Looking for inspirational quotes from Bobby Knight? We have rounded up the best collection of Bobby Knight quotes, sayings, captions, messages, and status (with images and pictures) to motivate you to work hard and achieve your dreams.
Bobby Knight is a former American basketball coach. He won 902 NCAA Division I men’s college basketball games, a record at the time of his retirement, and currently fourth all-time.
Bob Knight, in full Robert Montgomery Knight, also called Bobby Knight.
Nicknamed “the General”, Knight is best known as the head coach of the Army, Indiana Hoosiers, and Texas Tech.
Bobby Knight was one of the most successful college basketball coaches and one of the best coaches in Indiana basketball history.
He was fiery, persistent, and a very passionate coach, who also popularized the motion offense.
These encouraging quotes by Bob Knight are about discipline, leadership, success, teamwork, practice, and preparation to be successful in life.
Also, check our collection of Georgia O’Keeffe quotes and Keanu Reeves quotes to inspire and motivate you.
Top Bobby Knight Quotes
- “I don’t intend to retire.” ― Bobby Knight
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“Everybody hears, but few listen.” ― Bobby Knight
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“Offense is not equal opportunity.” ― Bobby Knight
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“Competitive drills enhance quickness.” ― Bobby Knight
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“I don’t think I have ever been out of control.” ― Bobby Knight
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“I don’t believe in luck, I believe in preparation.” ― Bobby Knight
Bobby Knight Quotes -
“Mental toughness is to physical as four is to one.” ― Bobby Knight
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“My practices were not set up to be easy or enjoyed.” ― Bobby Knight
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“Victory favors the team making the fewest mistakes.” ― Bobby Knight
Quotes By Bobby Knight -
“I would rather be thought of as a teacher than a coach.” ― Bobby Knight
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“I, fortunately, have never worried about irritating people.” ― Bobby Knight
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“I just like the United States, and I like being an American.” ― Bobby Knight
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“Your biggest opponent isn’t the other guy. It’s human nature.” ― Bobby Knight
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“You play ball against yourself; your opponent is your potential.” ― Bobby Knight
Bob Knight Quotes -
“Most people have the will to win, few have the will to prepare to win.” ― Bobby Knight
Bobby Knight Quotes On Winning -
“I’m a teacher. My mother was a teacher. I spent 40 years as a teacher.” ― Bobby Knight
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“I don’t think my dad ever raised his voice to my mother or to me, ever.” ― Bobby Knight
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“For me to get an award from the press, I know there’s been no favoritism.” ― Bobby Knight
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“In order to achieve positive results, one must work for them, not hope for them.” ― Bob Knight
Bobby Knight Motivational Quotes -
“All of us learn to write in the second grade. Most of us go on to greater things.” ― Bobby Knight
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“A coach should never be afraid to ask questions of anyone he could learn from.” ― Bobby Knight
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“People change over the years, and that changes situations for good and for bad.” ― Bobby Knight
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“Everyone wants to be on the winning team, but no one wants to come to practice.” ― Bobby Knight
Best Bobby Knight Quotes -
“The key is not the will to win… everybody has that. It is the will to prepare to win that is important.” ― Bobby Knight
Inspirational Quotes By Bobby Knight
- “Don’t fight the rabbits. If you fight the rabbits, the elephants are going to kill you.” ― Bobby Knight
Inspirational Bobby Knight Quotes -
“The will to succeed is important, but what’s more important is the will to prepare.” ― Bobby Knight
Famous Quotes From Bobby Knight -
“As his team prepares, a coach’s entire being must be concentrated on winning games.” ― Bobby Knight
Team Attitude Quotes From Bobby Knight -
“If you’re not careful, you can get a grossly over-inflated opinion about your popularity.” ― Bobby Knight
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“I’ve never predicted anything. All I have ever said is, that we will do the very best we can.” ― Bobby Knight
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“I don’t have to wait until the next morning to regret something I did that was kinda dumb.” ― Bobby Knight
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“We need a Donald Trump more than we’ve ever needed anybody since George Washington.” ― Bobby Knight
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“Why talk now when so many things have been said without ever giving me a chance to talk?” ― Bobby Knight
Funny Bobby Knight Quotes -
“The red I wear is Indiana’s red, not Moscow’s red. Indiana was here long before communism.” ― Bobby Knight
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“The structure of your practice is the main reason for your success or lack of success as a coach.” ― Bobby Knight
Bobby Knight Quotes On Success -
“BS is just what it stands for, an MS is more of the same, and a PhD is Piled Higher and Deeper.” ― Bobby Knight
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“Well, I think it’s pretty much established that I just didn’t have any interest in coaching in the pros.” ― Bobby Knight
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“Passing is your best weapon against man to man. Dribble penetration is your best weapon against zone.” ― Bobby Knight
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“We should not have to push you to work hard, you should work hard because you want to be a great player.” ― Bobby Knight
Bobby Knight Quotes About Working Hard -
“I was worried about losing until I looked down the floor and saw Dale Brown. Then I knew we had a chance.” ― Bobby Knight
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“I’m not sure I’ve ever been around anybody that wanted to win more or worked harder than Michael Jordan.” ― Bobby Knight
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“I sit and wonder why no one uses the shot fake. The shot fake, when used correctly, can eliminate a defender.” ― Bobby Knight
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“Do what needs to be done, when it needs to be done the best way it can be done, and do it that way every time.” ― Bobby Knight
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“Players must be able to carry out simple instructions from the bench to the court. If they can’t, then they can’t play.” ― Bobby Knight
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“Discipline is knowing what to do. Knowing when to do it. Doing it to the best of your abilities. Doing it that way every single time.” ― Bobby Knight
Bobby Knight Quotes About Discipline
Bobby Knight Basketball Quotes To Motivate You
- “Good basketball always starts with good defense.” ― Bobby Knight
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“Walking has been ridiculous in college basketball the past 15 years.” ― Bobby Knight
College Basketball Quotes By Bobby Knight -
“Basketball is a full court game, so every drill must be done full court.” ― Bobby Knight
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“You don’t play against opponents, you play against the game of basketball.” ― Bobby Knight
Bob Knight Basketball Quotes -
“They’re a very good basketball team. We’re not a very good basketball team.” ― Bobby Knight
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“Basketball may have been invented in Massachusetts, but it was made for Indiana.” ― Bobby Knight
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“I’ve always felt that, you know, the Almighty has a lot of things to do other than help my basketball team.” ― Bobby Knight
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“I have always maintained that in basketball the importance of the mental to the physical is about four to one.” ― Bobby Knight
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“My overall point is that ‘one and dones’ are not healthy for college basketball. I should not have made it personal to Kentucky and its players and I apologize.” ― Bobby Knight
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“There are times when my passion for basketball led me into confrontations that I could have handled a lot better. I’ve always been too confrontational, especially when I know I’m right.” ― Bobby Knight
Famous Bobby Knight Quotes About Winning, Discipline, And Hard Work
Knight sparked controversy as he often struggled to control his temper. Whether it was choking a player in practice, heated exchanges with the media, or throwing a chair across the court during the game, Knight landed being a controversial figure.
