"Mama wanted me to be a preacher. I told her coachin' and preachin' were a lot alike."

"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."

"If anything goes bad, I did it. If anything goes semi-good, we did it. If anything goes really good, then you did it. That's all it takes to get people to win football games for you."

"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."

"The idea of molding men means a lot to me."

"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."

"Get the winners into the game."

"The old lessons (work, self-discipline, sacrifice, teamwork, fighting to achieve) aren't being taught by many people other than football coaches these days. The football coach has a captive audience and can teach these lessons because the communication lines between himself and his players are more wide open than between kids and parents. We better teach these lessons or else the country's future population will be made up of a majority of crooks, drug addicts, or people on relief."

"Sacrifice. Work. Self-discipline. I teach these things, and my boys don't forget them when they leave."

"It's not the will to win that matters - everyone has that. It's the will to prepare to win that matters."

"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."

"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."

"Don't talk too much. Don't pop off. Don't talk after the game until you cool off."

"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."

"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."

"Find your own picture, your own self in anything that goes bad. It's awfully easy to mouth off at your staff or chew out players, but if it's bad, and youre the head coach, you're responsible. If we have an intercepted pass, I threw it. I'm the head coach. If we get a punt blocked, I caused it. A bad practice, a bad game, it's up to the head coach to assume his responsibility."

"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."

"Losing doesn't make me want to quit. It makes me want to fight that much harder."

"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."

"What are you doing here? Tell me why you are here. If you are not here to win a national championship, you're in the wrong place. You boys are special. I don't want my players to be like other students. I want special people. You can learn a lot on the football field that isn't taught in the home, the church, or the classroom. There are going to be days when you think you've got no more to give and then you're going to give plenty more. You are going to have pride and class. You are going to be very special. You are going to win the national championship for Alabama."

"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."

"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."

"I'm no miracle man. I guarantee nothing but hard work." 

"Don't overwork your squad. If you're going to make a mistake, under-work them."

"Be aware of "yes" men. Generally, they are losers. Surround yourself with winners. Never forget - people win."

"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."

"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."

"If you whoop and holler all the time, the players just get used to it." 

"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."

"If you want to coach you have three rules to follow to win. One, surround yourself with people who can't live without football. I've had a lot of them. Two, be able to recognize winners. They come in all forms. And, three, have a plan for everything. A plan for practice, a plan for the game. A plan for being ahead, and a plan for being behind 20-0 at half, with your quarterback hurt and the phones dead, with it raining cats and dogs and no rain gear because the equipment man left it at home."

"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."

"Little things make the difference. Everyone is well prepared in the big things, but only the winners perfect the little things."

"Scout yourself. Have a buddy who coaches scout you.

"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."

"But there's one thing about quitters you have to guard against - they are contagious. If one boy goes, the chances are he'll take somebody with him, and you don't want that. So when they would start acting that way, I used to pack them up and get them out, or embarrass them, or do something to turn them around."

"There's a lot of blood, sweat, and guts between dreams and success."

"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."

"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."

"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."

"I honestly believe that if you are willing to out-condition the opponent, have confidence in your ability, be more aggressive than your opponent and have a genuine desire for team victory, you will become the national champions. If you have all the above, you will acquire confidence and poise, and you will have those intangibles that win the close ones."

"If you believe in yourself and have dedication and pride - and never quit - you'll be a winner. The price of victory is high but so are the rewards."

"Don't ever give up on ability. Don't give up on a player who has it."

"A good, quick, small team can beat a big, slow team any time."

"I have always tried to teach my players to be fighters. When I say that, I don't mean put up your dukes and get in a fistfight over something. I'm talking about facing adversity in your life. There is not a person alive who isn't going to have some awfully bad days in their lives. I tell my players that what I mean by fighting is when your house burns down, and your wife runs off with the drummer, and you've lost your job and all the odds are against you. What are you going to do? Most people just lay down and quit. Well, I want my people to fight back."

"If they don't have a winning attitude, I don't want them."

"I have tried to teach them to show class, to have pride, and to display character. I think football, winning games, takes care of itself if you do that."

"I always want my players to show class, knock'em down, patem on the back, and run back to the huddle."

"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't live without it, don't get in it."

"How many people watch you give a final exam? [About fifty is the reply.]
Well, I have 50,000 watch me give mine - every Saturday!"
To English Professor Tommy Mayo (at Texas A&M) when questioned about his emphasis on winning and his salary.

"Stephenson was a man among children - he didn't say very much, but he didn't have to."
About Dwight Stevenson, the center on the Championship 1979 squad. Bryant also called Stevenson "the best center I've ever coached."

"Sure I'd like 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."
To a group of boosters before an Auburn game.

