Al McGuire quotes

The only mystery in life is why the kamikaze pilots wore helmets.
- Al McGuire

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.
- Al McGuire

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

Every obnoxious fan has a wife at home that dominates him.
- Al McGuire

It’s a profession in which, the longer you stay, the closer you are to being fired.
- Al McGuire

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

You measure a player from the head up.
- Al McGuire

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

I tell the players that they can't relive any day in their lives and that they can't relive the minutes of a game, so they should make a great effort, a Mount Everest type effort, to live up to their potential. Success is a communal type thing, and if we win, then everyone can be considered successful and we can move uptown together.
- Al McGuire

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

Keep it simple, when you get too complex you forget the obvious.
- Al McGuire

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

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.
- Al McGuire