Paul “Bear” Bryant was a legendary American college football coach, primarily at the University of Alabama.
Over 25 years, he led Alabama to six national championships and thirteen conference titles, amassing a record 323 wins.
Although surpassed by coaches like John Gagliardi and Bobby Bowden, his influence on the game endures.
Numerous locations at Alabama are named after him and he is recognized for his iconic black and white houndstooth hat, deep voice and unique pre-game warmup style.
Before his time at Alabama, he coached at the University of Maryland, the University of Kentucky and Texas A&M University.
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His impactful sayings about sports, success and winning mindset continue to inspire many.
I have compiled the list of wise Bear Bryant quotes.
Best Bear Bryant Quotes
Never be too proud to get down on your knees and pray. ~ Bear Bryant.
I ain’t won but one. My team won the rest in spite of me. ~ Bear Bryant.
I can reach a kid who doesn’t have any ability as long as he doesn’t know it. ~ Bear Bryant.
There’s no substitute for guts. ~ Bear Bryant.
You try to make your team do something they’re not capable of and you get murdered. ~ Bear Bryant.
If you don’t have discipline, you can’t have a successful program. ~ Bear Bryant.
Set goals – high goals for you and your organization. When your organization has a goal to shoot for, you create teamwork, people working for a common good. ~ Bear Bryant.
You never know how a horse will pull until you hook him to a heavy load. ~ Bear Bryant.
A good, quick, small team can beat a big, slow team any time. ~ Bear Bryant.
Don’t give up. Reach down inside of you and you’ll find something left. ~ Bear Bryant.
Lee Roy was the best college linebacker – bar none. He would have made every tackle on every play if they had stayed in bounds. ~ Bear Bryant.
It’s not the will to win that matters-everyone has that. It’s the will to prepare to win that matters. ~ Bear Bryant.
I’m known as a recruiter. Well you’ve got to have chicken to make chicken salad. ~ Bear Bryant.
Losing doesn’t make me want to quit. It makes me want to fight that much harder. ~ Bear Bryant.
Recognize winners. They come in all forms. ~ Bear Bryant.
Inspiring Bear Bryant Quotes
If I miss coaching that much, I could go to some little school where they didn’t recruit, where all the kids wanted to go. I believe I could find somewhere to coach. ~ Bear Bryant.
I don’t hire anybody not brighter than I am. If they’re not brighter than I am, I don’t need them. ~ Bear Bryant.
I didn’t care if we ever quit practicing. I loved it. The only other guy I ever knew who loved it as much was Jerry Duncan. He would beg to practice even when he was hurt. I’ve actually seen him cry because the trainer told him he couldn’t scrimmage. ~ Bear Bryant.
I don’t have any ideas; my coaches have them. I just pass the ideas on and referee the arguments. ~ Bear Bryant.
Recruiting is the one thing I hate. I won’t do it unless my coaches tell me I’ve just got to. The whole process is kind of undignified for me and the young man. ~ Bear Bryant.
If a man is a quitter, I’d rather find out in practice than in a game. I ask for all a player has so I’ll know later what I can expect. ~ Bear Bryant.
I’m no miracle man. I guarantee nothing but hard work. ~ Bear Bryant.
If wanting to win is a fault, as some of my critics seem to insist, then I plead guilty. I like to win. I know no other way. It’s in my blood. ~ Bear Bryant.
Inspirational Bear Bryant Quotes
The fun never goes out, but it changes with the years, with winning and losing. ~ Bear Bryant.
Don’t ever give up on ability. Don’t give up on a player who has it. ~ Bear Bryant.
I’m not much of a golfer, I don’t have any friends and all I like to do is go home and be alone, and not worry about ways not to lose. ~ Bear Bryant.
I didn’t have a thing to do with picking a coach, and didn’t want to. But I didn’t think they’d pick one I didn’t like. ~ Bear Bryant.
I don’t care how much talent a team has – if the boys don’t think tough, practice tough, and live tough, how they play tough on Saturday. ~ Bear Bryant.
Sacrifice. Work. Self-discipline. I teach these things, and my boys don’t forget them when they leave. ~ Bear Bryant.
Be aware of “yes” men. Generally, they are losers. Surround yourself with winners. Never forget – people win. ~ Bear Bryant.
I tell young players who want to be coaches, who think they can put up with all the headaches and heartaches, can you live without it? If you can live without it, don’t get in it. ~ Bear Bryant.
Motivational Bear Bryant Quotes
Winning isn’t everything, but it beats anything that comes in second. ~ Bear Bryant.
I ain’t never been nothin but a winner. ~ Bear Bryant.
The Lord expects you to do some things for yourself. ~ Bear Bryant.
I think the most important thing of all for any team is a winning attitude. The coaches must have it. The players must have it. The student body must have it. If you have dedicated players who believe in themselves, you don’t need a lot of talent. ~ Bear Bryant.
