Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
We can't have one group that oversees everything and then they define what amateurism is.
Don't encourage 8th-, 9th- and 10th-graders to forgo education just to go to the G League.
I've had transfer students who have never seen the inside of their previous coach's house.
He helped my career, helped me basketball-wise and every other way. I'm a big fan of Thibs.
The best food I've had in Lexington is Orange Leaf Frozen Yogurt. It's non-guilt ice cream!
I'm playing the guys who are going to fight. If you're not into this, I'm going to someone else
Some of the best kids I coach were raised by a grandmother who was so firm that they understood.
If you react to every barking dog, if you stop for every barking dog, you're never getting home.
You do things other people cannot do, so just stay in the moment as you improve the other areas.
At times, we, as coaches, try to shove guys as square pegs into round holes and keep hammering away.
What our kids learn to do is fight. So when you watch a Devin Booker, you look at Tyler Ulis - they fight.
The guy who started on third base and gets home and acts like he hit a homer - that guy doesn't impress me.
When we're worried about a bureaucracy and keeping the bureaucracy going, you're always going to make mistakes.
If I walk in a home and a kid disrespects a woman, his mother or grandmother, then I am out... I wont recruit them
You understand, you do not invent stuff on this team. Guys that invent stuff will not play for me. Make the easy play
They want it all - all As, all wins by 20, and want the highest GPA. Don't coach at Kentucky if you can't accept that.
We don't get every kid. We get the ones we are supposed to get. It just kind of plays out that way, and it always has.
Practice gotta be harder than the games and it never is unless you want it to be as a player. The coach can't drive that
So kids that have pro potential and want to take a loan so that their families don't have to deal with it, why can't you?
It's not just about working hard, it's about working together. You have to care more about the team than you do about yourself
If I ever tell the same story twice, just laugh and roll with it because, when you get older, you start doing that kind of stuff.
My life, even as a college student, has all been through the NCAA, and I'm telling you there's so much good that comes out of it.
Every kid will tell you that they want you to be real, but that's until you keep it real with them. Then they don't want it real.
I want to thank the people at UMass, Memphis, and Kentucky for giving Ellen and I an opportunity to coach at three great institutions.
More than half the G League is going to be high school kids that are trying to make it. I hope I'm wrong. I absolutely hope I'm wrong.
I tweet, Facebook, website, but guess what? Do I look at any response? Have I ever looked at a response? I wouldn't know how to get in.
I'm not a fan of the NCAA. I don't think they make decisions for the kids. They make decisions for bureaucracy and for their structure.
Any coach out there that wants to lose, you make sure they put raisins in the breakfast oatmeal. You'll go down, don't worry about that.
You better educate yourself. You don't stand in the front of the line unless you're up there because you know everything that's involved.
I want to thank the Big Blue nation for your warming and hospitality. You all have made us feel like we've been in the Commonwealth forever.
There are certain people I do want to absolutely dislike me. And I want them to paint me as their enemy. Because I want nothing to do with them.
If you recruit a kid, and you're promising him the world, how in the world are you going to coach him in that short a period of time to do that?
I'm going to continue to see my friends who coach in the NBA and see my former players who play in the NBA. I'm going to continue to go to games.
Can I say this in a humble way - I don't need the money. If I stop coaching today at Kentucky, my toes are up, and I'm eating Cheetos, and I'm fine.
I'm just trying to be the best I can be. I try to surround myself with people who are strong in areas I'm weak. Which is why I have such a big staff.
You're not gonna do what we do better than we do it. Even if you're doing what we do, you're not gonna do it better. I'm absolutely convinced of that.
When you're trying to make somebody the best version of themselves, you have to keep defining that over a period of time because sometimes it changes.
In most cases, in this sport, for guys to advance in this sport, you gotta fight. If you don't fight, you're not making it, because it's too competitive.
I want to thank all the assistants and staff who have worked for us over the years, as well as the people in the community who have added value to our lives.
When you're trying to build or change a culture, what do you do? I always say to take players from state championship teams because they only know one thing -- winning.
A great defensive effort. The one thing we have to do is make it hard for people to beat us. We're not worried about winning and losing, we just have to make the game hard
The best players I've coached make really hard things look easy. Like you may say, well, that was easy, and then, well, go try it. You think it's so easy, go ahead and do it.
I would enjoy the fact that I had a team that won a national title, but I would be disappointed that none of the kids got drafted because that's not how it's supposed to work.
I had no desire to coach college until I went to college. Then I said, 'Maybe I can do this.' You get inspired by the people around you who move you and light a fire under you.
If you can get a second-round pick that makes it, it's unbelievable for that franchise, what you save and all the other things to build. You're always looking for guys like that.
I call it, 'The Kentucky Effect.' Guys from Kentucky are usually drafted higher, and their shoe contracts are worth more. They're in more demand overall because they played here.
Everybody wants to say that Kentucky fans are vicious or obnoxious. They're not. They're crazy in that they watch the tape of our games more than I do. But they're passionate and smart.
The thing I can tell you about coaching is that we make decision and career moves when your nerves and emotions are still raw, right after the season. It's the worst profession for that.
The hardest thing for a basketball player to do is dribble two really hard dribbles. You are flying, and then pull up and shoot a ball from 15, 17 feet. It's the hardest thing in the game.
People want to see how we get teams to come together so quickly. They want to see how we get young guys to play so hard and so unselfish. I'm fine with that. I have no problem sharing that.