knowledge into action, it means nothing.” – Mike Krzyzewski
3. “You hear, you forget. You see, you remember. You do, you understand.” – Mike Krzyzewski
4. “Imagination has a great deal to do with winning.” – Mike Krzyzewski
5. “Throughout the season, I look into my players eyes to gauge feelings, confidence levels, and to establish instant trust.” – Mike Krzyzewski
6. “I’m looking for players who make their teammates better. You do that with enthusiasm and passion.” – Mike Krzyzewski
7. “I love practice. It is when a coach exercises the most control over the improvement of his or her team.” – Mike Krzyzewski
8. “I never want to lead a team that is not allowed the freedom to pursue what’s in their hearts. If you want your team to be fully committed, then you’d better be fully committed.” – Mike Krzyzewski
9. “That’s what I do now: I lead and I teach. If we win basketball games from doing that, then that’s great, but I lead and teach. Those are the two things I concentrate on.” – Mike Krzyzewski
10. “Believe that the loose ball that you are chasing has your name wirtten on it.” – Mike Krzyzewski
11. “When you cleanse yourself of a big victory, you may open yourself up to the opportunity for an even bigger victory.” – Mike Krzyzewski
12. “You can see and you can listen, but you have to have moments in which you feel.” – Mike Krzyzewski
13. “It takes courage not only to make decisions, but to live with those decisions afterward.” – Mike Krzyzewski
14. “Are you going to show integrity only when someone is watching you—or are you going to show it all the time?” – Mike Krzyzewski
15. “I never let a person’s weakness get in the way of his strength.” – Mike Krzyzewski
16. “A common mistake among those who work in sport is spending a disproportional amount of time on “x’s and o’s” as compared to time spent learning about people.” – Mike Krzyzewski
17. “Fun is to experience things you would not have been able to experience in any other setting.” – Mike Krzyzewski
18. “You can’t defer if you’re the person who’s in the leadership position.” – Mike Krzyzewski
19. “Throughout my life, my mom has been the person that I’ve always looked up to.” – Mike Krzyzewski
20. “My hunger is not for success, its for excellence, because when you attain excellence, success just naturally follows.” – Mike Krzyzewski
21. “Why do you play a game? I play a game to see how good we can be.” – Mike Krzyzewski
22. “You don’t just be a team. You become a team. Through tough games you find that you need each other.” – Mike Krzyzewski
23. “Leaders should be reliable without being predictable. They should be consistent without being anticipated.” – Mike Krzyzewski
24. “A leader has to show the face his team needs to see.” – Mike Krzyzewski
25. “In developing teams, I don’t believe in rules. I believe in standards. Rules don’t promote teamwork, standards do.” – Mike Krzyzewski
26. “Confidence shared is better than confidence only in yourself.” – Mike Krzyzewski
27. “You develop a team to achieve what one person cannot accomplish alone. All of us alone are weaker, by far, than if all of us are together.” – Mike Krzyzewski
28. “If you set up an atmosphere of community and trust, it becomes a tradition. Older team members will establish your credibility with newer ones. Even if they don’t like everything about you, they’ll say, ‘He’s trustworthy, committed to us as a team.’” – Mike Krzyzewski
29. “The person who has inspired me my whole life is my Mom, because she taught me commitment. She sacrificed.” – Mike Krzyzewski
30. “The life expectancy of a team is about eight months. Then the next year, it’s a whole new team.” – Mike Krzyzewski
31. “I don’t think you play for other people’s expectations, you know. You don’t go and become a lawyer because your mother or father want you to, you don’t become a coach because somebody wants you to.” – Mike Krzyzewski
32. “Turning down the Lakers was tough, but it is always good to renew your vows to the loves of your life.” – Mike Krzyzewski
33. “Making shots counts, but not as much as the people who make them.” – Mike Krzyzewski
34. “The other thing I knew I had was a high level of competitiveness.” – Mike Krzyzewski
