97 Quotes by Woody Hayes

In football we always said that the other team couldn’t beat us. We had to be sure that we didn’t beat ourselves. And that’s what people have to do, too-make sure they don’t beat themselves.

Picking an assistant coach, the first thing I was interested in was the man’s character.

Football represents and embodies everything that’s great about this country, because the United States of America is built on winners, not losers or people who didn’t bother to play.

I’m not trying to win a popularity poll. I’m trying to win football games.

The players fire the coach, and as long as I’m on the same wavelength with them, I can coach as long as I want to.

The only way we’d get beaten was if we got a little fat-headed, if we didn’t train right, if we had dissension on the squad.

The five big mistakes in football are the fumble, the interception, the penalty, the badly called play, the blocked punt – and most of these originate with the quarterback. Find a mistake-proof quarterback and you have this game won.

I don’t apologize for anything. When I make a mistake, I take the blame and go on from there. I just despise to lose, and that has taken a man of mediocre ability and made a pretty good coach out of him.

You win with people.