Despite all the controversy that followed him, he was still a very successful coach and his love for the game cannot be questioned.
- “The goal is to make practice more difficult, physically/mentally, than anything your players will face during a game.” ― Bobby Knight
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“I always designed my practice plans the night before and then made tweaks a few hours before practice began.” ― Bobby Knight
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“A quick way for any player to make himself better is to think about what he himself doesn’t like to play against.” ― Bobby Knight
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“I hate casual shooting. Every shot is preceded by working to get open and catch and shoot under game like conditions.” ― Bobby Knight
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“Probably nobody in America has come close to setting up as many jobs for people with his business as Donald Trump has.” ― Bobby Knight
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“I’ll tell you one thing about Donald Trump: There will never be a Benghazi in a Donald Trump administration.” ― Bobby Knight
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“I don’t know what a conservative is, you know, but I do know what good people are. And that’s where I sit with Donald Trump.” ― Bobby Knight
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“What is the best thing you can do in a close game? Drive to the basket and put pressure on the defense! Not jack up jump shots.” ― Bobby Knight
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“When my time on earth is gone, and my activities here are passed, I want they bury me upside down, and my critics can kiss my ass.” ― Bobby Knight
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“Son, my name isn’t Knight to you, it’s Coach Knight or it’s Mr. Knight. I don’t call people by their last name and neither should you.” ― Bobby Knight
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“Harry Truman, with what he did in dropping and having the guts to drop the bomb in 1944, saved – saved millions of American lives.” ― Bobby Knight
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“A primary goal of teaching anything is the advantage that learning gives to people over their competitors who haven’t been as well taught.” ― Bobby Knight
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“If I came in to recruit your son, I would tell you, your wife, and your son, that I will be the most demanding coach your son can play for.” ― Bobby Knight
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“Defense is all about helping. No one can guard a good dribbler, you have to walk kids through how to help and then how to help the helper.” ― Bobby Knight
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“I learned at an early stage that the most important thing I could do for my players was to give them the tools necessary to beat their opponent.” ― Bobby Knight
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“If universities want to save a little money, they ought to make some cutbacks in administration and in faculty people who teach one class a week.” ― Bobby Knight
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“To be as good as it can be, a team has to buy into what you as the coach are doing. They have to feel you’re a part of them and they’re a part of you.” ― Bobby Knight
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“You are never going to be driven anywhere worthwhile, but you sure as hell drive yourself to a lot of great places. It is up to you to drive yourself there.” ― Bobby Knight
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“I’ve always been a great fan of the state of Pennsylvania. One of the people – one of the people that I admired the most in college athletics was Joe Paterno.” ― Bobby Knight
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“People want national championship banners. People want to talk about Indiana being competitive. How do we get there? We don’t get there with milk and cookies.” ― Bobby Knight
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“Positive wish: ‘The sun will come out tomorrow.’ Negative reality: ‘Yeah, and it will flash brand-new daylight on the same old mess unless something is done to clean it up.” ― Bobby Knight
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“When somebody asks about the greatest players in history, I start with Bill Russell. More than the best player is the MVP, and the MVP in the history of team sports is Bill Russell.” ― Bobby Knight
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“As coaches we talk about two things: offense and defense. There is a third phase we neglect, which is more important. It’s conversion from offense to defense and defense to offense.” ― Bobby Knight
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“A big part of teaching is being emphatic. Maybe I’m right or wrong, but part of my approach was that when I said something, the kids understood exactly what I meant and what I wanted.” ― Bobby Knight
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“I recognize that I have a problem with my temper. For those times it has ever caused me to do anything that gave anyone understandable and justifiable reason to be upset, I am sincerely sorry.” ― Bobby Knight
After Knight’s success at the Army where he led the Black Knights to The Final Four out of six seasons, winning 75 percent of his games, he took the job at Indiana.
He led his teams to one National Invitation Tournament (NIT) championship, three NCAA championships, and 11 Big Ten Conference championships.
During his successful career Knight has four times received the National Coach of the Year honors and eight times the Big Ten Coach of the Year honors. He is one of the three basketball coaches to win an NIT title, an NCAA title, and an Olympic gold medal.
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