Georgia Tech beat us and Mississippi Southern tied us last year, and Texas beat us after we had the game won. We only played about five games the way we were capable of playing and lost one of those. ~ Bear Bryant.
The summer day is closed, the sun is set: Well they have done their office, those bright hours, The latest of whose train goes softly out In the red west. ~ Bear Bryant.
I plan on staying at Alabama for the rest of my career. I guarantee that I’ll be here for you through it all, regardless of what happens. ~ Bear Bryant.
Don’t give up at half time. Concentrate on winning the second half. ~ Bear Bryant.
Winning isn’t imperative, but getting tougher in the fourth quarter is. ~ Bear Bryant.
Famous Bear Bryant Quotes
The first time you quit, it’s hard. The second time, it gets easier. The third time, you don’t even have to think about it. ~ Bear Bryant.
In a crisis, don’t hide behind anything or anybody. They’re going to find you anyway. ~ Bear Bryant.
Show class, have pride, and display character. If you do, winning takes care of itself. ~ Bear Bryant.
All I know is, I don’t want to stop coaching, and I don’t want to stop winning, so we’re gonna break the record unless I die. ~ Bear Bryant.
They say I teach brutal football, but the only thing brutal about football is losing. ~ Bear Bryant.
The price of victory is high, but so are the rewards. ~ Bear Bryant.
I’ll never give up on a player regardless of his ability as long as he never gives up on himself. In time he will develop. ~ Bear Bryant.
You must learn how to hold a team together. You must lift some men up, calm others down, until finally they’ve got one heartbeat. Then you’ve got yourself a team. ~ Bear Bryant.
Top Bear Bryant Quotes
Don’t overwork your squad. If you’re going to make a mistake, under-work them. ~ Bear Bryant.
It’s been years since I’ve had a real input in the game anyway. For this game, I’ve just tried to keep all the other stuff away from the players and coaches. ~ Bear Bryant.
Expect the unexpected. ~ Bear Bryant.
Nearly every coach I’ve talked with tells me that the attention you get from media and other people is the thing you miss most. I don’t know if that’s right. ~ Bear Bryant.
Football games are generally won by the boys with the greatest desire. ~ Bear Bryant.
Don’t worry about making friends; don’t worry about making enemies. Worry about winning, because if you win, your enemies can’t hurt you, and if you lose, your friends can’t stand you. ~ Bear Bryant.
I know what it takes to win. If I can sell them on what it takes to win, then we are not going to lose too many football games. ~ Bear Bryant.
Offense sells tickets, but defense wins championships. ~ Bear Bryant.
Don’t tolerate lazy people. They are losers. ~ Bear Bryant.
We can’t have two standards, one set for the dedicated young men who want to do something ambitious and one set for those who don’t. ~ Bear Bryant.
Popular Bear Bryant Quotes
Sure, I’d love to beat Notre Dame, don’t get me wrong. But nothing matters more than beating that cow college on the other side of the state! ~ Bear Bryant.
Little things make the difference. Everyone is well prepared in the big things, but only the winners perfect the little things. ~ Bear Bryant.
The idea of molding men means a lot to me. ~ Bear Bryant.
In my lifetime, I may have put too much emphasis on winning, because here I am an old man and the only fun I’ve had is winning, and that’s ridiculous. ~ Bear Bryant.
It’s nice to have the opportunity to play for so much money, but it’s nicer to win it. ~ Bear Bryant.
I’m happy with the coach we have. I think any one of the ones I asked them to consider would’ve been good. ~ Bear Bryant.
Get the winners into the game. ~ Bear Bryant.
Every time a player goes out there, at least 20 people have some amount of influence on him. His mother has more influence than anyone. I know because I played, and I loved my mama. ~ Bear Bryant.
You’re still going to win with preparation and dedication and plain old desire. If you don’t have genuine desire, you won’t be dedicated enough to prepare properly. ~ Bear Bryant.
There is no sin in not liking to play; it’s a mistake for a boy to be there if he doesn’t want to. ~ Bear Bryant.
When you win, there’s glory enough for everybody. When you lose, there’s glory for none. ~ Bear Bryant.
I’m no innovator. If anything I’m a stealer, or borrower. I’ve stolen or borrowed from more people than you can shake a stick at. ~ Bear Bryant.
Great Bear Bryant Quotes
Motivating people – the ingredient that separates winners from losers. ~ Bear Bryant.
That’s all it takes to get people to win football games for you. ~ Bear Bryant.
Most coaches study the films when they lose. I study them when we win -to see if I can figure out what I did right. ~ Bear Bryant.
Have a plan. Follow the plan, and you’ll be surprised how successful you can be. Most people don’t have a plan. That’s why it’s easy to beat most folks. ~ Bear Bryant.
At Alabama, our players don’t win Heisman Trophies. Our teams win National Championships. ~ Bear Bryant.
When you make a mistake, there are only three things you should ever do about it: 1. Admit it. 2. Learn from it, and 3. Don’t repeat it. ~ Bear Bryant.