"I left Texas A&M because my school called me. Mama called, and when Mama calls, then you just have to come running."
On why he had to leave A&M with six years left on his contract.

You couldn't play four years and be good enough to cost the University of Alabama thirty yards!"
An irate Coach Bryant to a player who had just received his second fifteen yard penalty of the game.

"He can't run, he can't pass, and he can't kick - all he can do is beat you."
Speaking of Tide QB Pat Trammel.

"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."
Bryant, when asked if he would break Alonzo Staggs record of 314 college wins.

"I know one thing, I'd rather die now than to have died this morning and missed this game."
Coach Bryant after Bama's win over unbeaten Auburn in '71.

"Hell, no! A tie is like kissing your sister!"
After being asked if he had considered going for a field goal when trailing by three points.

What the hell's the matter with you people down there? Don't y'all take your football seriously?"
Coach Bryant, upon calling Auburn at 6 AM only to find out that
none of the coaches were in their offices yet.

"Here's a twenty, bury two."
Coach Bryant, after being asked to chip in ten dollars
to help cover the cost of a sportswriters funeral.

"This is the saddest day of my life."
Coach Bryant, upon hearing of Pat Trammell's death.

"I'm just a simple plowhand from Arkansas, but I have learned over the years
how to hold a team together. How to lift some men up, how to calm others down,
until finally they've got one heartbeat, together, a team."

"What matters...is not the size of the dog in the fight, but of the fight in the dog."

"Don't talk too much or too soon."

"In a crisis, don't hide behind anything or anybody. They're going to find you anyway."

"When you make a mistake, admit it; learn from it and don't repeat it."

"Football changes and so do people. The successful coach is the one who sets the trend,
not the one who follows it."

"If you don't have discipline, you can't have a successful program."

"I can reach a kid who doesn't have any ability as long as he doesn't know it."

"You have to be willing to out-condition your opponents."

"Sacrifice. Work. Self-descipline. I teach these things, and my boys don't forget them when they leave."

"When you win, there's glory enough for everybody. When you lose, there's glory for none."

"When you're number one, you don't play for the tie."

"I don't have any ideas; my coaches have them. I just pass the ideas on and referee the arguments."

"I don't hire anybody not brighter than I am. If they're not smarter than me, I don't need them."

"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."

"If anything goes bad, I did it. If anything goes semi-good, we did it.
If anything goes real good, you did it. That's all it takes to get people to win football games."

"In life, you'll have your back up against the wall many times. You might as well get used to it."

"You never know how a horse will pull until you hook him to a heavy load."

"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."

"Don't give up at half time. Concentrate on winning the second half."

"One man doesn't make a team. It takes 11."

"If you were to ask me if football is a coach's game, I'd have to say it is. And always was."

"I'm known as a recruiter. Well you've got to have chicken to make chicken salad."

"The first thing a football coach needs when he's starting out is a wife who's willing
to put up with a whole lot of neglect. The second thing is a five-year contract."

"The alumni are starting to grumble, and I'm the one starting it."

"You must learn how to hold a team together. You lift some men up, calm others down,
until finally they've got one heartbeat. Then, you've got yourself a team."

"No coach has ever won a game by what he knows; it's what his players know that counts."

"There ought to be a special place in heaven for coaches' wives."

"I don't care how much talent a team has -- if the boys don't think tough, practice tough,
and live tough, how can they play tough on Saturday?."

"Winning isn't imperative, but getting tougher in the fourth quarter is."

"Boys, I'd like to introduce you to Coach Wallace Wade. He's the man responsible
for the great tradition of Alabama football."

"When we have a good team, I know it's because we have boys
that come from good mommas and pappas."

Don't give up at half time. Concentrate on winning the second half.

Show class, have pride, and display character. If you do, winning takes care of itself

There is a big difference in wanting to and willing to.

What matters is not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of fight in the dog.

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.

Age has nothing to do with it. You can be out of touch at any age.

In Alabama, football is a way of life.

Motivating people-- the ingredient that separates winners from losers.

You try to make your team do something they're not capable of and you get murdered.  

I don't hire anyone not brighter than I am. If they're not smarter than me, I don't need them.

I don't have any ideas; my coaches have them. I just pass the ideas on and referee the arguments.

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.

In life, you'll have your back up against the wall many times.  You might as well get used to it.

I'm known as a recruiter.  Well, you've got to have chicken to make chicken salad.

Bear's 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.      

The first thing a football coach needs when he's starting out is a wife who's willing to put up with a lot of neglect. The second thing is a five-year contract.

The alumni are starting to grumble, and Im the one starting it.

There ought to be a special place in Heaven for coaches' wives.

When we have a good team, I know it's because we have boys who come from good mammas and poppas