35. “Champions play as they practice. Create a consistency of excellence in all your habits.” – Mike Krzyzewski
36. “You should do things because of what your expectations are of yourself.” – Mike Krzyzewski
37. “Nothing demonstrates that you care about people more than spending personal time with them, and the more it’s a one-on-one encounter, the better.” – Mike Krzyzewski
38. “Never let a person’s weakness get in the way of their strength.” – Mike Krzyzewski
39. “Confrontation simply means meeting the truth head-on.” – Mike Krzyzewski
40. “With me and basketball, it became part of me.” – Mike Krzyzewski
41. “Even though we want huge individual egos, our collective ego is unbelievable.” – Mike Krzyzewski
42. “In leadership, there are no words more important than trust.” – Mike Krzyzewski
43. “Discipline is doing what you are supposed to do in the best possible manner at the time you are supposed to do it.” – Mike Krzyzewski
44. “Leadership is simple: Add value to people everyday.” – Mike Krzyzewski
45. “That’s why basketball was so good, because I didn’t really need you or anyone else to play it. It would be better if we played four-on-four or five-on-five, but I could go out there alone.” – Mike Krzyzewski
46. “I have a plan of action, but the game is a game of adjustments.” – Mike Krzyzewski
47. “Don’t do anything as an individual that will make you stand out from your teammates.” – Mike Krzyzewski
48. “Goals should be realistic, attainable, and shared among all members of the team.” – Mike Krzyzewski
49. “Always respect your competition. Do disrespect your competition is to disrespect yourself.” – Mike Krzyzewski
50. “My hunger is not for success, it is for excellence. Because when you attain excellence, success just naturally follows.” – Mike Krzyzewski
51. “Leadership is an ever-evolving position.” – Mike Krzyzewski
52. “Growth creates complexity, which requires simplicity.” – Mike Krzyzewski
53. “Effective teamwork begins and ends with communication.” – Mike Krzyzewski
54. “A basketball team is like the five fingers on your hand. If you can get them all together, you have a fist. That’s how I want you to play.” – Mike Krzyzewski
55. “Encourage members of your team to take the initiative and act on their own.” – Mike Krzyzewski
56. “Leaders have to search for the heart on a team, because the person who has it can bring out the best in everybody else.” – Mike Krzyzewski
57. “Two are better than one if two act as one.” – Mike Krzyzewski
58. “One of the worst things anybody can do is assume. I think fools assume. If people have really got it together, they never assume anything. They believe, they work hard, and they prepare- but they don’t assume.” – Mike Krzyzewski
59. “You start developing a championship attitude by, first of all, telling kids that they are really good and that they have the potential to become better.” – Mike Krzyzewski
60. “If you win a National Championship, or you win two, people think you have not only seen the Holy Grail, but you’ve embraced it. Basically, I do what a lot of people do, but I’ve been able to win.” – Mike Krzyzewski
61. “With accomplishments comes confidence and with confidence comes belief. It has to be in that order.” – Mike Krzyzewski
62. “Defense is one man guarding the ball and four others helping him.” – Mike Krzyzewski
63. “When a leader takes responsibility for his own actions and mistakes, he not only sets a good example, he shows a healthy respect for people on his team.” – Mike Krzyzewski
64. “Friendships, along with love, make life worth living.” – Mike Krzyzewski
65. “Don’t worry about losing. Think about winning.” – Mike Krzyzewski
66. “If you’re always striving to achieve success that is defined by someone else, you’ll always be frustrated. Define your own success.” – Mike Krzyzewski
67. “Never delegate. Always empower.” – Mike Krzyzewski
68. “Sometimes it’s not bad to hurt. Sometimes you don’t want things until you get hurt. We got hurt today, let’s see what we do.” – Mike Krzyzewski
69. “If you have talent with teamwork, you’ve got a chance to be a championship team.” – Mike Krzyzewski