If you believe in yourself and have dedication and pride – and never quit, you’ll be a winner. The price of victory is high but so are the rewards. ~ Bear Bryant.
If you don’t learn anything but self discipline, then athletics is worthwhile. ~ Bear Bryant.
There is a big difference in wanting to and willing to. ~ Bear Bryant.
Wise Bear Bryant Quotes
No coach has ever won a game by what he knows; it’s what his players know that counts. ~ Bear Bryant.
I ain’t never had much fun. I ain’t never been two inches away from a football. Here guys go fishing on the day of the game, hunting, golfing, and all I want to do is be alone, studying how not to lose. ~ Bear Bryant.
I can remember loving to recruit. I knew I was going to do my best. But traveling and recruiting doesn’t appeal to me any more. It’s not as much fun as it used to be. ~ Bear Bryant.
There’s a lot of blood, sweat, and guts between dreams and success. ~ Bear Bryant.
If anything goes bad, I did it. If anything goes semi-good, we did it. If anything goes real good, then you did it. That’s all it takes to get people to win football games for you. ~ Bear Bryant.
I’ve made so many mistakes that if I don’t make the same mistakes over, we’re going to come pretty close to winning. ~ Bear Bryant.
If there is one thing that has helped me as a coach, it’s my ability to recognize winners, or good people who can become winners by paying the price. ~ Bear Bryant.
When you play defense you have to storm the fort or play cover – you can’t do both. ~ Bear Bryant.
Being inside Tiger Stadium is like being on the inside of a drum. ~ Bear Bryant.
You have to be willing to out-condition your opponents. ~ Bear Bryant.
I’m no genius, but I’m a damn good football coach. ~ Bear Bryant.
It’s kind of hard to rally around a math class. ~ Bear Bryant.
Powerful Bear Bryant Quotes
Hell, no! A tie is like kissing your sister! ~ Bear Bryant.
In life, you’ll have your back up against the wall many times. You might as well get used to it. ~ Bear Bryant.
If you are going to be a successful duck hunter, you must go where the ducks are. ~ Bear Bryant.
If you want to walk the heavenly streets of gold, you gotta know the password, “Roll, Tide, Roll!” ~ Bear Bryant.
It’s awfully important to win with humility. It’s also important to lose. I hate to lose worse than anyone, but if you never lose you won’t know how to act. If you lose with humility, then you can come back. ~ Bear Bryant.
People who are in it for their own good are individualists. They don’t share the same heartbeat that makes a team so great. A great unit, whether it be football or any organization, shares the same heartbeat. ~ Bear Bryant.
First there are those who are winners, and know they are winners. Then there are the losers who know they are losers. Then there are those who are not winners, but don’t know it. They’re the ones for me. They never quit trying. They’re the soul of our game. ~ Bear Bryant.
I’d like for people to remember me as a winner, because I ain’t never been nothin but a winner. ~ Bear Bryant.
I make my practices real hard because if a player is a quitter, I want him to quit in practice, not in a game. ~ Bear Bryant.
You have to learn what makes this or that Sammy run. For one it’s a pat on the back, for another it’s eating him out, for still another it’s a fatherly talk, or something else. You’re a fool if you think as I did as a young coach, that you can treat them all alike. ~ Bear Bryant.
Profound Bear Bryant Quotes
Scout yourself. Have a buddy who coaches scout you. ~ Bear Bryant.
If it is worth playing, it is worth paying the price to win. ~ Bear Bryant.
Football changes and so do people. ~ Bear Bryant.
Everybody’s got pretty good players now, more players than there’ve ever been. If you play poorly, you’re going to get beat. ~ Bear Bryant.
You win games with your strengths, not your weaknesses. ~ Bear Bryant.
I think I’m telling the truth. I sat by Ray Perkins at the Hall of Fame dinner in New York, and at that time he didn’t know he was our coach and I didn’t either. ~ Bear Bryant.
You take those little rascals, talk to them good, pat them on the back, let them think they are good, and they will go out and beat the biguns. ~ Bear Bryant.
Don’t talk too much. Don’t pop off. Don’t talk after the game until you cool off. ~ Bear Bryant.
Don’t talk too much or too soon. ~ Bear Bryant.
There’s no use fussing on a boy who doesn’t have any ability. ~ Bear Bryant.
If you whoop and holler all the time, the players just get used to it. ~ Bear Bryant.
Never quit. It is the easiest cop-out in the world. Set a goal and don’t quit until you attain it. When you do attain it, set another goal, and don’t quit until you reach it. Never quit. ~ Bear Bryant.
A champion pays an extra price to be better than anyone else. ~ Bear Bryant.
Here’s a twenty, bury two. ~ Bear Bryant.
If they don’t have a winning attitude, I don’t want them. ~ Bear Bryant.
So these were the 125 top Bear Bryant quotes and sayings about winning, leadership and teamwork.
If you like these quotes and sayings, then you can also read my other posts on Ann Landers quotes and Anne Frank quotes.
