Basketball Quotes by Dean Smith

The key statistic is still to get to the foul line.

— Dean Smith

The most important thing is team morale.

— Dean Smith

The most important thing in good leadership is truly caring.

— Dean Smith

I've always believed in quickness over strength and size.

— Dean Smith

A lion never roars after a kill.

— Dean Smith

A leader's job is to develop committed followers. Bad leaders destroy their followers' sense of commitment.

— Dean Smith

Basketball is a team game. But that doesn't mean all five players should have the same amount of shots.

— Dean Smith

Always have your players go and pick-up the guy who draws the charge.

— Dean Smith

Any old coach will say the game was meant for finesse. It's a beautiful game, especially on television.

— Dean Smith

One player's selfish attitude can poison a locker room and make it hard, if not impossible, to establish team work

— Dean Smith

The best way to build team chemistry is the way Rupp used to substitute, when they fouled out.

— Dean Smith

Basketball is a beautiful game when the five players on the court play with one heartbeat.

— Dean Smith

I enjoy basketball. I enjoy coaching basketball. It's the out-of-season stuff I didn't handle well.

— Dean Smith

I would never recruit a player who yells at his teammates, disrespected his high school coach, or scores 33 points a game…

— Dean Smith

Praise behaviour that you want repeated

— Dean Smith

Over coaching is the worst thing you can do to a player.

— Dean Smith

Everyone on the bench stands for the man coming out of the game.

— Dean Smith

Only praise behavior that you want to be repeated. Never use false praise.

— Dean Smith

Good people are happy when something good happens to someone else.

— Dean Smith

What to do with a mistake: recognize it, admit it, learn from it, forget it.

— Dean Smith

I wasn't as critical during games as I was at practice. Players needed confidence during games more than criticism.

— Dean Smith

There is a lot of basketball beyond our control, but a player should never let anyone try harder than he does

— Dean Smith

The coach's job is to be part servant in helping each player reach his goals within the team concept.

— Dean Smith

If you make every game a life and death proposition, you're going to have problems. For one thing, you'll be dead a…

— Dean Smith

You should sub a player out when you see a player not going full-speed or playing selfish basketball.

— Dean Smith

I only use statistics to reinforce what I already think, or if it's something unusual.

— Dean Smith

I think the real free person in society is one that's disciplined. It's the one that can choose; that is the free…

— Dean Smith

Basketball, more than any other sport, is a team game...about the thousands of small, unselfish acts, the sacrifices on the part of…

— Dean Smith