Red Auerbach Quotes

Basketball is like war in that offensive weapons are developed first, and it always takes a while for the defense to catch up.

— Red Auerbach

Players are people, not horses. You don't handle them. You work with them, you coach them, you teach them, and, maybe most important, you listen to them.

— Red Auerbach

“If you're keeping score, win.”

— Red Auerbach

“Who could better motivate Bill Russell than Bill Russell?”

— Red Auerbach

“The only correct actions are those that demand no explanation and no apology.”

— Red Auerbach

“Just do what you do best.”

— Red Auerbach

“The best way to forget ones self is to look at the world with attention and love.”

— Red Auerbach

“He who believes in nobody knows that he himself is not to be trusted.”

— Red Auerbach

“Natural abilities are like natural plants; they need pruning by study.”

— Red Auerbach

“To a father, when a child dies, the future dies; to a child when a parent dies, the past dies.”

— Red Auerbach

“The most important thing in coaching is communication. It's not what you say as much as what they absorb.”

— Red Auerbach

They said you have to use your five best players but I found you win with the five who fit together the best.

— Red Auerbach

“The Boston Celtics are not a basketball team, they are a way of life.”

— Red Auerbach

“Take pride in what you do. The kind of pride I'm talking about is not the arrogant puffed-up kind; it's just the whole idea of caring - fiercely caring”

— Red Auerbach

You don't win games as a coach during games. You win games as a coach before games. Players win during games, not coaches

— Red Auerbach

“If you want to be a Champion, you've got to feel like one, you've got to act like one, you've got to look like one.”

— Red Auerbach

“I can't stand a ballplayer who plays in fear.”

— Red Auerbach

“To be a successful coach you should be and look prepared. You must be a man of integrity. Never break your word. Don't have two sets of standards. Remember you don't handle players-you handle pets. You deal with players. Stand up for your players. Show them you care-on and off the court. Very important-it's not 'how' or 'what' you say but what they absorb.”

— Red Auerbach

“Strategy is something anyone can learn. But not all coaches take the time to understand a man's personality.”

— Red Auerbach

You've got to avoid overcoaching. You've got to avoid talking too much. You've got to avoid showing players that you're the boss every time. You don't have to do that. They know you're in charge.

— Red Auerbach

It's not what you tell your players that counts. It's what they hear.

— Red Auerbach

“Many, many times, the kids with the less talent become the better athletes because they're more dedicated to achieving their full potential.”

— Red Auerbach

“Everyone is born with a certain potential. You may never achieve your full potential, but how close you come depends on how much you want to pay the price.”

— Red Auerbach

“The coach should be the absolute boss, but he still should maintain an open mind.”

— Red Auerbach

You see, in sports you have so many things that aren't expected. There's so much uncertainty. So when players find themselves in a situation where management has a great deal of integrity and they can depend on my word or anybody else's word in the organization, they feel secure. And if the players feel secure, they don't want to leave here. And if they don't want to leave here, they're going to do everything they can on the court to stay here.

— Red Auerbach

“All records are made to be broken.”

— Red Auerbach

“If they think we've got an edge, we've got an edge.”

— Red Auerbach

“Everything can happen in the playoffs.”

— Red Auerbach

Stand up for your players. Show them you care on and off the court.

— Red Auerbach

Look after your people.

— Red Auerbach

“Wilt Chamberlain had a great deal to do with the success of the NBA. His dominance, power, demeanor and the rivalry with Bill Russell says it all. He will be sorely missed by myself and everyone in the basketball community. Wilt was a great performer and a great athlete.”

— Red Auerbach

“I have two college degrees, but the only way I could make a living was by showing kids how to put a ball in a hole.”

— Red Auerbach

“He has the players too happy.”

— Red Auerbach

Winners train, losers complain. Give me twelve players that want to win and they will find a way to win.

— Red Auerbach

“I never had a set of rules. Every situation is different.”

— Red Auerbach

“You can't win without the ball.”

— Red Auerbach

When players are used to winning, they put out a little more. Basketball 3rd winningest coach (regular season and playoffs) in NBA history; won 1,037 times in 20 years;

— Red Auerbach

“I don't believe in statistics. There are too many factors that can't be measured. You can't measure a ballplayer's heart.”

— Red Auerbach

“If I'm going to coach the players, I want some say on who they're going to be.”

— Red Auerbach

I never took a position we were going to be a good ball club. I took the position we were going to be a winning ball club.

— Red Auerbach

“And I have been very blessed, having coached some of the greatest that have ever played the game. But if I had to start a team today, the greatest player and the one guy I would take would be Larry Bird.”

— Red Auerbach

“Any coach needs talent. You start with talent. Without talent, we're all in the soup.”

— Red Auerbach

“I've turned down a lot of trades where I might have gotten a better player, but I wasn't totally sure of the chemistry of that new player coming in. Even though he might possess golden ability, his personality and the way he gets along with teammates might be things you just don't want to cope with.”

— Red Auerbach

“You handle animals. You deal with people.”

— Red Auerbach

I have two college degrees, four honorary doctorate degrees, and am in three Halls of fame, and the only thing I know how to do is teach tall people how to put a ball in the hole.

— Red Auerbach